Swiss People's Party (SVP) Forces Gold Referendum

The conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) has garnered enough signatures concerning a ban on the selling of gold reserves in the country to force a referendum on the issue.

Called "Save our Swiss Gold," the proposal would disallow the central bank of Switzerland from selling any of the gold it holds in reserve, as well as keeping a minimum of 20 percent of its assets in gold.

"Gold reserves aren't speculative objects for the SNB or politicians. They belong to the people," said SVP politician Luzi Stamm.

During 2007 through 2008 the Swiss National Bank (SNB) sold about 250 tons of gold, resulting in an outcry from citizens. While promising it won't sell any more of its gold holdings (laughter in the background), it still is threatened by the idea of rules being put into place which would hinder it from taking steps in shaping the monetary policy of the nation.

SNB spokesman Walter Meier said this: "The SNB has considerable concerns, in particular of a monetary policy nature, about the initiative's demands."

Of course if the SNB had no intention of reneging on its promise, it makes one wonder why it is it's concerned about the demands of the SVP.

Near the close of 2012 the SNB had a total of 1,040 tons of gold in reserve. That equaled about 50.8 billion ($54 billion) Swiss francs at the time.

Another provision of the initiative is that the Swiss National Bank must store all of its gold reserves within the borders of the country.

At this time it is alleged most Swiss gold is stored in the country, although some is stored in other parts of the world in light of crisis scenarios envisioned by the bank.

I wonder if Swiss citizens look at Germany's demand for the repatriation of its gold from America, which it'll have to wait years to get.

Gold Trading at Record Highs in British pound, euro and Swiss franc

This last week had gold reaching its highest trading level against the British pound, euro and Swiss franc, as the potential for a sovereign debt catastrophe in Europe looms over the investment world and people and institutions want a safe place to have their money.

It seems the depth of the latest crisis isn't even comprehended by most, but it boggles the mind when start talking of countries like Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain being in extreme danger of defaulting on debt, with some being more exposed than others.

This has caused all currencies to be suspect, and that has resulted in the record high trading against the currencies listed above.

Gold is going to rise against many things going forward, as there's simply nothing else to take its place, as a large number of investors are increasingly understanding when reconsidering investing in the U.S. dollar as the place of safety.

This is why gold has been rising with the dollar, as investors are gravitating toward gold as their safe have more and more, and they should be.

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC): Swiss National Bank Intervention

Swiss National Bank Intervention

After the euro rose against the Swiss franc and U.S. dollar today, rumors circulated there was intervention from Swiss National Bank, which they declined to comment on. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) currency strategist Vassili Serebriakov said, "There was suspected intervention by the Swiss National Bank. The sharpest movement in the euro was against the Swiss franc, but it looks like it also helped the single currency across the board."

Others agreed there was no doubt Swiss National Bank intervened, but assume there will never be a confirmation they indeed did.

The gain by the euro against the franc was the best performance in nine months.