Gold Investor

Indian politicians are not that different from others of their ilk, in that they want to be able to keep their (cushy) jobs. So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise, that as India heads to election for the lower house of its Parliament (Lok Sabha), the president of the ruling Congress party has asked the government to relax the draconian import taxes that her ruling party had imposed.

"Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to the commerce ministry seeking a cut in the import duty on gold, reports ET Now, citing government sources. Ms Gandhi is said to have pushed for the relaxation of 80:20 scheme on the import of the yellow metal. This comes after three import duty hikes seen in the year gone by."

Adam Taggart at the Peak Prosperity podcast has an interesting interview and article about a new type of physical gold product - the Aurum. These notes contain 1/20 or 1/10 of a gram of gold and are a high-tech way of manufacturing portable gold.

"In today's podcast, I speak with Adam Trexler, President of Valaurum, about this technology and the gold-infused notes it creates. Valaurum's mission is to democratize ownership of gold by converting it into a form affordable to anyone."

Here is a video on the manufacturing process of the Aurum.

We are only 20 days into January but the bounce back in the price of gold since the December 31, 2013 lows continues to show positive signs, as it edges over the $1,250 mark. The insatiable demand from China and the resiliency of the Indian buyer for physical gold are likely playing a role in the move up from recent lows. Bloomberg further reports that;

"...investors weighed signs of increasing physical demand against the outlook for less U.S. stimulus. Platinum rose to the highest since November on prospects for strikes in South Africa.

Ever since the economic downturn of 2008, the Canadian government has been on an asset sale spree - getting rid of many foreign real estate holdings, art, investments and old gold coins. These were $5 and $10 gold coins that were minted in 1914 and removed from circulation almost immediately as the country began hoarding gold once World War I got underway. These were the first and last Canadian gold (circulation) coins and so quite collectible.

by David Morgan
Since the beginning of recorded history, the lure of gold has drawn men and women to it like a moth to flame. A Greek traitor told the Persian King Xerxes about a secret goat trail that would enable his personal bodyguard, The Ten Thousand Immortals, to outflank and defeat King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans in the mountain pass at Thermopylae. The asking price was his weight in gold, which the Persians granted to him and then buried him with it. Legend speaks of Midas, whose fascination with gold was so intense that he wished for – and received – the ability to turn everything he touched into this shiny metal. Seeing his own daughter turn into a gold statue did not faze him. He was only brought to his senses, when the very food he tried to eat choked him as it too became gold. During WW II in 1943, a Japanese I-Boat, known as Japan’s “Golden Submarine” was sunk by the Allies as it headed for Nazi-occupied territory to exchange its load of bullion for uranium oxide, in an attempt to make a “dirty” bomb.

It wasn't all that long ago, in early December in fact, that the market pundits were sure about all but the upcoming demise of gold. We posted a story link from Yahoo Finance that talked about the reasons to stay away from gold, and in a comment wondered if this was a contrary indicator. Gold was on a downward trajectory and went below $1,200 and ounce but it has seen an upsurge in the new year. The price of silver has also followed a similar pattern.

As we approach the end of 2013, the price of gold has taken a beating the last couple of days and this recent drop to just under $1,200 is setting up for gold to have its worse performance in 30 years. Combined with its first annual price drop in 13 years, the year 2013 is set to give up a lot of the gains from gold's exceptional run over this time. The U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering announcement from this week, where it is scaling back its monthly asset purchase program with more future reductions next year, has also played a role in gold's (and silver's) decline this week.

In an interview with Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com, David Morgan believes that we'll see $30 Silver and $1,700 Gold by the end of 2014.

Jim Rogers does not profess to know exactly where the price of gold will bottom, but back in July he made a (educated) guess in this clip with Fox Business News. He believed that after rising in price for over a decade, a 50% correction from the recent high would be somewhat logical, thus putting a mid $900 per ounce price range on the bottom for gold.

The decline in the price of gold from the peak levels in August 2011 of the $1,900 range to the current $1,200s has had a huge impact on the balance sheets of central banks. They are big holders (and some have been big buyers over the last decade - India and China in particular) of gold. The Federal Reserve is the largest holder of gold and has seen the value of its gold holdings decline by well over a hundred billion dollars (assuming it still holds all 8,134 tonnes of its gold).