Explanations of "Gold" investment-related terms A to Z

Bank of Japan (BoJ)

The Bank of Japan, based in Tokyo, is the central bank of Japan. It ensures the smooth settlement of funds among banks and other financial institutions and issues banknotes. The BOJ also carries out currency and monetary control, which is aimed at achieving price stability (understood as a 2 percent year-on-year rate of change of the consumer price index), thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy. The BOJ's highest decision-making body is the Policy Board.

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Bank Run

The coronavirus crisis has led to the toilet paper run. The fear of being trapped under quarantine for a long time caused panic buying of the toilet paper. Although called by many observers irrational, the frantic purchases were totally rational, given the actions of other people. After all, if others run to the store, the optimal strategy for you is to do the same, otherwise you will be left without toilet paper. And it would be a shitty result, wouldn’t it?

It turns out that toilet paper run is similar to the bank run. What is it? The bank run occurs when a large number of clients withdraw their deposits from a bank at the same time, because they fear the institutions will run out of money.
Some economists say that a bank run is the result of panic rather than true insolvency, but this is not true. The hard truth is that commercial banks which operate under the fractional-reserve banking system, are generally bankrupt. This is because they keep only a fraction of their clients’ money at bank (this is the difference from the toilet paper run – stores do not promise to keep toilet paper ready on the shelf for you). So, in case of bank runs, banks have to fail. It is like poker, you can have poor cards but still be in game – until somebody says “check”.

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Bearish Divergence

A bearish divergence between the price and a technical indicator is a moderately useful tool for detecting a coming reversal in the bullish trend. Bearish divergence in gold is therefore a moderately bearish signal for the gold market.

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Bear market

A bear market refers to a decline in prices, usually for an extended period, in a single security or asset, group of securities or the securities market as a whole. Its opposite is a bull market where prices are rising. In case of precious metals, the great gold bear market started in 1980 after the major, long-term top.

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Bid-ask spread

The bid-ask spread is the difference between the price quoted by investors who want to sell a certain stock or asset (ask price) and those who wish to buy it (bid price). The higher the spread the less liquidity in the market for the asset.

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Black Swan Event and Gold

A black swan is an unpredictable and rare event in the markets. Is gold a hedge against black swan events?

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Bond Prices

To live like James Bond, you need a lot of money. An Aston Martin is not cheap, and neither are luxury rendezvous.

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Bond Yields

Would like to hear the best joke in the world? “Bond yields can only go up from here!”. This is what many investors believed for years. But they were constantly wrong, as the chart below shows.

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Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson – pardon, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson – became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July 2019, after Theresa May resigned.

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Breakdown

A breakdown is a sustained move below a support level. Breakdowns are usually associated with a bearish outlook and might be triggers for sizable moves to the downside. A key factor in the analysis of a breakdown is whether it has been confirmed or not.

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Breakout

A breakout is a sustained move above a resistance level. Breakouts are usually associated with a bullish outlook and might be triggers for sizable moves to the upside. A key factor in the analysis of a breakout is whether it has been confirmed or not.

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Bretton Woods Agreement

The Bretton Woods Agreement had important implications for the gold market. It emerged from an economic conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the United States, during the first three weeks of July 1944.

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