Economic Summary for the week ended 28th July 2015

As the gold bear market continues, the precious metal suffered a battering in speculative trading last week, breaking through the $1,100-an-ounce support level. Bullions ($1.7bn to be precise) melted away in a matter of minutes on futures exchanges in the US and Shanghai whilst Europe slept last Sunday, with the sell-off continuing through the week. The gold price has dropped -42% since its market peak in 2011, after investors flooded into the “safe haven” post financial-crisis. With a positive outlook for global growth, a rapidly strengthening dollar and hawkish statements from the Fed, investors are seeking returns from other asset classes. Perhaps the biggest mover of the market though, came from the People’s Bank of China declaring its current gold holdings were much less than analysts expected. Gold investors can no longer sit in their gilded cages as the price of this asset moves towards record lows.