Gold jewellery
This quote from Felix Salmon, at Reuters, on the big reason why gold has hit another record high hits the right notes:
"Is it a coincidence that the price of gold hit an all-time high just as David Cameron was becoming the Prime Minister of Britain? Yes. But it's also indicative of the enormous amount of uncertainty that continues to pervade the market. If you're just looking at the stock market, you're not looking at the most sensitive barometer of fears about the global economy in general and the euro zone in particular."
He's certainly right that there aren't a whole lot of worry signs elsewhere. North American stocks charged higher on Wednesday afternoon, with U.S. indexes in particularly obliterating last week's selloff.
And the CBOE VIX volatility index, popularly known as the fear gauge, fell to 25.3 on Wednesday afternoon, down 10.7 per cent. It shot above 40 last Thursday, but has now fallen back to its pre-flash crash level.
David Berman