Culture News Blog

Gold prices fell further overnight, following yesterday oil-led and hawkish Fed-induced rout. Further losses in the euro following reports of steep drops in Eurozone industrial orders helped the greenback climb to near 72.61 on the index and reduced the appeal of gold along with its value.

Prices skirted a low of $931 ahead of the Wednesday NY session. Oil prices dropped further, as the oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to have avoided what could now be a Cat 2 storm slated to hit the US/Mexico border later today. If there was some supporting factor for prices not yet slipping into the $920's it was likely to be Iran's vow to pursue its nuclear technology program and claim that the US recognizes its rights to acquire such capabilities. In other regional news, the UK appears all set to have most or all of its troop leave Iraq in early 2009.

In a move that is likely not just designed to freshen gold's image, the World Gold Council has decided that the tune it sings to India's gold buyers needs to be altered. Abandoning its "Speak Gold" campaign, the organization now plans to got directly for the proverbial jugular and highlight gold's historic and deeply ingrained allure and connection within the culture of India. That this shift has something to do with the 65% slump in gold imports recorded in the first half of this year in the world's top bullion-consuming country should be quite obvious.

Well, at least something is being done about the matter. As one Indian jeweler in Vancouver put it last night: "Well, now if they can only do something about the price of the metal..." Someone, somewhere is trying to do something about the price of black...gold. Bloomberg reports that the US "Congress may outlaw elements of oil futures trading that lawmakers found distorted demand and contributed to the 69 percent surge in prices in the past year.

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