I'm guessing there has been something in the US announced just now (nearly 1a.m. EST) because both Ag and Au have gone nuts, with the AUD sitting basically stable.
I think brexit side lining has a bigger part in this than folks realise. We'll see if it plunges back down when they vote to stay. I'm probably wrong. I still need to see the price go over 18.50 USD and stay there along with a parallel rise in gold to think anything very interesting is happening http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-gold-idUSKCN0YV0G2 "ATS Bullion, nearby on London's Strand, has also reported a 5-10 percent rise in sales while online gold dealing platform BullionVault.com, whose customers are largely private investors, said the UK is outstripping other regions in terms of demand growth this month. Growth in its UK customer base has been 59 percent higher in June than the average of the last 12 months, it said, compared to 5 percent higher in the other nine of its top 10 markets. " Lot of very big Russian and Arab money in London let alone a huge financial services sector..
Yes. It's just follow through momentum from last Friday's job data coming through in fits and spurts. Generally you can tell by the steepness of the move. A "spike" is 100% vertical. An almost immediate reevaluation of price due to an event or news release. When it's sharp like this last move but still a tiny bit of slope then more likely it is sentiment driven by technicals or just momentum.