We were again disappointed. Last week, investors did not hear what they were hoping for from Mario Draghi, the ECB chief, that is, when, how and at what rate the central bank will gradually put an end to its policy of quantitative easing. “Come back in October, and then you will find out”, was Draghi´s message to a gathering of reporters and to millions of investors and traders around the world who were glued to their screens.

Although in this case the old maxim “better late than

Let us be blunt for a moment: interest rate hikes by central banks, especially the Fed, are generally bad news for precious metals. Or better said: a greater number of rate hikes than the market currently expects, mean bad news for precious metals prices. Whoever bases his or her expectations on what the Fed casually promises between lines, is assuming that the central bank based in New York will raise the official rate once more this year and another three times in the course of next year.

If

No, it did not surprise me that Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) sounded rather hawkish at the important annual ECB meeting in Sintra (Portugal). His speech could be best interpreted as a clear signal that monetary policy in the Eurozone will soon be less expansionary.

That did not surprise me. Not because of Draghi´s eagerness to tighten monetary policy, but because I can very well imagine that more and more of his colleagues who are part of ECB board are beginning to speak up. It is a public secret that several board members have never been big proponents of the zero-interest rate policy and quantitative easing. Many others did defend these policies, because the economy was barely growing, a recession threat was looming, as well as a secular deflation threat