Bullion Market Tools & Resources

The perpetual war: gold vs paper

July 28, 2010

In its latest research report the Longwave Group uses the Kondratieff cycle, Dow to gold ratio and Homestake mining to Dow ratio provide a warning that the perpetual gold vs paper war may soon reach an ugly conclusion....for paper assets.

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Geological anomalies are like opinions: Everybody has one

June 19, 2010

There’s a great deal of chatter in the press and online about the tremendous US$1-trillion-dollar mineral “discovery” in Afghanistan headlined by The New York Times recently. Most of the discussion seems to centre on whether or not this is really news and whether or not the NYT was played by the powers that be for purposes of their own. Few, if any, people seem to be questioning the value of the so-called discovery itself. The US$1-trillion-dollar figure, at best, cannot be anything more than the wildest of hopeful guesses.

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Gold for beginners

June 17, 2010

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The 2010 Silver Buying Guide

June 17, 2010

Silver has been sizzling and causing lots of buzz in the industry. Investors are excited. Part of the hubbub is due to its current run. Since its February 8 low, silver has roared ahead 22.4% (through June 21) and has doubled from its November 2008 low. This excitement has spilled over into greater investment demand – especially so for coins. The U.S. Mint sold more Silver Eagles in the first quarter of this year – just over nine million – than any prior quarter in its history. The Royal Canadian Mint produced 9.7 million silver maple leafs in 2009, also a record.

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Gold vs Australian Real Estate

June 11, 2010

Is Australia's housing bubble about to burst in terms of gold. It is our view that in the not too distant future the average Australian home will cost not much more than a couple of kilos of gold. The question remains, however, will gold rise 700% or house prices drop by 85%?

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Is gold a bubble?

May 28, 2010

It's been the amazing, runaway boom of the past decade. If you'd put your money into gold at the lows about 10 years ago, you'd have made a nearly 400% return. That's left pretty much everything else -- stocks, China, let alone housing -- in the dust. But with gold now trading near record highs, the big $1,200-an-ounce question is obvious. Is the gold rush over?

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Gold coin premiums explode in Greece

May 28, 2010

Many gold buyers question why they need to pay a 5-6% premium for gold coins. The current crisis in Greece highlights why small denomination and immediately recognisable gold is exceptional value. Reports now that prices at which the Greek Central Bank is selling one ounce gold equivalents are as high as $1,700 (40% over spot), and prices on the black markets are even higher. The punchline, as Athens slowly returns to a forced gold standard: " A popular spot for street vendors to sell their coins is near the Athens Stock Exchange. There the traders wait for citizens to bring payments received from unloading their paper assets like stocks and bonds." That's good - downtown Manhattan close to the NYSE has some free space for gold vendors to set up shop as well, they just need to push some of the frontrunning/collocation boxes off to the side. And in other rhetorical ruminations, is it safe to say that the last days of the fiat experiment are among us now that people themselves are bypassing the government and enforcing their own gold standard?

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No longer lonely in the bear bunker

May 23, 2010

I have been bearish the world for sometime now. Anyone who studies history and has common sense could see all of current troubles well in advance and have a fair idea as to what happens next. I am beyond bearish. I am in the bunker. Pick your issue: China, stocks, real estate, bonds, sovereign debt, paper currency, derivatives, peak oil and war are all crisis triggers on the horizon . The only problem is that I now have many well respected commentators in the bunker with me. As a contrarian this is an indicator that warrants caution and may mean we are not quite ready for the ultimate crisis just yet. Here's the thoughts of my fellow bunker dwellers.....

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Gold seen as zero risk refuge

May 13, 2010

No charts are necessary. A thousand words might suffice, rather than six charts showing Gold breaking out to new highs across the world. Some major points scream to be told. Here is a list:

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The major gold trend is up

April 29, 2010

This month’s jump up in precious metals, resources and oil reinforces that the lows in February were likely the lows for the downward correction. For now, the second quarter is off to a good start. The fact that gold’s decline was mild (down 13½%) is saying that the underlying bull market is strong and solid. You should now have your positions bought and in place, waiting for the bull market to further unfold. Platinum and palladium have been strong, reaching new highs and they seem to be leading gold, silver and the metals shares in another leg up in the bull market. In fact, the new highs in many commodities reinforces this.

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All that is paper does not glitter

April 21, 2010

The following article by Adrian Douglas of GATA provides an overview of the recent CFTC hearings into silver market manipulation by big investment banks such as JP Morgan and HSBC. GATA also label the London Bullion Market Association (LMBA) a giant 100 to 1 leveraged ponzi scheme. It is important to note that all the worlds Mints, many governments, ETF's, Exchanges, banks, bullion dealers, hedge funds and large investors own or hedge gold and silver positions via the LMBA. If the market realises the LMBA is in fact a huge naked short paper ponzi scheme we could see a short squeeze that makes 1980 look like a minor blip. To quote a key LBMA executive when he was asked what happens if 2% of holders request physical metal delivery........."we then go into price discovery". Got your physical gold and silver?

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The gold and silver conspiracy debate

April 20, 2010

I have dedicated many years of research and blog posts to the subject of manipulation in the gold and silver markets. I have concluded that the London and New York markets are simply large fractional reserve pozi schemes where 99 out of 100 investors who think they own bullion will be very disappointed at some point in the future. This is why I own and sell physical bullion, not paper promises. It is clear to me that US and UK governments in collusion with Central Banks have manipulated the price of gold and silver through investment banks such as JP Morgan. Supression of gold and silver preserve confidence in the unbacked FIAT paper money system and to avoid the interest rate consequences of excessive money printing. At no time do governments want competition to the power and control that is provided by the current monetary system. The motive is clear. The Gold Anti Trust Action committe (GATA), Ted Butler and scores of others have done an outstanding job against great political resources and pressure. The recent CFTC hearings unearthed a former Goldman Sachs commodity trader turned whistle blower that is now moving this 11 year crusdade into mainstream media. We congratulate Bill Murphy, Chris Powell and Adrian Douglas in particular, for their fine work in the face of advesity and ridicule. Interestingly the institutional defenders of the status quo are now saturating the blogosphere with counter arguments and attacking GATA. This is to be expected. I partially agree with the criticisms regading theatrics and story telling. However we should not lose sight that there is a real underlying problem........ the "physical" gold and silver markets are backed by paper promises not real metal. Given we have posted a number of articles and videos reflecting the GATA perspective, I thought it important to present an opposing view. Enjoy.

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China: the mother of all black swans

April 16, 2010

This presentation by Vitaliy Katsenelson on the bear case for China is well worth a look. Seems as though the goldilocks crowd have convinced almost everyone on the planet that all is well. Stock are up almost 10% in the last 6 weeks. As a contrarian I feel very lonely in the bear camp. That is always a great sign. I am bearish China, Australian dollar (as a proxy for global growth), stocks, real estate, industrial metals, bonds and all currencies relative to gold. I am most bullish about gold in AUD terms, it is still 40% off its all time high of November 2008 and if China sneezes the Australian dollar will have pneumonia. Enjoy the presentation and consider that a few big Wall St names (namely Jim Chanos and George Soros are very bearish China).

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IMF prepares for GLOBAL CATACLYSM

April 15, 2010

This is right from the canary in the coal mine file. I'm not even sure this even legal? Who authorises this? It is now obvious the IMF also has a stealth SDR printing press. Global hyperinflation here we come.

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Just how undervalued are gold and silver relative to stocks?

March 31, 2010

Given precious metals were the best performing assets on the planet for the last decade, many investment gurus are calling for a decline in gold and silver and a resurgence in stocks. The following charts suggest that the biggest growth of precious metals relative to stocks may still lie ahead.

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Weimar Gold & Silver Prices 1919-1923

March 31, 2010

Weimar Germany hyperinflation prices of gold and silver in Marks from 1919 - 1923 by month. Charts are also presented to visually depict the speed and magnitude of the change. Consider the human story behind the numbers. How did people survive?

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Transparent precious metal holdings charts

March 30, 2010

Despite custodians of all these financial products claiming to be 100% backed by bullion something just doesn't look right does it?. The explosion in ETF's and other bullion products has successfully filled investor demand during the recent bull market. Just imagine what the price of gold or silver might be today if all that demand was not sucked up by these new product innovations.

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