How is or Who Does Determine PM Prices?
I have long wondered how the daily "market" price of precious metals gets determined.
In theory the laws of supply and demand apply, and the daily spot price is (allegedly) a reflection of this. But at the end of the day how does the final decision get made that silver, say, is worth $40 (US) per oz., or gold is $1700 or $1900 per oz.?
Does some secret cabal meet in the catacombs of a vineyard in France to sacrifice a virgin gerbil to the Sun God, and after divining the entrails do they then determine, and decree, what the upcoming price movements will be? Although what I just suggested may sound ludicrous, this wild ass theory if far more logical that assuming that any kind of free market forces are actually at work in the world. I'm already convinced that free markets no longer exist. Perhaps they never did.
But the question remains: if the price of gold finishes at $1745.60 at the end of the trading day today, how did that actual number get determined? And who has the final say on what that number will be?
