gold

The Curious Price Conundrum

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Over the weekend, I listened to a rather tedious speech by Grant Williams at the annual CFA Singapore conference.  It’s rather coincidental that I spent my weekend cramming for the CFA exam on June1.  I’m not sure what the premise was but Zero Hedge felt compelled to highlight  the speech.   Mr. Williams did offer some paradoxical views on gold, the difference between the price one must pay to own the physical versus the paper version like the GLD ETF or futures. According to him, the actual metal cost almost 10% more than the paper abstract.  That’s a large number … Read more

Is it time to buy gold and silver? These insiders at mining companies certainly think so

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There is something eternal, beautiful and innate to the human psyche when it comes to gold and silver. It’s been a store of wealth forever and with the massive manipulation of the monetary system by central bankers, you have to wonder when that bill is coming due.  No doubt gold and silver will hold some value but like everyone else, I have no precise idea of what that is.  As I sit staring at the 10 oz .999 silver bar paperweight in front of me, I was thinking about how much it has declined in value.  In fact I started … Read more

”s Summer not Fall.

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Everyone is nervous about Europe.  Me too.  I have no way of knowing how much of this is already priced in the market.  You’d have to say a lot based on the violent reaction in the oil patch, some European markets but  I don’t see any positive outcome from this weekend vote in Greece.  If they vote to  keep the austerity demands in place, brief rally and the market will soon say the economy is just going to at best muddle along and at worse, be right back at the  bread line. On the other hand if they abandon austerity, … Read more

Are You Aggressive or Conservative? Better Check Your Beta..

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By: Harvey Sax   A lot of that depends on the beta of your portfolio.  But before we get into all of that, let’s go over just what beta is. Stock Beta is a ratio that indicates how a stock fluctuates with relation to the market.  Beta is an indicator of market risk also called volatility.  When you research a stock, look at the beta to get an idea as to how choppy the returns on this stock will be with relation to the market.  If this doesn’t align with your risk tolerance, this stock may not be for you. … Read more

‘s Roundtable

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The first thing I look at when I read Barron’s round table is the results of the panelists picks from last year.  On that accord, one would do well by skipping most of it.  There are though, two investment gurus, Bill Gross and Felix Zulauf that tend to make me money. None the less read the whole article and make up your own mind..  It can be found here. Gross: Next, in a world of financial repression where 10-year Treasury bonds yield 2% and 30-years, 3%, certain state bonds and utilities yielding 5% and 6% are decent relative values. It … Read more

| Reuters

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Goldman sees 2012 upside in oil, gold, copper Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:07pm IST REUTERS – Goldman Sachs said it expected upside in prices of oil, gold and copper this year, citing greater supply risks and stronger fundamentals. “We view gold and copper as providing the best value opportunities relative to our view of fundamentals in 2012,” the investment bank said on Friday, citing remaining risks of substantial supply shortfalls. via Goldman sees 2012 upside in oil, gold, copper | Reuters.

‘s 2011 Hedge Fund Performance

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John Paulson’s 2011 Hedge Fund Performance   Despite a rather disastrous mess of 2011, Paulson has managed to keep redemptions down to just 8%..  An impressive achievement nonetheless, but is it due to belief in the strategy or belief in the brand?  Either way, his performance is a good illustration of how timing can cause even the soundest convictions to run awry.  Don’t forget the importance of a solid hedge when dealing with a timely trade..   The numbers are in for John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. The hedge fund finished 2011 with depressingly low returns reports the New York … Read more

Index Funds, Where Are We Now?

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Index Funds, Where Are We Now?   While following important economic news as it continually streams through headlines, its akin to wrapping your mouth around a fire hose to quench your thirst; however it’s essential to consider how these developments are affecting your investments. Take a look at how a couple of major indexes and index funds have performed since the beginning of the year…   PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE:UUP) -1.53% U.S. Equity: SPDRS S&P 500 Index (NYSE:SPY) -1.22% Technology: PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq:QQQ) 0.94% Europe, Australia-Asia iShares MSCI EAFE Index (NYSE:EFA) -15.77% Energy: United States Oil (NYSE:USO) -1.82% Precious Metals: iShares Comex Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) +9.57% Fixed Income: iShares Barclays … Read more

What are your worst performing funds?

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When I trained brokers for PaineWebber, we used to have mutual fund wholesalers come in almost every week and buy us lunch and tell us about their best performing mutual funds.  After a couple of yeas of sandbagging my clients with the best performing funds, I began immediately interrupting their presentation and asked them about their worst performing funds.  ”  Every year  you tell us about your best performing funds, and we sell them to our clients and then they turn into your worst performing funds after we buy them,” I interrupted once I was assure lunch was served.  “How … Read more

The Noise About a Gold Bubble

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Red’s POV on all of this Noise about a Gold Bubble Gold may be a bit over extended in, but it is not a place to make a Bearish call IMO. The Gold Bears had a shot the Gold price last week, when Gold put in a temporary Top at 1911 oz and began it healthy correction. It tapped 1709 three days later. That 10.5% fall did not drive the Gold Bulls away, the Gold players saw the dip as technical mark to start buying again, and Gold’s has rallied 7.3% off that low. And during the rebound the CME … Read more

Sign of a top? GLD Moves Into Top Spot, Surpasses SPY As Biggest ETF – Focus on Funds

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GLD Moves Into Top Spot, Surpasses SPY As Biggest ETF Is $5,000/Ounce The New Target In Gold’s Run?MKM: Buy Silver ETF (14% Upside); Pair Utilities With October Calls By Murray Coleman Here’s another rather stark sign of our times: – The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) on Friday moved past the grand-daddy of all ETFs, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), as the leader in overall assets. According to data provided by State Street’s (STT) Global Advisors ETF unit today, here’s a breakdown of assets as of Friday’s close: GLD: $76.67 billion SPY: $74.38 billion But something to keep in mind about … Read more

Governments Still Buying Gold

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Thailand, South Korea and Kazakhstan added gold valued at about $2.59 billion to their reserves in July, joining Mexico and Russia in increasing holdings this year as central bankers hedge against depreciating foreign-currency reserves. Gold fell for the first time in four days after the metal’s rally toward $1,800 an ounce prompted some investors to sell the metal. Immediate-delivery bullion lost as much as 0.4 percent to $1,784.20 an ounce, and traded at $1,787.90 at 9:09 a.m. in Singapore. Gold’s relative strength index has topped 70 since Aug. 5, a signal of a potential drop. “the next gold consolidation will … Read more

GOLD HITS RECORD HIGHS, MINERS UNDERVALUED

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Gold traded at new highs today however many quality gold miners have not reflected the strong gains in Gold in 2011. Gold miners in general are undervalued, Junior Gold companies are also very attractive as we expect to see consolidation in the industry as high prices drive take-overs and buy-outs. Spot gold was set for a second consecutive daily trading rally, up 2 percent from Friday at $1,696.56 an ounce by 1342 GMT, having hit a record $1,715.01 earlier and having traded at all-time highs in sterling and euros . Investors have bought more gold in the last month than … Read more

‘ Beta and Leverage

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Even though U.S. politicos appear ready to reach an agreement on the debt-ceiling front, the fiercely polarized debate has introduced uncertainty into what was previously thought to be an obligation with certainty. Some no longer consider U.S. government debts to be risk-free. Some foreign central banks seem to be speaking with their feet by diversifying away from the U.S. dollar and are considering gold to be a safe-haven asset, and its price has continued on an upward tear. Many speculate that the last-minute compromise might avert technical default, but given the inability of the political machine to reach any pre-emptive … Read more

USA Miners a Buy as Nations Tighten Grip on Resources

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USA Miners a Buy as Nations Tighten Grip on Resources     USA Miners a Buy as Nations Tighten Grip on Resources A new dynamic is developing in the flow of natural resources, countries from Indonesia and India to China and Russia are tightening their grip on natural resources as they limit exports to build up domestic industry in a trend that will spawn many challenges to World Trade Organization rules. However the move is not going to stop, this makes natural resource owners and miners in large consumption markets in the USA a strong buy. USA Industry will have … Read more

Global Markets Declare War On Speculators: Shanghai Gold Exchange Follows CME Hiking Silver Margins

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According to Mr. Durden at ZeroHedge, the Fed has now ordained Japan to carry out the global reliquification scheme in the form of a new, and powerful batch of QE, so the regional war on (Fed liquidity engorged) speculators has just gone global. Following 5 consecutive silver margin hikes by the CME (which oddly did nothing on yesterday’s price collapse even as the silver vol surged to near record levels) at which point it would appear silly for the exchange to continue its speculator eradication campaign, the memo has now been sent to foreign bourses. Sure enough, the Shanghai Gold Exchange … Read more

Oil, Gold, and Market Correction- Should be no surprise to our readers

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Radar Screen Flashing Red Overbought on Multiple=If you will search on our posts, you will see we suggested buying the USO (that’s the most popular ETF tracking crude oil), several of the largest gold miners, and lastly we have repeatedly warned of a toppy market. Now you might say we have been lucky, that the Mideast democracy contagion has worked in our favor

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The technical edge – Gold is making a turn, the counter trend

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Gold is in a downtrend. If you look at the chart you will see the double top with multiple red divergence paints showing before it rolled over. Now it’s flashing divergence in the trend and set for a rebound. The news in Egypt should put a temporary psychological kick in the price too. Longer term the events in Egypt could be remarkably bullish for emerging markets. A friendly Arab democracy would be quite wonderful along the lines of the falling of the Berlin Wall. Who’s going to pick up that tab though? The Chinese?