Metals desk

Gold & silver desk

Prices live in the bar above. The tape is five years of COMEX. Then the 1980 highs in today’s money.

Tape

Five years of the screen

COMEX closes, not a tick tape. Spot in the bar is the same metals feed as the clock.

Gold

Silver

Ratio

Charts load from COMEX when the feed answers.

January 1980

The 1980 ATH, in today’s dollars

Gold’s London print was $850. Silver’s Hunt-era print was $49.45. CPI is official inflation. M2 is the money stock.

Gold

Printed $850 · 21 Jan 1980

Spot $4,456

CPI-adjusted all-time high

$3,627

above

M2-adjusted all-time high

$13,310

33% of ATH

Silver

Printed $49.45 · 18 Jan 1980

Spot $66.5

CPI-adjusted all-time high

$211

32% of ATH

M2-adjusted all-time high

$774

9% of ATH

CPI: FRED CPIAUCSL (2026-07 vs Jan 1980 = 78.0). M2: FRED M2SL (2026-07 vs Jan 1980 = $1,483 bn). Spot: live metals feed.

Since the Fed

The dollar since 1913

Purchasing power of $1 at the founding of the Federal Reserve. Official CPI.

Lost

97.0%

of 1913 purchasing power

Left

3.0¢

what $1 from 1913 buys now

To match $1 then

$33

today’s dollars

Purchasing power of $1 (1913 = $1.00)

$1.0075¢50¢25¢$0191319331971198020082026

Source: FRED CPIAUCNS, last observation of each year. 1913 CPI = 10.0; 2026 = 333.918. 2026 is year-to-date.

Official sector

Central bank gold

Absolute: reported net tonnes in the window. China and Poland look different here than in percent.

+346 tWGC net official demand, H1 2026 (through Jun; includes unreported)

  • Poland

    +82 t

  • China

    +60 t

#CountryReported netGrowth
1Poland+82 t+17.5%
2China+60 t+2.6%

Official prints only — no estimates. 2026 YTD uses the latest figure per country (PBoC/SAFE for China, WGC monthly for the rest). WGC has not published the July all-country table yet. World total is WGC GDT H1, not the sum of the table. Top 15. Compiled fallback.

Global precious metals clock

Gold is a stock. Silver is a flow.

Six numbers on the face. Boards underneath. Spot ticks. The rest is a dated print, or a dash.

Au

live

Gold spot

— — —USD / oz

15-minute print. Weekends stay last close.

Ag

live

Silver spot

— — —USD / oz

Same feed as gold. Not a tick-by-tick tape.

GSR

live

Gold–silver ratio

— — —oz Ag / oz Au

Live ratio. 15:1 is history, not a target.

Official

Dec 2025

World official gold

35,908t

Countries + IMF + ECB, one year-end vintage. Not BIS. 2026 buying is not in this stock yet.

Cover

2025

World gov debt / official gold

— — —%

IMF 2025 gross public debt vs our official book mark-to-market. Not all above-ground gold.

Silver

2024

Visible silver / a year of industry

15.3months

Identifiable bullion (vaults) ÷ 2024 fabrication. Gold has no analogue.

Stock versus flowthe spine

Gold — a stock

Almost all ever mined still exists

Official reserves

35,908t

Net official buying, YTD

346t

CB take of mine supply

24%

Investment gold per person

6.3g

Buying is WGC GDT H1 2026. Take is 2025 official / WGC mine. Grams: bars, coins, ETFs over 8.2bn people.

Silver — a flow

A large share is used up, not stored

Official silver

47t

Mine + recycle vs demand

-4,681t

Months of visible cover

15.3mo

Investment silver per person

0.15oz

2024 Silver Institute. Official sector is a rounding error. Visible ounces are vaulted bullion, not jewelry.

Who holds the goldWGC Q2 2026

Official

Jun 2026

Central banks and IFIs

18%

WGC above-ground split. Wider than our official book.

Jewelry

Jun 2026

Jewelry stock

45%

Mostly India and China. Not a vault float.

Investment

Jun 2026

Bars, coins, ETFs

23%

Other

Jun 2026

Industry, OTC, unaccounted

14%

Ratiosprice vs geology

Live

live

Gold–silver ratio

— — —×

History

const

Bimetallic mint ratio

15 : 1Ag : Au

Rome / 19th-c. US coinage. Not a forecast.

Spread

live

Today vs 15 : 1

— — —×

How many times the old mint ratio the market is paying.

Geology

2025

Mine output ratio

7.9 : 1Ag : Au

USGS 2025e: 26,000 t silver / 3,300 t gold. A byproduct fact, not fair value.

Sovereign debt vs goldtwo different stocks

World

2025

Global sovereign debt

$111TUSD

IMF WEO gross public debt, 2025. Not IIF’s larger ‘all debt’ stock.

All gold

live

Above-ground gold, mark-to-market

— — —USD

WGC Jun 2026 stock × spot. Jewelry plus vaults. Not all of it can be sold at the posted price.

Official

live

Official gold, mark-to-market

— — —USD

World official tonnes × spot. A mark, not a bid for the whole stack.

Cover

live

All gold vs world gov debt

— — —%

Cover

live

Official gold vs world gov debt

— — —%

Four printerscompiled prints

USD

2026

US M2

$23.2TUSD

FRED M2SL, compiled year. Not per-second. 2026 is latest, not a completed year.

EUR

Jul 2026

Euro-area M3

€17.6TEUR

Compiled ECB print (Jul 2026). Live feed missed; this is the seed, not a gag.

CNY

Jul 2026

China M2

CN¥355.5TCNY

PBOC Jul 2026. Dwarfs the others. Do not hide it in a world sum.

JPY

Jul 2026

Japan M2

¥1,297TJPY

BOJ Jul 2026. FRED’s Japan M2 series stopped years ago.

USD

live

Dollar vs gold since 1971

— — —% lost

Share of the 1971 gold ounce a dollar no longer buys. Bretton Woods closed 15 Aug 1971.

EUR

live

Euro vs gold since 1999

— — —% lost

First euro session, 4 Jan 1999 (~€244/oz). Gold in euros = USD gold ÷ EURUSD.

CNY

live

Yuan vs gold since 1971

— — —% lost

Official 1971 rate, not a market yuan. Same gold-window dollar as the USD tile.

JPY

live

Yen vs gold since 1971

— — —% lost

¥360 × $40.62 at the gold window. Bretton Woods closed 15 Aug 1971.

Paper is three rowsnot one multiple

COMEX Au

daily

Open interest vs registered

— — —×

No clean daily feed we trust. Futures claims vs registered metal — still a dash.

LBMA

monthly

Clearing vs vaulted gold

— — —×

Turnover, not the same as COMEX. Stays dashed until we store a dated print.

ETFs

Jun 2026

Gold ETF tonnes

4,000t

WGC above-ground split, Q2 2026. Not a daily holdings tape.

COMEX Ag

daily

Open interest vs registered

— — —×

Same gap as gold: no daily COMEX registered series in this desk.

Vaults

2024

Identifiable silver

1,239moz

Silver Institute identifiable bullion, 2024. Not a London or COMEX daily vault print.

ETFs

daily

Silver ETF tonnes

— — —t

No clean daily ETF stock we store. Identifiable silver is the yearly proxy above.

Three official booksdrill-in

Fed

Dec 2025

United States official gold

8,133t

ECB

Dec 2025

ECB gold (institution)

507t

The ECB’s own book. Eurosystem (national banks + ECB) is a larger sum, not this tile.

PBoC

Jun 2026

China reported official gold

2,346t

Latest PBoC/SAFE print. Newer than the world year-end stock.

World

Dec 2025

All official gold

35,908t

Same figure as the face. Compiled seed if GSHQ is offline.

Dashes are missing prints, not broken widgets. COMEX open interest and LBMA clearing stay empty on purpose. Desk with the figures we already store →

Money stock

Gold & silver vs US M2

All three start at 100. If gold tracks the printing press, it rides with M2.

US M2

33×

since 1971

Gold

113×

M2-implied $1,328 · actual $4,609

Silver

50×

M2-implied $45.44 · actual $69.41

— Gold— Silver– – M2100 = 1971
02000400060008000100001971198019902000201020202026
YearGoldSilverM2 $bn
1971$40.62$1.39710
1980$613$20.981,600
2000$279$4.954,927
2008$872$14.998,203
2011$1,572$35.129,684
2020$1,770$20.5519,119
2024$2,386$28.2721,488
2026$4,609$69.4123,218

M2: FRED M2SL. CPI: FRED CPIAUCSL. Metals: annual averages (LBMA / COMEX); 2026 is latest, not a completed year. M2-implied price = start price × (M2 now ÷ M2 then). Compiled desk — not a live feed.

Read next

History and the ideas

The desk is the numbers. The articles explain why they matter.

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