Welcome to Wednesday,

Today’s G&S Central news travels from Wall Street, where investors are now throwing billions of dollars at gold miner stocks, to China, a country whose economy might provide us with some hope, and then over to the country of…well, it’s a mystery country, you’ll have to click the link to see what nation just bumped Russia down to become the world’s highest purchaser of gold.

Let’s dig in…

Stock Market
Wall Street Now Throwing Billions of Dollars at Gold Miners

It was not that long ago when Wall Street didn’t want to touch most gold miner’s stocks. Thanks to the coronavirus crisis and its economic effects, the Wall Street crowd is now throwing lots of money at the gold mining industry—to the tune of $2.4 billion, that was the amount raised by investors in secondary equity offerings during the second quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That amount is the most since 2013—seven times more than the funds that were raised a year earlier. Now, precious metals companies are the darlings of the investment community. The sector is now attracting a broad base of investors. The gold mining market used to be dominated by two giants named Newmont Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp. Now, junior miners are starting to benefit.

Commentary
Lawrie Williams: Still Skeptical About Silver Despite Recent Performance

If you read the column of financial writer Lawrie Williams, you know he has not been championing the recent rise of silver. Williams does acknowledge that silver has been outperforming gold, and he thinks it could rise even more, but his tempered outlook ties in with the gold/silver ratio (GSR)…and he’s more bullish on the precious metal miners.

READ WILLIAMS FULL COLUMN

International
Russia Bumped Down to Second Highest Gold Buying Country—Guess Who is Now First?

A new country has emerged as the top buyer of gold, bumping Russia down to second place. No, it is not China or the United States. This country is concerned about the U.S. potentially barring their nation from dollar settlements since their relationship with the U.S. has cooled off. In response to the tense relations, this country purchased about 148 tons of gold in the January-May period, which is roughly triple the amount of the year -earlier figure.

DISCOVER THE MYSTERY COUNTRY AND THE DYNAMICS AT PLAY PROMPTING THEM TO BUY GOLD

Stock Market
New Technology Enhances Precious Metals Supply Transparency and Due Diligence

Valcambi will be adopting a new Secured Data Storage (SDS) system that strongly automate its precious metals sourcing process, allowing greater level of transparency and data sharing. The SDS system is based on block chain technology.

READ PRESS RELEASE

International
Rising Dragon Might Sink Gold

Will China’s economic recovery wreck gold’s good fortunes? In Q2 2020, China’s economy grew 3.2%, which was above expectations. The previous quarter the economy contracted 6.8%, and we know that was due to the country’s battle with COVID-19 that was hot and heavy at that time. What makes China a bellwether country now is due to the fact that their Q2 growth rate makes them the first major economy to report positive growth after the coronavirus pandemic and their national lockdown. This means the Chinese data could bode well for the U.S. and other countries, where the epidemic started later.