Every week, hundreds of millions of dollars in gold bars are flying out of vaults in lower Manhattan and northern New Jersey. Most are bricks weighing about 2.2 pounds, the kilogram size that Asian markets prefer. They’re packed in tamper-evident cases, escorted by armed guards to JFK airport, and loaded into the cargo holds of commercial passenger jets bound for Zurich, the hub of the global gold refining industry. From there, the bars continue on to buyers in China, India, and Hong Kong. The flow is large enough to show up clearly in America’s trade numbers . U.S. exports topped $300 billion in January, February, ... (full story)