In the end not even 30% of the voters ticked the "yes" in the gold ballot. The question concerned the obligation for the Swiss central bank to buy gold until it held an amount such as to be at least equal to 20% of its total foreign exchange reserves. The victory of the yes would have required the purchase, spread over five years, of over 1600 tons of precious metal.
The president of the Swiss National Bank had already spoken out decisively against a measure that would have limited the leeway of the institution itself, without bringing any particular benefits. The promoters of the referendum (which were accompanied by two other questions, also rejected by the electorate) complained of the lack of security offered by reserves in which the euro accumulates above all, a currency which has certainly not shone on the currency markets in recent months.
In the next few days we can expect a new drop in gold prices, because some investors in the last two weeks had protected themselves with some purchases, in the event of a yes victory, which would have accelerated demand on the physical metal market.
The victory of the "no" was almost obvious, just as the position of Saudi Arabia was obvious on Thursday in Vienna, which ruled out production cuts by OPEC aimed at supporting crude oil prices. As a rule, the markets anticipate decisions, to then settle on equilibrium values. In this case it does not seem to be the case: the global economic landscape is not exciting and the demand for energy is growing at a reduced pace, as demonstrated by the fall of the oil markets in the last session of the week.
Precisely the drop in crude oil, which further distances any hypothesis of rising inflation over time, should combine its effect with that of the Swiss referendum, thus bringing gold back towards a range around 1150 dollars per ounce, barring an unexpected weakening of the greenback (the week ended on Friday evening in New York with the quotation at 1175,20 dollars). But subsequently the ample liquidity of the economic system could be directed again towards safe-haven assets, even if, in the absence of inflation, the need for a safe-haven is much less felt.
