Will Gold Prices Go Up?

**Tim Elliott** (0:00)
Mira Business FM, Dubai's home of Business Radio. This is the Morning Drive. Goldnecks, Jeff Rhodes is the Managing Director for Business Development for the Middle East and Asia at Monetary Metals, and is at his holiday home in the sunny United Kingdom. Joins us over Zoom. How are you, Jeff?

**Jeff Rhodes** (0:28)
Yeah, good. Good morning, how are you? All good here.

**Tim Elliott** (0:31)
Yeah, not too bad. Well, I gather actually at the moment, and we talked to you the night after the favorites for the World Cup. Cruised through past Morocco as well. France got their win yesterday.

**Jeff Rhodes** (0:45)
Yeah, it's pretty good. They look good, you have to say. Mind you, England are not looking too shabby.
Honestly, I think they are two very good things.

**Tim Elliott** (0:57)
Yeah, they are.

**Jeff Rhodes** (0:59)
Yeah, Norway fancied their chances, very good. So, it's all looking interesting. I think, what is it?
Spain against Switzerland tonight, is it?

**Tim Elliott** (1:11)
I think you're right, actually. And then, of course, but as the pundits would always say, it's all to play for, because we've got the best of the best there at the moment.

**Jeff Rhodes** (1:23)
Yeah, we have. I mean, it's been, you have to say congrats to the US, Mexico and Canada, because it has been a fantastic World Cup.
And there's some, you know, some controversies here and there. But it's really been great. And yeah, so it would be nice to be there, Tim, wouldn't it?

**Tim Elliott** (1:44)
Oh, wouldn't it just? Do you know what I notice about this World Cup? I mean, you notice lots of things. There's a standard sort of approach to a World Cup. I know we're not talking gold, but it's interesting that in the build up to the World Cup, there's always something that's not right, and it's a huge controversy. And then the football starts and everyone's forgotten that. Then during the World Cup, there's a controversy, and I thought Egypt were incredibly unforeseen the other night. That was such a moment, but there's always the controversy all the way through. And then at the end, there's the breakdown, the conclusion, the post-mortem and everything.
But the stadiums in the United States, the Americans know how to build a stadium.

**Jeff Rhodes** (2:28)
They do, and it's incredible when you've got these massive, massive stadiums that are air-conditioned.

**Tim Elliott** (2:38)
I know, that's just, I beg to believe. I mean, I know it happened in Qatar, and I realize that, but no, they're remarkable places, these huge kind of 80,000, 100,000 domes that are full every week for American football. It's amazing to see.
So, should we talk about gold?

**Jeff Rhodes** (3:00)
Yeah, why not? I mean, where is gold? 4100, new gold standard, Tim.

**Tim Elliott** (3:05)
Yeah, well, exactly as you'd said, really, Jeff.

**Jeff Rhodes** (3:09)
Used to be $35 until 1971, and you knew you could get up every day, you could buy gold at $35. But now, a few years on, we're at $4100. And yeah, I can't, it hasn't really moved. You know what it is? I'm in the UK. So the gold market, gold has decided that while I'm here, it's gonna stick at $4100.
I'm flying back on the 19th of November. So on the 20th of November, Monday, we can expect a major rally in the gold price.
There's nothing to do with charts, nothing to do with fundamentals. It's to do with me being back in Dubai.

**Tim Elliott** (4:02)
So it's what the economists call the Rhodes effect. Is that what this is?

**Jeff Rhodes** (4:08)
I think so, yeah, it is. But yeah, but of course, here in London, London is the, apart from Dubai, is an epicenter of the global gold industry. So, and this is where I spent my, the first half of my career in London and second half in Dubai, both equally as rewarding really. So, but I think gold is doing very well.
Really, when you think about it, the only thing, I think I might have asked you this before, Tim, but the only thing that is certain, it happens every, every working day of the year. What is the one certainty in gold that we get every day of the year, every working day of the year? Let me ask you that question.

**Tim Elliott** (5:00)
Is it that people buy gold?

**Jeff Rhodes** (5:02)
No, it's people sell gold.
Because gold is a discretionary purchasing. You don't need gold. You don't need it.

**Tim Elliott** (5:14)
No.

**Jeff Rhodes** (5:14)
We love it. Jewelry, 50, 60 percent of global demand is jewelry, and we all love it. Central banks love it, love it even more than ever, because they're buying more gold than ever, and they see true value in gold to maintain their own economy. So, but everyone really loves gold, but they don't have to buy it. But if you are a gold producer, your job is to dig, find gold, dig it out of the ground and sell it. It's the one thing that happens every day of the year, gold is sold because that's what the business is.