I get no popups either. I use firefox with ad blocker, and also do not use my phone.

Thanks, FFA, as I did not know the Gulch was Google from the start. In the beginning and for a long while it wasn't obvious. My main entry into the Gulch is via Mac desktop or Mac laptop using Firefox and rarely iPhone using Safari. Same results. The most annoying screen stealing pop up ads are recent. The ads along the side or bottom that don't interfere are not the problem. I have to say some of those are interesting or offer a product I may actually use, so I have clicked on those. Maybe I need a Mac equivalent to something like AdGuard.

The ads go away when I log in, if I can log in, since they obscure much of the screen. However, ID hack sites? Really? I don’t care as much about ads, but “Your Apple Account Just-prepaid for an iWatch”? That is ridiculous!

Your article makes good sense, Walter. Thanks for the rational explanation. 👍
I also heard that some central banks have had to sell gold in response to needing to pay higher oil prices. That would remove another support from the gold price.

The Gulch was built with Google tools from the start. I doubt the site has been modified in years and that may affect using your cellphones on the site.
I don't know why you guys are getting popups while on the Gulch site, but I'm not getting any popups at all from the Gulch site. None.
I do not use my phone to visit the Gulch; I use a Win10 pc.
I don't use the browsers from MSFT or Goog and I DO block ads using AdGuard browser extension in addition to the built in ad-blocker of the browser.
The above is just my experience and I'm no expert on cellphone browsing.

I agree! The site is degrading into a popup mess. I can't even move my pointer anymore without an ad that has to be dismissed to continue. My guess is Google now owns the Gulch and, as usual, has to get into everyone's face. I've been contemplating leaving this Gulch and looking for another. OK, I have to admit monetarily I'm a freeloader here, but hope to make enough interesting or humorous contributions to earn my keep. However, carpet bombing me with useless ads turns the experience into total waste of time.

Why the phuck are their ID hack site links on on this god damn site?!??! WTF! Popping up on my mobile web page.

Are there any reliable data on the purchases and sales of gold by the governments of China and India?

Are there any reliable data on the amount of gold held by the government of America in the Fort Knox vaults?

Are they important to the rise and fall of gold prices?

The decline was probably amplified by the need to raise cash to meet margin calls. It wasn't just the price of gold, all the precious metals - gold, silver, platinum and palladium - were hit at the same time. The stock market and Bitcoin are way down also. I expect that many investors are cutting their losses and retreating to cash and treasury bills, which are still generally seen as more of a "safe haven" than gold.

Don't know why someone down voted this article. It's interesting and pertinent to our times and is a valid opinion, so I bumped it up. Technically, the fast spike in gold price was due for a correction, IMHO, so here it may be and is perfectly natural for the investing (speculating?) community. There's been a huge increase in "buy gold" advertising over the past year or two bringing in more buyers than ever before and I expect that demand helped drive the price up. If the amount of money the retail buyer has for commodities like gold is starting to dry up then having a correction is no big deal. With that said, if the underlying value of gold is truly worth more than it is selling for after correcting, the rise will resume.