Gold was higher from the far East to the mid-point of London trading on Wednesday, slumped from there into New York’s second hour, bottoming at $916, but then shot higher for the rest of the day including the Globex, and finished at $931.80/oz., up $12.80.

You can’t got to bed these days without waking up to higher prices for everything. Crude futures in New York hit nearly US$130 overnight, and now everyone is wondering what’s next. US$150? US$200.

Gold was flat from the far East straight through London trading on Tuesday, but it took off in the second hour of the New York session, shooting as high as $923.40 before tailing off after the noon hour and finishing at $919.00/oz., up $13.60. Overnight, gold has been pushing higher.

With all the sniping and arguing in the media lately… you might be a bit confused as to whether oil or gold is the best hedge in the current climate. The answer’s quite simple… let me explain…

Gold flat-lined throughout Far East trading and only showed life when London opened. Virtually all the gains in the gold price were in by the time the traders in New York showed up for work.

Not a lot happened in both gold and silver yesterday. The tiny rally in the Far East got sold off starting at 3:00 a.m. New York time, then rallied slightly in London and into the Comex open…and that was that once again. Ditto for silver.

A little less than 12 months ago, the world’s biggest financial players suddenly found they could not turn some $1.3 trillion of their assets into cash.

Early on Monday morning, both gold and silver had smallish rallies going into the Hong Kong open, but that’s where it ended, as selling pressure took metal to their lows of the session until the New York traders showed up for work.

Gold started making an upwards move at precisely midnight on Thursday night. It, and silver, rose until shortly before 6:00 a.m. New York time, when both mysteriously started to sell off.

Gold had a very choppy day that saw it peak short of $880 in the far East, then decline steadily during London and the first hour of the New York session on Wednesday, but then bounce off an $865 low three times by noon, after which the trend was gently upward, to a finish at $867.80, down $7.90.