India Sells 6.7 Billion U.S. Dollars For Gold

India sent a very clear signal today when it announced it had bought 200 tons of gold from the IMF for $6.7 billion. India, with the fifth-largest foreign reserve of any country, made the largest ever purchase of gold, signaling what they saw was weakness in the U.S. dollar.

The Financial Times reported that Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister, said that the European and U.S. economies had collapsed. Central bank holdings around the world went from %9.9 reserves in gold a year ago to %12.6 today. The Times of India said that India felt is was overweight in U.S. Treasuries.

China and Russia eying each other, over influence in Central-Asia

WSJ reports China and Russia have signed trade contracts worth several billion dollars. Easing National Security tensions that arose when Russia shut down it's Moscow market dominated by Chinese traders. These two Nuclear powers are proceeding carefully as Russia is concerned over China's influx of traders into the sparsely populated East. China itself is wary of Russia's influence over the resource-rich Central-Asian countries. Read more.