Topics (1700 words)

**Special Minipod Summary
Unreported Official Demand and China's Central Role
Russian Asset-Freeze Effect
Unreported Demand is Massive
Estimating China's Contribution
Conclusion: No slowdown yet
GoldFix Comments:

The Irrelevance of IMF Data

Fragmenting Hurts The Shorts Now

Legal Rationalization as Alarm Bell

EU CYA: A Fishy Pivot on Russia

Unreported Official Demand and China's Central Role

Authored by GoldFix ZH Edit

This week's Deutsche Bank report by Michael Hsueh (h/t ZH) highlights the rising role of official gold demand in driving market performance. Gold has outperformed financial models (which are now useless in the wake of real physical demand) in three of the past four years, and the analysis attributes this to a structural increase in demand from central banks and sovereign wealth funds.