For most of the past two decades, the biggest drivers of gold prices have been easy to identify. Investors watched the Federal Reserve, inflation, real interest rates, geopolitical crises and central-bank purchases. Those forces remain important today, but another trend is quietly emerging that could prove just as significant over the coming decade. Over the past year, some of the country’s largest banks have begun shutting down retail access to Shanghai Gold Exchange trading services, regulators have intensified their crackdown on leveraged and off-exchange precious metals products, insurers have been allowed to add ... (full story)