Some people still like gold

On June 16, 2008 Reuters reported:

Iran has withdrawn around $75 billion from Europe to prevent the assets from being blocked under threatened new sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions, an Iranian weekly said.

On November 15, 2008 Reuters reported:

Iran has converted financial reserves into gold to avoid future problems, an adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in comments published on Saturday, after the price of oil fell more than 60 percent from a peak in July.

And in an article I mentioned a few days ago, the UKs Daily Telegraph reported on Citigroup's internal client memo:

Gold traders are paying close attention to reports from Beijing that China is thinking of boosting its gold reserves from 600 tonnes to nearer 4,000 tonnes* to diversify away from paper currencies. "If true, this is a very material change," he said.

So I guess some people still think gold has value.

Tim White

* 4,000 - 600 = 3,400 tonnes x 2,000 lbs / ton = 6,800,000 lbs x 16 oz / lb = 108,800,000 ozs x $800 / oz = $87 billion