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

Money, it’s gas, as Pink Floyd sang and as we all know. But it’s also a medium of exchange which enables economic calculation and our sophisticated civilization. Over history, a lot of things were used as money, including cattle or salt, but precious metals dominated as a medium of exchange.

The money supply is the total amount of money available in an economy at a particular point in time. The quantity of money is probably the most important concept in economic theory, since it affects the price level. The increase in money supply causes price inflation, while the decrease in money supply leads to price deflation.

A type of a loan secured by real estate. A mortgage deal involves at least two sides: the borrower (typically a home buyer) and the lender (usually a financial institution). The lender provides the borrower with financial means necessary to buy a specific property. The borrower agrees to pay interest on the loan and uses the property as collateral. The deal might encompass various intermediaries between the lender and the borrower.

A moving average (rolling average, rolling mean, running average, MA) is the average of the closing price of a security over a specified period of time. It smoothes short-term price fluctuations, thus giving a clearer picture of the trend. The 50-day and 200-day moving averages are quite often used as support and resistance levels for gold, silver and mining stocks.

Did you know that states, counties, or municipalities also can issue bonds? These bonds are called “municipal bonds”. As they are issued by local governments, they are mainly used to finance infrastructure projects such as the construction of highways, bridges or schools.