You are here

Morgan Chase to let employees avoid taking bonuses in dollars

Section: Daily Dispatches

Central banks set to renew gold pact

By Tony Major and Andreas Krosta in Frankfurt
Financial Times
Sunday, January 18, 2004

a href=http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?http://news.ft.com/servlet/Cont...
pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStoryamp;c=StoryFTamp;cid=1073281113427

European central banks are likely to renew their five-year
agreement restricting gold sales in the spring, well ahead
of its expiry in September, in a move that could prolong
the two-year bull run in bullion prices.

The new agreement is also expected to raise the limit on
aggregate annual sales by the 15 participating central
banks, which include Germany, France, Italy, and the UK,
from 400 tonnes to more than 450.

Klaus Liebscher, governor of the Austrian central bank -- a
signatory to the accord -- said he was quot;very optimisticquot; that
a new gold agreement would have been quot;negotiated by the
spring.quot; In an interview with the Financial Times, he said the
talks were quot;not yet in the end phase. But he indicated
Europe's central bankers were supporting a renewal of the
agreement. quot;It is wise to renew the pact ... and many of
my colleagues see it that way.quot;

His comments will help to reassure gold investors, who have
seen its price rise by 20 percent in each of the past two
years on geopolitical tensions and a sliding dollar. Analysts
believe gold, which hovers just above the $400 an ounce
level, could now touch $450 this year.

Liebscher said he thought quot;sales of 450 tonnes a year or a
little morequot; would not be a problem for the market as long as
it was forewarned. Analysts said the renewal of the pact at
these levels would be positive. The pact has a big influence
on the gold price, and many had expected the central banks
to seek a bigger increase in sales.

quot;A limit on annual sales of between 450 and 500 tonnes
would be positive for the market,quot; said Paul Walker of Gold
Fields Mineral Services. quot;This is at the lower end of
expectations.quot;

Europe's central banks, which hold more than 14,000 tonnes
of gold, have been offloading bullion for years to diversify
their reserves and to provide easy means for governments to fund
budget gaps. But in the 1990s a selling binge by central banks
drove the price sharply lower.

The gold pact, signed by the ECB and central banks of the
euro zone -- Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK -- in 1999,
helped to rebuild confidence by preventing undisciplined
selling.

Under the first agreement, the biggest sellers were
Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK. But the German
Bundesbank, which has some 3,400 tonnes of gold in its
reserves, has recently indicated it now wants to sell about
400 tonnes. The Bank of Italy is also thought to be keen to
sell some gold.

----------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:

gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:

gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

----------------------------------------------------

RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Free sites:

a href=http://www.jsmineset.comhttp://www.jsmineset.com/a

a href=http://www.cbs.marketwatch.comhttp://www.cbs.marketwatch.com/a

a href=http://www.mineweb.com/http://www.mineweb.com//a

a href=http://www.gold-eagle.com/http://www.gold-eagle.com//a

a href=http://www.kitco.com/http://www.kitco.com//a

a href=http://www.usagold.com/http://www.usagold.com//a

a href=http://www.GoldSeek.com/http://www.GoldSeek.com//a

a href=http://www.capitalupdates.com/http://www.capitalupdates.com//a

a href=http://www.goldenbar.com/http://www.goldenbar.com//a

a href=http://www.silver-investor.comhttp://www.silver-investor.com/a

a href=http://www.thebulliondesk.com/http://www.thebulliondesk.com//a

a href=http://www.sharelynx.com/http://www.sharelynx.com//a

a href=http://www.mininglife.com/http://www.mininglife.com//a

a href=http://www.financialsense.comhttp://www.financialsense.com/a

a href=http://www.goldensextant.comhttp://www.goldensextant.com/a

a href=http://www.goldismoney.info/index.htmlhttp://www.goldismoney.info/index....

a href=http://www.howestreet.comhttp://www.howestreet.com/a

a href=http://www.depression2.tvhttp://www.depression2.tv/a

a href=http://www.moneyfiles.org/http://www.moneyfiles.org//a

a href=http://www.howestreet.comhttp://www.howestreet.com/a

a href=http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.htmlhttp://www.minersmanual.com/mi...

a href=http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.htmlhttp://ww...

a href=http://www.goldcolony.comhttp://www.goldcolony.com/a

a href=http://www.miningstocks.comhttp://www.miningstocks.com/a

a href=http://www.mineralstox.comhttp://www.mineralstox.com/a

a href=http://www.321gold.comhttp://www.321gold.com/a

Subscription site:

a href=http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/http://www.lemetropolecafe.com//a

a href=http://www.hsletter.comhttp://www.hsletter.com/a

Eagle Ranch discussion site:

a href=http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htmhttp://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm/a

----------------------------------------------------

COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS

Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave.
Suite 403
Denver, Colorado 80206
www.USAGold.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
US (800) 869-5115
Canada 1-800-294-9462
European Union 00-800-2760-2760
Australia 0011-800-2760-2760
cpm@usagold.com

Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net

Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkwa
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
a href=http://www.gloomdoom.comhttp://www.gloomdoom.com/a
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com

Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
a href=http://www.kitco.comhttp://www.kitco.com/a

Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com

Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
a href=http://www.milesfranklin.comhttp://www.milesfranklin.com/a
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel

Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com

Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
a href=http://www.buycoin.comhttp://www.buycoin.com/a
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com

----------------------------------------------------

HOW TO HELP GATA

If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.

By check:

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA

By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:

a href=http://www.gata.org/creditcard.htmlhttp://www.gata.org/creditcard.html/a

By GoldMoney:

a href=http://www.GoldMoney.comhttp://www.GoldMoney.com/a
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L

Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled quot;GATA.quot;

GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.