It’s been an up week for most of the metals, with gold up 1.9% to $1,797, silver up a monster 7% to $23.03, platinum up a solid 2.9% to $1,043, with palladium being the outlier, down a fraction to $1,932.

Looking back a year ago today, we see all the metals in positive territory, with gold up 1%, silver up 2.3%, platinum 8.4% higher, and palladium up 3.5%.

The whole issue of trading gold for Russian oil is back in play with a new mechanism that prices oil at 1 gram of gold per barrel of oil.  There is some speculation that Russia could offer to raise the stakes to 2 barrels of oil for a gram of gold.  With the imposed cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil, the implied price of gold would be bumped up from current levels near $1,800 an ounce to nearly $3,600 per ounce.

We will be writing more about this with more details, in a longer article.  The beneficiaries of this move would be the owners of gold - whether individuals, corporations, nations, or central banks.  No wonder central banks have been purchasing gold at a record pace.