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So the Bank of England went and did it... printed yet more money - this time, £50bn. That means that since October 2011 the BoE has committed itself to print up an additional £125bn bringing the total money printing by the central bank to £325bn.
What is worrying is that the trend of money printing is accelerating rather than slowing - some 3+ years after the financial crisis started and some 2 years after the UK left the recession.
Our top article looks at all this money printing and what this could mean for the gold price. Probably the most worrying development is that this latest round of money printing won't be the last in 2012 - look for the BoE's balance sheet to expand to the £500bn+ level by the end of 2012. If it does do this it will mean that their balance sheet will be around 40% of the entire GDP of the UK, a simply staggering level.
As a result there is an inevitable devaluation in the pound coming that will simply take your breath away.
Gold's perfect golden run this year looks set to end this week.
Gold is looking to close the week out around the $1720/£1095 level a drop of about 1%. Still nicely above the 200 daily moving average which sits at $1657/£1041 and some 10% higher for the year so far.
Last week we noted:
"There seems to be some resistance at the $1750-55 level that may prove a bit sticky as we move into next week."
Yesterday gold did manage to get as high as $1752.5 but like with thought it would was quickly rejected. This level remains the resistance on the upside that once broken will quickly take gold to $1800. On the downside $1700 looks like a pretty decent support level - then $1680 should that fail.
As we move into next week the Greek tragi-comedy will once again take front and centre as the on/off/on-again/off-again rescue reaches breaking point. Greece has been a cloud over-hanging the market for a couple of years now and there is now real frustration that it hasn't be resolved one way or the other. This can really be seen in Greece as more and more are taking to the streets to demand an end to this, while more Greek parliamentarians resign.
Any 'failure' in Greece would come with a broad based sell-off that gold would be hard to escape from in the short-term.
Silver again looks like it's consolidating at these levels after a 20%+ move so far this year. Silver is looking to close the week flat around the $33.6 level. On the downside $33 should prove a decent support level and $34.5 is going to prove tricky on the upside.
Baring any major news out of Greece then both gold and silver look a little range bound here as they take breather after such an explosive start to the year.
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