If you think you lived this week’s top gold news stories already it is because you already kind of have. The main focus of the world was Cyprus and how their bailout situation will be brought to an end. The added pressure due to the eyes of the world being fixated on the tiny island nation must have done some good because the situation is done and dealt with and banks are once again open.

Tiny Island, Lots of Problems

It seems as though the amount of problems building up around Cyprus have been amounting to a quantity that is even larger than the island itself. Luckily for everyone, but especially those living in Cyprus, the bank holiday was lifted on Thursday and regular withdrawals of money were once again able to be made.

The new bailout plan will see bank accounts in Cyprus that contain more than 100,000 euros to be taxed in order to fund the aforementioned bailout. This angered a lot of people, but not nearly the quantity of people that were up in arms when the original bailout plan was announced. The original plan would have seen every bank account being taxed to some extent, a situation that the poorer individuals in the country would have fought. This may not be the best solution the government of Cyprus could have come up with, but it at least makes sense, handles the situation, and only takes money from those who are likely able to spare the small amount they will each be getting taxed.

Trouble in Asia

The increased tensions between North Korea, South Korea, and the US have done little to move gold’s value yet, but that could change soon. The South and the US have been conducting joint military operations over the past few weeks and this has really struck the nerve of the North.

The reason we are focusing our attention on this news instead of the economic situation in Europe or America’s continued economic resurgence is because a war involving the South and the US could mean for big news for precious metals holders. As bad as this is to say, anytime there is a war or conflict involving 1st world nations such as the US or South Korea, the prospects of precious metals usually looks up. There is no real evidence that fighting is going to break out, but it is always important to keep your eye on the news, even if, on the surface, they look to be completely irrelevant in terms of precious metals.

Moving Ahead

As we move forward you are going to wish you had an extra set of eyes because your attention is going to be fixated on a number of different situations going on in the world. Like we just mentioned, the goings on on the Korean peninsula is something to keep an eye for the sole fact that fighting can break out there at any moment.

Elsewhere we need to stay up to date with debt problems in Europe as there are quite a few of those. Finally, we look to see if the US economy is able to continue to sustain its impeccable form that it has been showing off lately.

Weekly Move

Gold started off the week in a strong position at $1,610 but slowly fell off as it dropped about 13 dollars to finish the week at $1,597. Silver, on the other hand, started at $28.76 and dropped almost 40 cents to finish at $28.37.