There's an alphaville article on this: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011...datedcontent=1

From today's papers "European central banks have become net buyers of gold for the first time in more than two decades"

Ah ha! why? what do they know or suspect?

That is a sell sign if ever I saw one, remind me what the price was when most central banks were selling?

threepence a kilo?

First country to introduce gold buying restrictions...
Austria restricts gold purchase by individuals

Are you talking about the famous Brown Bottom?

Below $400 and around $270 if you were Gordon

Of course those $ were worth twice as much in CHF terms as they are today. So $800 in todays dollars may well not turn out that bad.
Of course if they had invested in good business's they would have doubled their money again, but governments never manage to do that.

In absolute terms the Swiss Franc has not fared so well as one thinks. It's only when one compares it to $ or £s that it LOOKS good.
This article and its graphics illustrates the reality.....

James Turk: The Swiss National Bank gives up

this thread has grown awfully quiet recently, don't ya think?

We're watching the latest 'take down'.

Wouldn't now be a better time to buy?

Sure, but you need good nerves to catch a falling knife. (besides money that is)

To buy something with very little value at todays prices, you can dig it out of the ground for $800, why would anybody pay more?

Where can I go and dig gold out of the ground for $800 (per ounce I presume)?

One view is that people are selling their gold now because share markets are crashing down & they need cash to cover margin calls. Consequently gold will start rising again soon because the fundamentals are unchanged.

As I said that is one view; might not be the correct view

You could say the same thing about diamonds, silver, copper, rare earths &&& but they all sell for more than the "out-of-ground" cost.

There is also the question of supply & demand; nearly all the gold that was ever dug up is still around which is a big pile of gold. So increasing the supply by a significant percentage is very difficult i.e. not possible.

Buy shares in any Goldmine, that's there business. If Gold was going to stay above $800 for any length of time then Gold miners share prices would be way higher.

For much of the last 30 years Gold sold for less than the 'out of ground' cost. It's intrinsic value must way lower than $800, there is more above ground than can ever be used!

Another view might be that the big boys are shacking the branches to see if they can get any fruit that is not securely held to drop down which they can quickly collect up and then let the price go back up again. I am give to understand that in the trade this is generally called 'shacking down'. The sods wont get any on mine though...