Gold's Plunge Ultimately Healthy for the Sector: Michael Gray

The Gold Report: On April 15, gold dropped to a two-year low as panic selling set in across many mined commodities. Was this the larger players showing the retail market who is in control or was it inevitable?

Michael Gray: Several firms have been predicting a mid-cycle correction for gold; it just happened faster and with more volatility than expected. It also seems to be a very well-timed short-selling trade, especially on the back of the positive gold price correlation with quantitative easing (QE) breaking down and reversing post-QE3. In addition, there was no response in the gold price to the debt crisis in Cyprus or political concerns with North Korea. This was an opportunistic time for the shorts to come in, and they did, forcefully.

TGR: Does this indicate that investors prefer equities to gold? Continue reading "Gold's Plunge Ultimately Healthy for the Sector: Michael Gray"

Rob Cohen Imagines a Gold-Centric World

The Gold Report: Robert, you presented a paper at the Prospectors Developers Association of Canada conference that focused on, among other things, the uses of gold as a monetary asset. Please tell our readers about that.

Robert Cohen: Gold is quintessentially a monetary asset. Many people believe it is the most ideal monetary asset on the planet, given that the world's other monetary assets are fiat currencies that can be expanded at the whim of a government.

Every ounce of gold ever produced is still kicking around on the surface, a total of about 160,000 tons. Half of that may be in the banking system. Miners produce about 2,500 tons a year. So only a very tiny expansion of liquid gold accrues every year, especially compared to the global liquidity created by printing money. Continue reading "Rob Cohen Imagines a Gold-Centric World"

How to Play Your Gold Stocks Now

After a year or more of depressed prices, gold and silver stocks reversed with a vengeance. GDX (the ETF proxy for the Gold Miners Index) was up in just two months (August and September). Those who followed our lead and bought or averaged down this summer have profited handsomely. It's been a fun ride, and I'm convinced we'll see many more surges like this before it's all over.

What was perhaps more important about the surge in gold stocks, though, was the leverage they demonstrated, which is one of the primary reasons we invest in them. Here's a comparison of GDX to GLD from August 1 to November 1.

This chart shows the advantage of building your position on dips. It lowers your cost basis and takes leverage to a higher gear. Continue reading "How to Play Your Gold Stocks Now"

The Only Way to Win with Gold Stocks

By David Galland, Casey Research

While I have read certain works on the life and ponderings of Buddha, I claim no deep knowledge of his philosophy.

Note that I didn't use the word "religion," because Buddha himself claimed no supernatural powers and even begged his followers not to deify him after his death. Continue reading "The Only Way to Win with Gold Stocks"

Gold's "Contrarian Moment"

By David Galland, Casey Research

Glancing at the news most days, it's hard not to feel like Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day. In the event you are unfamiliar with the movie, in it Murray's character becomes trapped in the same day… day after day.

In the current circular condition, we have the powers-that-be assuring us that the next high-level meeting will finally produce a permanent fix to the broken economy, essentially solving the sovereign debt crisis. Then, in no more than a few days, or at most a couple of weeks, the fix is revealed to be flawed and the crisis again sparks into flames... Continue reading "Gold's "Contrarian Moment""