After a long struggle with local authorities, Ikea will resume its Russia expansion as local officials are beginning 'to follow the different laws that exist' said the Swedish giant's Russia chief.  X5 Retail group has showed that net income has increased by 87% in the second quarter from a year earlier.  The Central Bank says that it may cut interest rates again after inflation remained unchanged last week.  Putin has said that an extra $4.6 billion will be raised for the state budget in 2010.  The Finance Ministry may reduce the amount of state capital that it had planned to issue in OFZ bonds this year.  Peter Hambro Mining, which plans to change its name to Petropavlovsk, increased its first-half profit more than fivefold following rising production.  The Central Bank appears to be tentatively optimistic ...

When I finally fired off yesterday’s commentary (to my editor) in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, I must admit that I wasn’t overly optimistic about what I would find when I turned my computer on after a few hours of shut-eye. I was expecting the worst…but got something entirely different.

Gold bounced off its lows of Tuesday a couple of times during London trading, but starting at lunchtime in London, and continuing right until the London close at 3:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. in N.Y.)…gold managed to inch its way higher. Once London was done for the day, it wasn’t too long before the gold price made a spirited rally on the Comex in New York, and turned what could have been a very ugly day into a surprise to the upside.

Silver put in an even more powerful rally…with the bottom being in at 9:00 a.m. in London trading…and from there

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