Here are updates. Gold will be justified POST-decision and...

Here are updates. Gold will be justified POST-decision and there's some big auctions on e-commerce.

November 27, 2015
Half of gold output my not be ‘viable’ as price sags: Randgold
Bloomberg/Danielle Bochove/11-27-2015

“The more we continue to produce unprofitable gold, the more pressure we put on the gold price,” said Randgold Resources Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow. “In the medium term, it’s a very bullish outlook for the gold industry. The question is, how long are we going to supply it with unprofitable gold?”

MK note: The all-in cost for gold mining is reportedly $920 per ounce. Yet, as I mentioned immediately below, four of the top five mining companies reported losses in the third quarter of the year when gold fluctuated between $1100 and $1175 per ounce. So what is the real break-even for the mining companies? Ultimately, it gets down to what the post-game stats are telling you, not the pre-game estimates


November 27, 2015
Gold market update – What’s the biggest seller on EBay among early shoppers?
27-Nov (USAGOLD) – Gold is off about $15 this morning in thin holiday trading. Some reports blame technical traders triggering sell stops. Zero Hedge cites post-Thanksgiving dump of 18,000 contracts ($1.9 billion notional value). Shanghai stocks nose-dived 5.5%, almost 200 points, the worst drop since the August headline grabbers. Hong Kong followed but not as sharply, off about 2%. Bloomberg reports the Chinese government “dialed back” its direct support of shares.

According to a leading trade association, India will import 1000 tonnes of gold in 2015 – a record. When you add that massive tonnage to the over 2600 tonnes China is expected to import this year, one wonders the origin of all this gold. The World Gold Council reports only 3100 tonnes of annual global production. China and India alone account for 3600 tonnes of that. [smile] Complicating matters, China (the top producer at 450 tonnes), and Russia (ranked second at 300 tonnes) retain their production within their own borders. Together the two countries are responsible for almost 25% of the world’s production.

The numbers just don’t add up, and neither does the price action. Four of the top five gold mining companies reported third quarter year over year losses. It’s not difficult to see who the winners and losers are in this game. India and China end up with cheap gold in dollar terms and the miners end up with losses and shrinking balance sheets.

In an interesting aside, EBay reports the biggest seller in the early shopping season is gold bars. The online shopping venue says that “it sells $1 million to $2 million of bullion every day, with volume increasing as the holidays approach. On Thursday, [it] offered two daily deals on gold bars, and sold about one per minute.” (CNBC report) So it’s not just China and India that are snapping up the gold at bargain prices. We should keep in mind that the third largest market for gold globally is the United States.