Gold Investor

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.

The case of platinum
China has been a catalyst in the pricing of many rare earth minerals. Will they also be a player in the the price of platinum?

What Will Happen to Gold Now?
The prognosticators are out in 2014 when it comes to the price gold.

Bitcoin Versus Gold
"...the advent of crypto-currencies represents the increasing popular demand for a currency insulated from political debasement and bank profiteering. Crypto-currencies represent a legitimate attempt by private citizens to reassert their sovereignty over such government actions. I appreciate the effort, and I believe it holds much promise. But for now, I will stay with the traditional store of value, gold..."

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.

China Successfully Hunts Where There is Gold
Who buys all the physcial gold that is apprently being swallowed up by the black hole that is China? JP Morgan?

Germany to repatriate gold from US, France
Yes, Germany wants its 700 tons of gold back. It got 37 tons this year and should have the rest by 2020. Isn't this old news though?

"The Chinese Don't Want Dollars Anymore, They Want Gold" - London's Gold Vaults Are Empty: This Is Why
Today gold slid under $1200 per ounce, dropping to a level not seen in three years. Judging by the price action one would think that gold is not only overflowing from precious metal vaults everywhere, but can be found thrown away on the street, where nobody even bothers to pick it up.

World Mints See Unprecedented Demand For Silver Coins In 2013
The U.S. Mint, Royal Canadian Mint and the Perth Mint all reported extremely high sales of their silver coins.

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.

Are Gold, Art And Bitcoin Worth Your Money In 2014?
2013 is coming to an end and we are well into the prediction season as financial prognosticators look at investment ideas for 2014. Hmmm...bitcoins.

John Embry wonders out loud if there is an agreement between the East and West on the price of gold
Every day I wonder, ‘Is there a deal between the East and the West so that we are permitting all of our Western gold to be taken by the East so they don’t collapse our paper markets?’ I don’t know, but the fact is I couldn’t be more bullish the prices of physical gold and silver going forward.

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).