Gold

[ciangerry]

I'm reading a great book at the moment called 'Currency Wars - The Making of the Next Global Crisis' by James Rickards.

The book does a great job of outlining the role Gold has played in the monetary system. It really drives home the important role Gold can play in anchoring the monetary system and why the current on going currency wars will likely result in a return to some form of Gold standard.

[Euler]

Japanese pension fund switches to gold

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1be7a2a2-9f3f ... z1vUnVhiOU

[superfrank]

“If you look at assets over the past couple of decades, equity has been a loser, while fixed income offers tiny coupons,” said Yoshio Kuno, Japan head of Newedge, the futures broker. “Gold is becoming an acceptable currency substitute.”

that last line made me laugh... it's rather that fiat currencies are becoming an unacceptable substitute for gold (a currency for 6,000 years) because the Japanese and others just won't stop printing it.

last year a Dutch pension fund was forced to sell its gold as the regulator considered it "too risky"!
http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-02-11/dutch-pension-fund-gold-regulator

[to75ne]

not that i did not need convincing that the world of finance is nothing more than smoke, mirrors, snake oil, reading runes and buillshit; thats put the final nail in the coffin for me.

[andyfuller]

Has gold had it day? Will be interesting to see if $1,530 holds if it gets tested again. I am currently short on it.

[mulberryhawk]

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/07 ... old-price/

This seems to lend weight to your position Andy.

[superfrank]

i agree that in the short-term it looks weak (as with many commodities atm). if silver breaks $26 again it will probably trade at $22.

i didn't realise US crude had dipped below $80 last month. haven't been following things for the last 2 months.

good site for futures prices... http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

look how "cheap" natural gas is now!
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=NG&p=w1

[mulberryhawk]

i dont have a real strong opinion myself, although I have been wondering how gold would act in a deflationary environment.

[superfrank]

Gold to be made a tier 1 commercial bank asset again under proposed new Basel III rules...
http://dailycapitalist.com/2012/08/06/the-arbitrageur-gold-sea-change/

[gutuami]

...

look how "cheap" natural gas is now!
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=NG&p=w1

this might be one of the reasons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AZv6MjZylo