Barry Stuppler

Silver is playing an important, if not critical role in the growing world of wearable technology.

At the new intersection where fashion and biometrics meet, silver provides the conduit in innovative athletic clothing that transmits sought-after biometric data, such as the wearer’s real time heartbeat, to a sensor that displays the data . . . .

One of the depressing factors with regard to the gold price so far this year has been the reported fall-off in Chinese gold demand, although by world standards it remains pretty healthy. But there are now signs that it is beginning to pick up again . . . .

Will Asia still want gold as it gets richer? I was in Malaysia last week, speaking at a gold conference. To give you an idea of how important gold is considered to be out there, the prime minister was delivering the keynote speech. Can you imagine David Cameron giving a keynote entitled ‘Gold: Sustaining Future Growth’ over here? It just wouldn’t happen. The episode has got me thinking about the vastly different attitudes to gold between East and West – and that’s what I want to look at today. . . .