3 ms·

JPMorgan's $4B delivery of gold adds to fear tariffs will reshape global trade

75 points by rntn 2y ago

reaperducer 2y ago
I saw on Sky News yesterday that so much gold is being moved into the United States recently that it's hard for the central banks in other nations to get much lately.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
nytesky 2y ago
I am reading "Lords of Finance" and it alludes to how the gold trade helped trigger the Great Depression. https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/0143116800 https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/... (hat tip to HN as this was where this book was recommended to me) Granted we don't have an official gold standard, but could todays gold exchange cause similar problems? https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-gold-standard-contribute-to-the-great-depression https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-gold-standard-contr...
- 1oooqooq 2y ago
  maybe if all the russian olygachs wanting to buy gold again do a bank run on BTC
suraci 2y ago
no matter what the reason is, the result is the US is draining golds from all over the world good for dollars, bad for us fyi https://archive.ph/95I9l https://archive.ph/95I9l
dgrin91 2y ago
I know this has important global trade implications and all, but I'm really curious about the logistics of this. Where is all this gold coming from? How is it being delivered to NY? Is it being delivered to the fed bank? How much will delivery cost? Will it just be some 'plain' armored cars or will they shut down some streets while a military convoy comes in? So many questions...
- anotherhue 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance
- dr_dshiv 2y ago
  You’ll want to see Die Hard with a Vengeance for more details.
- defrost 2y ago
  Historically it comes from global gold mines -> various bullion collectors. Right now the Kalgoorlie Superpit (really big hole) is wound down, however it had three decades of producing ~ 1 Billion (AUD) of gold per annum. Other lesser gold mines have also produced in history and others still produce today. Most gold "does nothing" .. it's shiny, it's collectable, people pile it up. It's really good for long lasting expensive space tech, it's great for decorating statues, it looks good as jewellry .. but it's essentially just 'precious'.
- ganeshkrishnan 2y ago
  its all delivered in secret flights and routes. Last year, an insider in Canadian airport got tipped off about impending arrival of gold and got along with his friends for the "largest heist in canadian history" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Pearson_International_Airport_heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Pearson_International_...
- cco 2y ago
  I'll just throw this tidbit out even though it sounds like in this specific case gold is physically moving. But in many (most?) cases, gold in these amounts is held in very few physical locations around the world, like The Bank of England, and "moving gold" just means changing paperwork on who "owns" which gold inside the vault.
  - ganeshkrishnan 2y ago
    >and "moving gold" just means changing paperwork on who "owns" Usually yes, but in this case and ALMOST all cases recently its physically shifting gold around. Argentina moved it from Argentina to London, most global south countries are physically moving their gold to their own country (India: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/india-gold-flying-england-home-significance-rbi-13830614.html https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/india-gold-flying-engla..., China: https://internationalbanker.com/banking/whats-behind-chinas-gold-buying-spree/ https://internationalbanker.com/banking/whats-behind-chinas-...) The sanctions on Russia has triggered a flight of capital and gold across countries. I am just surprised why US is buying so much gold given that its mostly developing countries to buffer up their own reserves so that they can trade in their own currencies. US has USD so why is it stocking up on Gold. Someone somewhere knows the answers.
kristianp 2y ago
A better depth of the financial mechanics is to be found on bloomberg [1]. The guardian is short on detail in this instance. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-31/jpmorgan-plans-4-billion-gold-delivery-in-us-amid-tariff-fears https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-31/jpmorgan-... https://archive.is/kRWYM https://archive.is/kRWYM
basementcat 2y ago
Is this related to the US sovereign default scheduled to take place within approximately a month?

75 points by rntn 2y ago

I saw on Sky News yesterday that so much gold is being moved into the United States recently that it's hard for the central banks in other nations to get much lately.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

nytesky 2y ago

I am reading "Lords of Finance" and it alludes to how the gold trade helped trigger the Great Depression. https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/0143116800 https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/... (hat tip to HN as this was where this book was recommended to me) Granted we don't have an official gold standard, but could todays gold exchange cause similar problems? https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-gold-standard-contribute-to-the-great-depression https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-gold-standard-contr...

1oooqooq 2y ago
maybe if all the russian olygachs wanting to buy gold again do a bank run on BTC

suraci 2y ago

no matter what the reason is, the result is the US is draining golds from all over the world good for dollars, bad for us fyi https://archive.ph/95I9l https://archive.ph/95I9l

dgrin91 2y ago

I know this has important global trade implications and all, but I'm really curious about the logistics of this. Where is all this gold coming from? How is it being delivered to NY? Is it being delivered to the fed bank? How much will delivery cost? Will it just be some 'plain' armored cars or will they shut down some streets while a military convoy comes in? So many questions...

anotherhue 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance
dr_dshiv 2y ago
You’ll want to see Die Hard with a Vengeance for more details.
defrost 2y ago
Historically it comes from global gold mines -> various bullion collectors. Right now the Kalgoorlie Superpit (really big hole) is wound down, however it had three decades of producing ~ 1 Billion (AUD) of gold per annum. Other lesser gold mines have also produced in history and others still produce today. Most gold "does nothing" .. it's shiny, it's collectable, people pile it up. It's really good for long lasting expensive space tech, it's great for decorating statues, it looks good as jewellry .. but it's essentially just 'precious'.
ganeshkrishnan 2y ago
its all delivered in secret flights and routes. Last year, an insider in Canadian airport got tipped off about impending arrival of gold and got along with his friends for the "largest heist in canadian history" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Pearson_International_Airport_heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Pearson_International_...
cco 2y ago
I'll just throw this tidbit out even though it sounds like in this specific case gold is physically moving. But in many (most?) cases, gold in these amounts is held in very few physical locations around the world, like The Bank of England, and "moving gold" just means changing paperwork on who "owns" which gold inside the vault.
- ganeshkrishnan 2y ago
  >and "moving gold" just means changing paperwork on who "owns" Usually yes, but in this case and ALMOST all cases recently its physically shifting gold around. Argentina moved it from Argentina to London, most global south countries are physically moving their gold to their own country (India: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/india-gold-flying-england-home-significance-rbi-13830614.html https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/india-gold-flying-engla..., China: https://internationalbanker.com/banking/whats-behind-chinas-gold-buying-spree/ https://internationalbanker.com/banking/whats-behind-chinas-...) The sanctions on Russia has triggered a flight of capital and gold across countries. I am just surprised why US is buying so much gold given that its mostly developing countries to buffer up their own reserves so that they can trade in their own currencies. US has USD so why is it stocking up on Gold. Someone somewhere knows the answers.

kristianp 2y ago

A better depth of the financial mechanics is to be found on bloomberg [1]. The guardian is short on detail in this instance. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-31/jpmorgan-plans-4-billion-gold-delivery-in-us-amid-tariff-fears https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-31/jpmorgan-... https://archive.is/kRWYM https://archive.is/kRWYM

basementcat 2y ago

Is this related to the US sovereign default scheduled to take place within approximately a month?