Standard Chartered Bank issued a comprehensive study last week entitled In Gold We Trust that examines supply/demand trends for gold. According to the bank, “limited gold production, buying by central banks and increasing demand from India and China – can potentially drive the gold price to $5,000 per ounce.”

Standard Chartered’s comprehensive study of 375 gold mining projects found that the ten-year bull market in gold has done little to drive gold production. A lack of new capital and a shortage of large gold mines mean it will be difficult for the industry to compensate for the depletion caused by aging mines and falling grades.

Greece’s sovereign debt and potential default is causing widespread fear that other debt-laden European nations like Spain, Portugal and Ireland will similarly fail to right their economic ship and .declare default.

In early April 2011, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker warned Greece of the importance of controlling spending, a day after news that the country’s 2010 budget deficit overshot forecasts at over 10 percent of GDP. On May 9, Standard and Poor’s lowered Greece’s credit rating into junk territory to B, one notch above Pakistan’s credit rating.