The noose tightens for gold bears

``A very interesting thing happened last week: in Europe we woke up on Tuesday morning to a strong gold price. This was noticeably different from the established pattern of not much overnight change from the New York close. This strength exacerbated physical shortages of both gold and silver, propelling gold to nearly $1,350 and silver to $23. Put another way, buying in the Far East dictated the price, taking the initiative away from Western markets. ''