Gold bugs of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your exposure to fiat currencies.
Or so says leading hedgie and Wall Street throw back Paul Tudor Jones, who in his latest missive to investors has gone soft at the knees for the yellow metal:
"I have never been a gold bug. It is just an asset that, like everything else in life, has is time and place. And now is that time."
Gold bugs of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your exposure to fiat currencies.
Or so says leading hedgie and Wall Street throw back Paul Tudor Jones, who in his latest missive to investors has gone soft at the knees for the yellow metal:
"I have never been a gold bug. It is just an asset that, like everything else in life, has is time and place. And now is that time."
Gold has surpassed its all time record high ($1,033/oz) of some 18 months ago today, and surged to a new record nominal high over $1,040/oz this morning. The reasons for gold's new record historic high and likely continuing strength in the coming months are the same fundamental factors that have been driving the gold market higher in recent months.
Gold has surpassed its all time record high ($1,033/oz) of some 18 months ago today, and surged to a new record nominal high over $1,040/oz this morning. The reasons for gold's new record historic high and likely continuing strength in the coming months are the same fundamental factors that have been driving the gold market higher in recent months.
Gold is unique among asset classes as it is the only asset class not dependent on the performance of auditors, management, corporations, financial institutions, banks, politicians and governments. Nor should physical gold be dependent on the performance of trustees, custodians and or sub custodians. Gold does not depend on the performance and health of the wider economy and as importantly when you buy gold in its physical form there is no third party liability or credit risk. Or at least there should not be. Gold has an intrinsic value in and of itself that is not contingent on someone else’s or some entities performance or mere promise to pay. Thus, gold in its physical form is still the ultimate form of financial insurance. This is why every major central bank in the world still maintains a significant portion of their reserves in gold bullion and many, such as the Chinese, are now increasing their gold bullion reserves.
Gold rallied 2% following news that China’s state holdings of the metal have been quietly raised by 76% since 2003. Rumours and speculation about Chinese buying have been rife for years, but many market participants remained in denial until this irrefutable proof was given. China is not only the world’s largest mine producer of gold, but also the fifth-largest individual country holder of gold with 1,054t.
I have just completed an analysis of the performance of the spot price of gold vs. Berkshire Hathaway. I think you will find the results are a little suprising.
Adrian Douglas of Market Force Analysis writes that in his experience, most ordinaly people have difficulty understanding why gold is the investment opportunity of a life time. Blaming the messenger, he explains it in simple terms, making a distinction between consumables and collectables:
MDC activist Sam Chakaipa returns to his village in rural Zimbabwe to find his friends and neighbours starving to death, reduced to panning gold powder from the rivers to exchange for food at an exorbitant rate.
Gold Outperformed Most Assets in 2008 - Gold Up 3.9% in USD; Up 5.3% in EUR and Up 34.4% in GBP. Today’s London AM fix (23/12/08) was $844.01 (USD), £570.85 (GBP) and €603.72 (EUR). At the start of 2008 (January 2nd 2008), gold’s London AM Fix was at $840.75 (USD), £424.81 (GBP) and €573.34 (EUR). Thus, in 2008 gold is up by 3.9% against the dollar, up 5.3% against the euro and up 34.4% against the pound. The London AM Fix is a widely followed benchmark for physical gold and silver prices and is reported in major newspapers and at many gold-related websites.
This has led to a sharp outperformance of gold vis-à-vis every major equity indices and commodity in the word, not to mention most property markets (see Chart and Performance table). In March, gold fell from a record nominal high of just over $1,000/oz but it is important to remember that gold is only down some 15% from that record nominal high and this is after surging nearly 60% in the previous 7 months. In the seven months from the start of the credit crunch and the collapse of Bear Stearns, gold had surged by nearly 60% - from $640 in August 2007 to over $1,000 in March 2008.
It wouldn't be suprising if you had never heard of backwardation. Though many commodities markets are frequently in backwardation, especially for seasonal or perishable/soft commodities, it has only happened twice in history in precious metals.
On the foot of recent reports that China is planning to diversify some of its massive foreign exchange reserves into gold, The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has released its latest
The Washington Times's Lawrence Hunter wrote last week that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has an opportunity to reset the economy and restore the U.S. dollar to its preeminence as the world's reserve currency by reestablishing the gold standard.
Since 2003, Gold Investments has clearly warned of property and stock market bubbles internationally, the risks in sharp falls in these markets and the importance of diversifying into gold.
Rollover is the story of faded Hollywood siren Jane Fonda who inherits a multi-million dollar company after her powerful bank president husband is murdered. While trying to find her dead love's killer, she runs his corporation with the help of charming banker Kris Kristofferson in the weeks before a worldwide currency and financial collapse.
It was the 1981 movie Jane Fonda "got made" after her exploration of the dangers of nuclear power in the "China Syndrome" back in 1979. She was driving to tell the story of real money - gold and how people throughout the world value gold as real money while most Americans and people in western societies don't understand gold and have forgotten its importance and value.
The plot line is about wealthy Arab investors not rolling over their certificates of deposits (CDs) in American banks and buying gold in order to hedge themselves against a fall in the dollar and paper currencies ... and what the loss of those foreign investments means to the financial establishment in New York and the international financial and monetary system.
Rollover: Financial Apocalypse
This movie was a "financial thriller" and there are not many of these movies made. Movies need bank financing, and banks usually won't finance anything that makes them look bad or stupid. They show "It’s a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart on TV only once a year now because it shows "run on the bank" at the Bailey Savings and Loan - not something the financial establishment wants Americans to even think about.
Today's Daily Mail has a rare picture of the Bank of England's Gold Reserves
You are looking at the room most likely to weather the credit crunch, a vast vault filled with the final word in financial security: gold.
As stocks and shares tumble, house prices crash and previously unassailable institutions crumble into dust, the sight of several thousand 28lb bars of 24-carat gold stored in the Bank of England's massive underground
Government bailouts of the financial system will destroy the dollar, euro and sterling because of hyperinflation, Martin Hennecke, senior manager of private clients at Tyche told CNBC. But Todd Everts, president & CEO of Wall Street Global, disagreed.
"The privatization of the banks is the first step down the road to hyperinflation," Hennecke said Monday.