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Even as Ben Ali was fleeing his country, his presidential palace continued to be a hoard of all the items he had "borrowed" over the decades. As Al Arabiya reports, "Tunisia's ousted president stashed diamonds, gold and wads of cash in secret spots around his palace in the impoverished country's capital, according to video shown by state television on Saturday." The clip below shows the objects Ali was in too much of a hurry to pick up. Among these: wall safes full of cotton fiat, necklaces and other trinkets. Alas: not a single bar of silver or gold anywhere. It seems the dictator may have lacked in PR skills, but he sure knew what to pick when fleeing the country.

Click Image to play video:The clip below (after the jump) shows parts of the spoils.

From Al Arabiya:

Tunisia's ousted president stashed diamonds, gold and wads of cash in secret spots around his palace in the impoverished country's capital, according to video shown by state television on Saturday.

Popular uprisings in January toppled president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years of repressive rule, sending shockwaves through the rest of the Arab world and encouraging a similar revolution in Egypt.

Ben Ali hid treasures behind curtains and in secret compartments behind the palace library, according to the video broadcast by First National TV, which showed millions of dollars and euros, diamond necklaces and gold recovered from the palace in Tunis' Sidi Bou Said district.

The broadcast said the riches would be redistributed to Tunisians, who have complained of rampant corruption during Ben Ali's rule of the North African state. Tunisian GDP per capita is roughly $10 per day.

France, Switzerland, Canada, and the European Union have said they have frozen the assets of the former president and his family. Tunisia's interim government, charged with setting elections, said it was seeking to recover money and property to help combat poverty.

While we are waiting for the WGC to distribute an updated sovereign gold and/or tungsten holdings list, here are the countries that we expect to see a material decline in their gold stash sooner or later:

• Saudi Arabia: 322.9 tonnes
• Algeria: 173.6 tonnes
• Libya: 143.8 tonnes
• Kuwait: 79.0 tonnes
• Egypt: 75.6 tonnes
• Bangladesh: 13.5 tonnes
• Tunisia: 6.8 tonnes
• Bahrain: 4.7 tonnes
• Congo: 0.3 tonnes
• Kenya: 0.0 tonnes

http://bit.ly/hpz7R3. 

With no U.S. economic data on the calendar, it was suppose to be a relatively quiet trading session. However the surprise reserve requirement ratio (RRR) hike by China and the overwhelmingly strong U.K. retail sales report livened up the currency market.

http://www.fx360.com/

Breakdown of Treasury Yield Ratio Suggests Changes Coming to Markets

The treasury yield ratio is the ratio of a long-term treasury yield to a short-term treasury yield. Although the yield ratio is not plotted exactly the same as the traditional yield curve, it has a similar importance in that it gauges changes in rates and maturities of treasury securities that will impact on financial markets. The yield ratio goes up as the spread between a long-term and a short-term rate widens, and vice versa.               http://www.safehaven.com/article/20013/these-indicators-suggest-stock-markets-have-more-upside-and-gold-some-uncertainty

RBA Assistant Governor  Phillip Lowe noted that global inflation is likely to be elevated for an extended period of time as commodity production remains constrained. In a speech in Sydney Mr. Lowe noted that, “What does seem clear is that the world economy is going through a change in relative prices, and that this change is likely to be quite persistent. At least for the time being, it would appear that the ability of the world to produce commodities is becoming a key constraint on non- inflationary growth for the global economy.”

http://www.fx360.com/

DougKass