Despite denials, the rumors won't go away that China and the Middle East's oil-rich countries are secretively seeking an alternative to the sick U.S. dollar as chief currency.

As Bloomberg notes, "gold has more than tripled in the past eight years as the dollar tumbled 67 percent versus the euro." Meanwhile, oil has climbed 60 percent since December.

And the rumor of secretive talks among the Chinese and Gulf states about "a new pricing system for oil that excludes the U.S. dollar but includes gold," pushed the gold price to historic highs in Australia. The WSJ calls the rumors "an implausible media report," but notes that the rumor has still propelled gold prices skyward.