A new era for gold? Bank of New York Mellon's Neil Mellor comments on the changing dynamics in the gold market. He notes that without the active buying of central banks there would be no question in many a mind that a new era for gold had arrived. Indeed there is also no doubting in some circles that gold prices are in some state of flux. Izzy considers some of the drivers. Excerpts from the Senate's Whale report: Expect a difficult day for the witnesses called before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, says Cardiff. The team hasn't yet made their way through all 300+ pages of the report, but a selection of notable excerpts can be found here. And also some relevant remarks over here. Goldman and JPM rebuked by Fed. Japan to join Pacific trade deal talks. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to announce that Japan will join talks on a proposed US-promoted Pacific trade deal, in a big step for a country where rice farmers and other groups have long blocked efforts to lower barriers. President Barack Obama has put trade deals at the heart of his second-term agenda, and the dozen-odd countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) hope to conclude negotiations by September. Japan would be the second-largest economy in the TPP after the US, and its inclusion would greatly broaden the deal's reach. Greece and lenders fall out over firings. A dispute over the sacking of civil servants has stalled talks between Greece and the "troika" of international lenders, delaying disbursement of €2.8bn in bailout aid due this month amid fears the country's bailout programme is already veering off track. A joint statement by the European Commission, European Central Bank andInternational Monetary Fund said: "Significant progress has been made but a few issues remain outstanding." It added that the mission would return in April after more technical work had been done. Samsung stole the show as it launched its next-generation Galaxy S4 smartphone with New York razzamatazz on Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall. As expected, the S4 is slightly thinner and slimmer than its predecessor and has a bright 5-inch touch screen and a larger capacity battery. The biggest improvements are in the S4"s camera features and in the user interface software that can, for example, pause video when a user turns away. Users can also answer a phone call, change music tracks or scroll through web pages by waving their hand close to the screen instead of needing to touch it. US sanctions magnate shipping Iranian oil. The US imposed sanctions on Thursday on a Greek shipping magnate who it accused of secretly helping Iran to evade tight international sanctions on its oil exports. The Obama administration said that Dimitris Cambis, who owns a Greek shipping company, was at the centre of a "clandestine operation" to disguise the origin of Iranian oil cargoes. Markets: Global stocks are sitting at cyclical highs and Wall Street is challenging record levels as optimism over the US economy - not to mention $85bn-a-month of Federal Reserve asset purchases - boosts investor preference for equities. The FTSE All-World index is up 0.2 per cent to 238.8, altitude not experienced since June 2008. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 has opened with a gain of 0.1 per cent as the euro advances 0.2 per cent to $1.3030 following a deal to agree the EU budget.