In a recent post titled From Paper To Things: A Global Awakening, I discussed the subtle trend taking place around the world of foreign governments no longer recycling their surplus back into US paper treasuries, but instead purchasing "things." These "things" are commodity producing companies such as miners and resource producers or commodities themselves (such as gold).
Eric Sprott provided an excellent graph this week showing China's total US treasury holdings vs. their gold imports from Hong Kong. This chart should be on the wall of every finance manager's office around the world. Click for larger image: