Gold is being sold to meet margin calls, but a tweak to margin requirements is being seen by some as a signal for gold to be the pressure valve The moment we all wondered about has come. Oil has surged past $100 per barrel and markets are coming under serious strain. When I wrote an initial reaction to the Iran war last week, markets were still clearly pricing a “nothing to see here” scenario. With the system of global governance in shambles and institutional checks conspicuously lacking, I