The big news across financial markets this morning is the huge sell-off in the Russian ruble overnight. The Ruble was trading below 60 vs. the US dollar early Monday morning and surged to over 80 rubles to the dollar overnight - there are even reports of currency brokers asking 100 rubles for a greenback on the streets of Moscow:

Moscow

With gold up roughly $20 this morning the effect of the ruble price of gold is simply breathtaking:

Gold_in_Rubles

At the morning highs the price of gold in rubles had risen nearly 30% in the span of less than six hours! Year to date the gold price in rubles is up over 120% after beginning the year under 40,000 rubles/oz:

Gold_in_Rubles_Daily

This chart does not show this morning's huge move

This morning's market moves are all the more interesting given that Russia has been the largest central bank buyer of gold during 2014, with Russia snapping up 55 tons of the yellow metal during the 3rd quarter alone:

Central_banks_gold

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