Source: WSJ – Central Banks Boosted Gold Holdings in April
Notable excerpts:
Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan boosted their gold holdings in April, a month that saw prices plunge to two-year lows in a pullback that raised questions over the metal’s safe-haven status but also offered an opportunity to buy into the market at lower levels.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek – German Solar to Gain From Cyprus Crisis as Investors Seek Safety
Notable excerpts:
Germany’s solar industry is set to benefit from the financial crisis in Cyprus as investors seek a haven in the guaranteed returns provided by clean-energy plants.
Milk the Sun GmbH, a Berlin-based company that links buyers and sellers of solar projects, had the most inquiries in a year on March 26 as Germans sought to invest, said Chief Executive Officer Felix Krause. That day Cyprus prepared to impose capital controls and a tax on bank deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($128,000).
Source: The Telegraph – Cyprus To Sell €400m Of Gold As Bail-out Costs Nearly Double
Notable excerpts:
Cyprus has agreed to sell gold reserves to raise around €400m (£340.6m) and help finance its part of its bailout, an assessment of Cypriot financing needs prepared by the European Commission showed.
The draft assessment, obtained by Reuters, also said that Cyprus would raise €10.6bn from the winding down of Laiki Bank and the losses imposed on junior bondholders and the deposit-for-equity swap for uninsured deposits in the Bank of Cyprus.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald – I Went To Sleep Friday As A Rich Man. I Woke Up A Poor Man
Notable excerpts:
”Very bad, very, very bad,” says 65-year-old John Demetriou, rubbing tears from his lined face with thick fingers. ”I lost all my money.”
John now lives in the picturesque fishing village of Liopetri on Cyprus’ south coast. But for 35 years he lived at Bondi Junction and worked days, nights and weekends in Sydney markets selling jewellery and imitation jewellery.
Source: RTAmerica – Peter Schiff explains how a US depression can cause a global ‘death spiral’
Notable excerpts:
From Peter Schiff:
“We are definitely headed for a real economic crisis in the United States. What happened in 2008 was just the opening act. The main event is still coming in.”
“The US is going to be held accountable for the trillions of dollars that we borrow and spend. And we are simply unable to pay it back. And we created a phony economy that is completely dependent on the ability to keep borrowing more money than we can pay back.”
“Cyprus is the tip of a very big iceberg.”
“American depositors are already suffering a deposit tax. It’s called quantitative easing. Zero percent interest rates is a way the government confiscates the interest you would ordinarily earn on your bank account. And quantitative easing means there is inflation, it means prices go up. We are paying a very severe deposit tax every year in the United States. Unfortunately, I think it is going to get larger as the years go on.”
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