Free Republic

I was struck with Bernanke’s comment last week at the Economics Club regarding bubbles. He said: ”It is not obvious to me that there are any misalignments in the US financial system”. This comment has already gotten the attention of the media. Two years from now the blogs will be quoting it along with other notable words from the Chairman. Remember the following? Mr. Bernanke regrets having said this. “We (the Fed) do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system.” When Mr. Bernanke made those comments back in...

Since up is down and left is right in an anchorless fiat currency world, one must keep a perspective on things. As a Gold investor, I am not exactly bullish on the U.S. Dollar. However, I also am not bullish on other international paper currencies, either. I wouldn't place faith in the Euro, the British Pound, the Swiss Franc, the Japanese Yen or the Chinese Yuan over the next few years. When the chips are down and the global economy falters, every country now seems to have an endless ability to create more debt and start the party up again...

Nov. 23, 2009, 11:44 a.m. EST New gold bugs making gold investments mainstream Tudor, Paulson, Greenlight, Hayman bring precious metal in from the fringe By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold has long been favored by a fringe of the investment world, but this year some of the world's leading hedge-fund managers have loaded up on the precious metal amid concern government efforts to avoid another Great Depression that could undermine major currencies and fuel rampant inflation. "I have never been a gold bug," Paul Tudor Jones, chairman of hedge-fund giant Tudor Investment Corp., wrote in an Oct....

A Mad Rush as Gold Bugs Get the Boot By CAROLYN CUI Fleets of armored trucks piled with gold bars and coins have been streaming out of midtown Manhattan in one unexpected consequence of the gold craze. Amid gold's rise -- it has gained 32% this year and reached a record on Monday -- investors have been loading up on bullion and coins. One big problem now is where to store it. The solution from HSBC, owner of one of the biggest vaults in the U.S.: somewhere else. HSBC has told retail clients to remove their small holdings from its...

(SNIP) "......In the wake of last year's run on the modern financial system, hoarding(gold) has come roaring back into fashion in some rarified echelons of the investment community. Some of the world's most-respected hedge fund managers have amassed large gold positions this year to protect against a possible inflation surge and a plunge in paper currencies as governments unleashed an unprecedented series of monetary and fiscal stimuli to avert another Great Depression.

Gold hits record above $1,170/oz as dollar slides By Jan Harvey 42 mins ago LONDON (Reuters) – Gold hit a record high at $1,170.55 an ounce on Monday as dollar weakness pushed the metal through key technical resistance levels, fuelling momentum buying after the metal's sharp run higher earlier this month. Spot gold was bid at $1,168.90 an ounce at 8:14 a.m. EST (1418 GMT), against $1,148.20 late in New York on Friday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $22.50 to $1,169.30 an ounce. "Gold has a lot of...

There has been an endless amount of chatter about the price of gold being too high (it's not) and perhaps representing a bubble. It also seems that fair amounts of ink and windage have been wasted on worries about the gold trade being "too crowded." In my daily column on my own Web site, on Sept. 17, I noted a remark by Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter that the gold market was "terribly, egregiously, preposterously, shockingly overpopulated." That day, gold closed at $1,014 an ounce. Here we are, about two months later, and gold is more than 10% higher....

$1160 now shattered. Just like last week, gold is rocking out of the gate, breaking $1160/oz for the first time. Astounding.

Looks like it's up $$ 11.60 right now. I was thinking there were some contracts expiring today or something like that.

Visitors to America might have noticed the television ads urging us to buy gold. One such “spokesman”, formerly in charge of managing the government’s hoard of the yellow stuff, including the ingots buried at Fort Knox, points out that the value of gold has never fallen to zero. Why investors are expected to find such a modest claim reassuring I can’t imagine. But something is persuading people to buy gold, driving the price to and past $1,100 per ounce, from about $270 at the beginning of this decade, and around $700 when the financial crisis first hit.

Visitors to America might have noticed the television ads urging us to buy gold. One such “spokesman”, formerly in charge of managing the government’s hoard of the yellow stuff, including the ingots buried at Fort Knox, points out that the value of gold has never fallen to zero. Why investors are expected to find such a modest claim reassuring I can’t imagine. But something is persuading people to buy gold, driving the price to and past $1,100 per ounce, from about $270 at the beginning of this decade, and around $700 when the financial crisis first hit. This is not...

From a speculator's perspective, the total return potential now in silver is probably greater than gold. On a percentage basis, the price of silver can easily outpace gold over the next few years as both metals hit record highs after adjusting for inflation since 1980. Silver might achieve that goal far more quickly than gold. But as gold reaches over $1,145 this week (+10% in November) there's one missing ingredient required to legitimize this historic bull market; silver must exceed its March 2008 high of $20.78 an ounce. Spot silver trades at $18.71 an ounce this morning in New York....

Video at site In a new video, one noted doomsayer, Peter Schiff, takes on another one, Nouriel Roubini, on the subject of gold. Nouriel Roubini believes every asset, including gold, is over-inflated due to the dollar carry trade. Schiff disagrees, and says Roubini doesn't understand the fundamentals behind gold -- that it's going to keep heading higher as a result of government action.

Gold prices, which have already soared to record levels in recent weeks, could get a further boost from a new investor: central banks. Several central banks are joining average investors in betting that weak currencies—particularly the US dollar—could be a friend to the gold trade for quite some time. AP After a weak summer, gold has rallied strongly over the past three months on the belief that that the dollar will continue to fall until the US economic recovery is on more solid footing. For Rob Lutts, CIO of Cabot Management in Salem, Mass., bull markets such as gold's run...

Ask yourselves why the price of gold is headed to $1500. The answer is that this government has lost control of the currency and therefore the economy. Normally price appreciation is great except when it comes to gold. It means our political leaders have no idea what they are doing and there are going to be very severe consequences. Very! Last November gold was at $700. Now it is at $1100 on its way to $1500. We will all have third rate health care with no jobs. What a future.

This is a video of a fellow going out into the street to try and sell a one ounce gold coin, worth approximately $1100 for between $5-$50. Either no one trusts him, or they don't know how much gold is worth.

Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction. In a report entitled "Worst-case debt scenario", the bank's asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems. Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), whether public or private. It must be reduced by the hard slog of "deleveraging", for years....

The following story in italics is a potential fictional time line for the day the dollar died. I hope not to instill fear or loathing but to give everyone some perspective on a POSSIBLE outcome which does not really take much of a reach to come to any conclusion. Despite popular belief and promises from those who wish to rob you of your savings and investments, the collapse of the dollar might just be an event measured in hours, not days as their control is not what it seems…..

Video at site. Federal Reserve officials on Thursday downplayed the consequences of the falling U.S. dollar, pounting to deflation as a lingering threat. The dollar has fallen 7 percent so far this year and likely has become a funding vehicle for bets on higher-yielding currencies in growing emerging markets. So how should investors guard their portfolios? Jim Rickards, senior managing director of market intelligence at Omnis, shared his insights.

The gems don't stop coming from SocGen, which has been advising clients how to play the end of the world, while predicting fresh lows in the market in 2010. And (duh) they love gold. Rolfe Winkler: Is gold going to $6,300? Dylan Grice, an analyst with Societe Generale, says it’s possible, given the decline in central bank credibility. But investors need to keep one thing in mind: Gold is merely a vehicle to protect the purchasing power of money. Gold is surging because investors see that the Federal Reserve — more concerned with deflation and unemployment than sound money —...

Is $6,300 Fair Value For Gold? By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Economics Last updated: November 19th, 2009 The last parabolic spike in gold took off when central banks joined the fray in the 1970s, hoarding bullion with the same enthusiasm as gold bugs. Dylan Grice from Société Générale says it smells much the same today. He sees an eery similarity between the decision of India’s central bank to buy half the IMF’s entire sale of gold, and the move by France’s central bank to start converting dollars into gold in 1965 — which was, of course, the start of the slippery slope...

Is gold going to $6,300? Dylan Grice, an analyst with Societe Generale, says it’s possible, given the decline in central bank credibility. But investors need to keep one thing in mind: Gold is merely a vehicle to protect the purchasing power of money. Gold is surging because investors see that the Federal Reserve — more concerned with deflation and unemployment than sound money — may be trapped in a never-ending cycle of monetary accommodation. Ben Bernanke says he won’t monetize debt, but he already has. His Fed has bought $300 billion of Treasuries and is on pace to buy $1.45...

The last parabolic spike in gold took off when central banks joined the fray in the 1970s, hoarding bullion with the same enthusiasm as gold bugs. Dylan Grice from Société Générale says it smells much the same today. He sees an eery similarity between the decision of India’s central bank to buy half the IMF’s entire sale of gold, and the move by France’s central bank to start converting dollars into gold in 1965 — which was, of course, the start of the slippery slope leading to the collapse of Bretton Woods and the closure of the US gold window...

-snip- SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) represents 3.91% of the fund's reported portfolio. The fund held 2,450,320 shares as of September 30th, up 2,445,420 since the fund's last filing. -snip-

Peak gold believers will be pleased to learn that South Africa's gold reserves are dwindling. About 95% of the reserves have been unearthed and discovered already in Witwatersrand, the biggest gold field in the world, meaning gold is probably going to head higher as investors freak out over limited supply: Mineweb: Gold production from the Witwatersrand, the biggest known gold field in the world, peaked at around 1,000 tonnes in 1970 and has declined ever since. Hartnady says that while initially (1970-1975) the decline was "quite precipitous", it has been interrupted by only short periods of slight trend reversal (1982-1984...

Zinc Dimes, Counterfeit Tungsten Gold And Lost Interest Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 18, 2009 - 11:40 AM By: Jim_Willie_CB In 1964 the USGovt introduced the zinc dimes clad with silver. They at least admitted the debauchery publicly. Now pre-1964 silver coins are all considered different, and valued differently too, higher. Rome committed the same coinage fraud 1900 years ago. Their Empire went bust as the city burned almost concurrently. Ayn Rand is a guiding light for Alan Greenspan, the enabling destroyer of the US banking system, destroyer of the US household archipelago, and dispatcher of the US...

You know the gold bugs have really gone mainstream, when conspiracy theories about tungsten-filled gold bars are discussed on CNBC. This morning, newsletter writer Howard Ruff was asked by Joe Kernan whether Fort Knox was filled with gold ingots actually filled with tungest -- a much cheaper substance of similar weight. If you were confused about what the hell that was all about, we discussed this last month. We're not sure what to make of it, but, just as many people want an audit of the Federal Reserve, the gold bugs demand an audit of Fort Nox. Here's a paper...

Roubini Says Gold $2,000 Is Utter Nonsense Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 18, 2009 - 11:28 AM By: Q1_Publishing “Maybe [gold] will reach $1,100 or so but $1,500 or $2,000 is nonsense.” That’s what Nouriel Roubini said a few days ago at the Inside Commodities Conference in New York. The comments from the economist credited with foreseeing the banking crisis were aimed squarely at investing legend Jim Rogers. According to reports, Roubini specifically referred to Rogers’ call for $2000 gold as “utter nonsense.” Since then, gold has continued to set new highs and is attracting a lot more...

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold rose to record highs above $1,150 an ounce on Wednesday as the dollar index languished, boosting interest in the metal as an alternative asset, after largely benign U.S. inflation data. The metal remains firmly underpinned by technical support after several days of gains, and is likely to break through to further fresh highs in coming sessions after a build-up of momentum, analysts said. Spot gold hit a high of $1,150.20 an ounce and was at $1,148.50 an ounce at 1431 GMT, against $1,141.50 late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery on...

Interesting imo The danger in those years [2011/2012] will be that Ben Bernanke will attempt yet again to refloat the U.S. economy through inflation, buying government debt to fund the deficit and forcing short term rates well below the inflation rate. This danger is exacerbated by the Obama administration's insouciance about deficits. Ben Bernanke on his own (and his predecessor Alan Greenspan) bears a large share of responsibility for the 2008 crash, but the Bernanke/Obama combination is potentially even more dangerous. If expansionary monetary and fiscal policies are pursued regardless of market signals, the U.S. will head towards Weimar-style trillion-percent...

Gold forges record peak near $1,150 2 hrs 12 mins ago LONDON (AFP) – Gold prices rose on Wednesday to an all-time high near 1,150 dollars an ounce, boosted by the weak level of the US currency, analysts said. In late morning trading here, gold hit a record high point of 1,148.03 dollars an ounce on the London Bullion Market after reaching a series of records in recent weeks. In late morning European deals in the foreign exchange market, the euro climbed as high as 1.4960 dollars. A weak greenback makes dollar-priced assets such as gold cheaper for buyers using...

The International Monetary Fund announced today the sale of 2 metric tons of gold to the Bank of Mauritius, the nation’s central bank. The sale was conducted on the basis of market prices prevailing on November 11, 2009 with proceeds equivalent to US$71.7 million (SDR 44.7 million). This transaction is part of the total sales of 403.3 metric tons approved by the Executive Board in September 2009 (see Press Release No. 09/310), and it adds to the 200 metric tons already sold to the Reserve Bank of India (see Press Release No. 09/381).

British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday. Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan. The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based...

ntral banks will be net buyers of gold this year as they diversify away from the U.S. dollar, marking a reversal of a decades-old trend, global commodities investment fund BlackRock said on Monday in comments that helped drive bullion to fresh record highs. Investment in gold by central banks has picked up recently, with India buying 200 metric tons from the International Monetary Fund, and Taiwan's central bank is studying whether to raise the amount of gold in its forex reserves, with China and South Korea also debating the issue. BlackRock is one of the world's largest fund managers, boasting...

Gold raced to a record high above $1,140 an ounce Monday, gaining 2 percent as a weakened dollar boosted funds' risk appetite for investments across the board. Gains in gold spurred interest in other precious metals, with platinum, palladium, silver and rhodium all hitting their strongest levels in more than a year, largely driven by a tumbling dollar. .... Year to date, gold has risen 30 percent, outperforming the broad-based equities S&P 500 index, which has gained 23 percent over the same period.

Are you sold on gold? The precious metal outperformed every major equity index in the world in 2008. The question is, can gold—and other precious metals—keep on flying? Or would buying today be buying high and selling low? Precious metals have always been intriguing to investors because they tend to hold their value. In times of geopolitical crisis or currency devaluation, for example, the value of paper money might fluctuate, but a hard asset will always be worth something. As a result, historically, precious metals have been considered a “safe haven” in times of economic and financial instability. That brings...

Dennis Gartman and Andrew Sorkin discuss the weak dollar and gold. Both see gold as a bubble. Yet Gartman still holds gold regardless. There's a great currency discussion overall from Mr. Gartman.1:35 -- "I'm long gold... a bit."2:00 --  "We have to remember, it's not the Fed's obligation to pay attention to the dollar. "3:00 -- "Pick a number, [Gold] will continue to go up until it stops... It is a bubble. To say otherwise would be naive, that's really what it is."CNBC VIDEO HERE

Dollar falls, sending gold to record high Mon Nov 16, 7:05 am ET LONDON (AFP) – The dollar fell on Monday as China accused the United States of increasing protectionism and following unexpectedly strong Japanese economic growth figures, pushing gold prices to a record high point. US President Barack Obama is in China for a three-day mission aimed at convincing Beijing that Washington is its partner, not its rival. As the dollar dropped against the euro and yen, gold struck an all-time peak of 1,133.20 dollars an ounce. In late morning trading here, the euro climbed to 1.4969 dollars from...

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Silver's not so much a poor man's gold anymore and investors may soon realize that the white metal's the real treasure. True, at $17 per ounce, silver is cheap -- trading around 60 times less than gold's record price of more than $1,100. But year to date, it's climbed 52% in value compared with gold's rise of around 25%, according to data from FactSet Research. Silver is a precious metal, after all, one that has historically outperformed gold in a bull market and doubles as an industrial metal -- and supplies of it are depleting at a...

Gold touched a fresh high above $1,130 an ounce in Europe on Monday as momentum from recent gains and a slide in the dollar index sparked fund buying of the precious metal. Gains in gold boosted interest in other precious metals, with platinum, palladium and rhodium all hitting their strongest in more than a year. .... "There is no reason why over the next few days it can't have a push towards that $1,200 mark before we get to the December expiry for the options positions, which everyone's looking at," said Tom Kendall, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp.

The Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa has inaugurated an advanced laboratory for an innovative cancer treatment using nano-particles of gold, and laser beams. The treatment is non-invasive, has no side effects and damages only the cancerous cell, without damaging the healthy cells that surround it...

Leave it to Switzerland's version of Dr. Doom to make the latest apocalyptic pronouncement on the future of the U.S. dollar -- and the outlook for gold prices. Marc Faber, investment advisor and fund manager to the uber-wealthy, says gold will forever stay above $1,000 an ounce. If you're unfamiliar with Faber's pitch-black outlook for the future of the Western economies and the developed world in general, well, he's probably best known as the author of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report. Enough said.

Gold prices are currently trading at the record level of $1,100/oz. Looking at the long-term loss of value in the dollar, and the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century, the question is whether this is just the kickoff phase for the precious metal. Many experts expect gold to trade above $1,300 by the first quarter of 2010. They ultimately see the correlation between peak gold and weak dollar resulting in gold above $2K. Gluskin Sheff Chief economist David Rosenberg thinks that as the world keeps losing confidence in paper currencies, and as investors worldwide seek...

The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

Stock Market Rally Priced In Gold Not Dollars Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 13, 2009 - 03:41 PM By: Adrian_Ash Non-US investors haven't enjoyed the same stock rally as Wall Street. Whereas in gold... "THE DOLLAR is still driving gold," agree the analysts, pundits and chart-watchers now scratching their heads about where gold is headed next. That's kind of true, but not entirely. Yes, the Dollar's fall against gold since the start of this decade has been greater than the drop suffered to date by the rest of the world's currencies. But the last 20% move in Dollar...

If you want to cash in on gold, this is the worst way to go about it Ahh the Gold Party, a unique and recent phenomenon whereby friends and acquaintances gather to share drinks, food, laughter... and sell their gold. It's like a Tupperware party, except 'everyone walks away with money'. Great. Problem is, most guests are getting skinned in the process and don't even realize it. Gold party companies make enormous profits by offering horrible prices to their unsuspecting party goers. There's a whole collection of little tricks used to hide this fact underneath the 'fun' of a party,...

Thursday saw the US Treasury report a record October deficit, the 13th monthly shortfall in a row. The Federal Reserve last week vowed to hold its key interest at next-to-zero for an "extended period". The Bank of England here in London has now created £200 billion of new money since March, using it primarily to buy government bonds as Whitehall's deficit hits a peace-time record equal above 14% of GDP. China's central bank reported record gold reserves this spring of 1054 tonnes. The Reserve Bank of India bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund at the start...

The past two weeks have brought two massive paradigm shifts to a Gold market that has been morphing literally on a daily basis for the past few months. During this time, the pundits and purveyors of misinformation and tripe have done their best to ‘student body left’ Gold back into obscurity as an ancient, barbaric relic. They certainly get an ‘A’ for effort. Now that Gold has made its debut above $1100 an ounce, they’ve switched their tactic and are now calling it a bubble. We’ll deal with why this cannot be the case in a bit. For the past...

“Gold Finger - A New Take On Operation Grand Slam With A Tungsten Twist” I’ve already reported on irregular physical gold settlements which occurred in London, England back in the first week of October, 2009. Specifically, these settlements involved the intermediation of at least one Central Bank [The Bank of England] to resolve allocated settlements on behalf of J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank – who DID NOT have the gold bullion that they had sold short and were contracted to deliver. At the same time I reported on two other unusual occurrences: 1] - irregularities in the publication of the...

“Gold Finger - A New Take On Operation Grand Slam With A Tungsten Twist” I’ve already reported on irregular physical gold settlements which occurred in London, England back in the first week of October, 2009. Specifically, these settlements involved the intermediation of at least one Central Bank [The Bank of England] to resolve allocated settlements on behalf of J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank – who DID NOT have the gold bullion that they had sold short and were contracted to deliver. At the same time I reported on two other unusual occurrences: 1] - irregularities in the publication of the...