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France pulls last gold held in US

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Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#251

Post by JackFr »

rdtsc wrote: post #150
u1hcw9nx wrote: post #105

>However, an operation to repatriate its gold holdings began in the 1960s leading up to the US termination of the Bretton Woods system, which effectively stopped foreign governments from exchanging dollars for gold. French-US monetary history after WWII: Under the Bretton Woods agreement (1944-1971), the US dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and it was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce. Other countries pegged the…

> trade, then French Navy picked those gold bullions from NY I couldn’t find any clear news source or academic reference to that event. I see a lot of references on gold buying/selling sites mostly. I would imagine a Fench Navy ship docked NY and loading tons of gold would make quite a stir.

One armored car can carry a ton of gold. If they left and drove to the closest US Navy port, where the French ship would dock. it wouldn't raise eyebrows.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#252

Post by tensor »

Galanwe wrote: post #245
shin_lao wrote: post #243

This article is poorly written. No new wealth was created. They monetized an existing accounting/revaluation gain by selling older, non-standard bars and replacing them with compliant bars, while keeping the overall gold quantity unchanged. That is not the same as "we moved gold home and earned $15B on the move." In simple terms: - You buy x of gold at $10 - You sell it much later for $100 - You made a profit of $90,…

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

The article even says exactly that:

"Due to rising gold prices, the move helped the bank to generate a capital gain of 13 billion euros ($15 billion), bringing it to a net profit of 8.1 billion euros for the 2025 financial year after a net loss of 7.7 billion euros in 2024."

I would have thought the audience here would understand something as straight forward as a capital gain.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#254

Post by Galanwe »

Bootvis wrote: post #249
Galanwe wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

What is the benefit of realizing the gains for France? They had gold, they still have gold. They don't pay tax on their gold or gains.

I don't think they cared about realizing the gains. They just wanted to roll to a new position on higher standard ingots. It just so happen that it meant selling/buying, which realizes the gains.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#255

Post by irishcoffee »

Galanwe wrote: post #245
shin_lao wrote: post #243

This article is poorly written. No new wealth was created. They monetized an existing accounting/revaluation gain by selling older, non-standard bars and replacing them with compliant bars, while keeping the overall gold quantity unchanged. That is not the same as "we moved gold home and earned $15B on the move." In simple terms: - You buy x of gold at $10 - You sell it much later for $100 - You made a profit of $90,…

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

I think the GP was saying that there was no gain. France has the same amount of gold they did last week. The whole article is like saying "holy shit, france has the exact same amount of wealth they did last week!"

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#256

Post by tensor »

kshacker wrote: post #250
Galanwe wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

Capital gain and losses are when you need to pay taxes. If you sold 100K of SPY that you bought for 10K actually, and bought it back (It is a gain so there is no wash sale) immediately, you need to pay taxes for $90K. This is just an exchange based on the comments I am reading.

No, capital gains are simply the amount you earn when selling capital for profit. They may be taxed, or may not be taxed, depending on the country or location they occurred in.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#257

Post by tensor »

irishcoffee wrote: post #255
Galanwe wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

I think the GP was saying that there was no gain. France has the same amount of gold they did last week. The whole article is like saying "holy shit, france has the exact same amount of wealth they did last week!"

Did you read the article at all? Or just the title? The article is about bringing gold back to France by selling US bars and buying new bars in Europe. The alternative would be melting the bars down and recasting them to the new standard.

The capital gain is just a by-product, standard financial stuff, but apparently broke HN readers brains.

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#258

Post by toomuchtodo »

tensor wrote: post #252
Galanwe wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get your point. Gold price increased, the gains were unrealized, now they realized when they rolled to a new position. The only nitpick would be that they did not mention the benchmark rate, so it's hard to guess the absolute gain. What is poorly written or misleading here...? That just looks like a normal capital gain to me.

The article even says exactly that: "Due to rising gold prices, the move helped the bank to generate a capital gain of 13 billion euros ($15 billion), bringing it to a net profit of 8.1 billion euros for the 2025 financial year after a net loss of 7.7 billion euros in 2024." I would have thought the audience here would understand something as straight forward as a capital gain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Re: France pulls last gold held in US

#259

Post by irishcoffee »

tensor wrote: post #257
irishcoffee wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GP was saying that there was no gain. France has the same amount of gold they did last week. The whole article is like saying "holy shit, france has the exact same amount of wealth they did last week!"

Did you read the article at all? Or just the title? The article is about bringing gold back to France by selling US bars and buying new bars in Europe. The alternative would be melting the bars down and recasting them to the new standard. The capital gain is just a by-product, standard financial stuff, but apparently broke HN readers brains.

I did read the article, thanks for asking.

Sounds like you agree with me, France has the same amount of wealth in gold that they had last week.

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