Silver and Gold Prices and Investment

Ok so it has been a while since my last post, but in this time we have seen silver and gold hit new record highs. At present both gold and silver look well supported for the coming future.

This week we have seen further weakness in the global stock markets and especially in the Eurozone where there are now fears of a banking crisis. This would enhance both the prices of gold and silver, expect gold to break through the $2,000 p/oz soon and with silver hitting $60 p/oz around the same time.

But until then I think we could see a slight pull back in both metals before we see a rally forward. I am tipping gold coming back to $1600-$1700 p/oz and silver some where in the mid $30 dollar range. This will present a great buying opportunity for both metals so dont miss out.

So if you haven't invested yet I would advise to get into either gold or silver before you truly miss the boat, I think once we see gold prices above $2,000 p/oz there maybe no stopping for the short to medium term.

Expect to see the silver price  touching $100 p/oz before the end of 2012, maybe mid next year at the eariest.

Gold Price Looking For Direction

The last 7 days we have seen the price of gold level out to around about mid $1,300 P/oz, leaving gold in a position waiting for some sort of economic reports or result to give it a new direction.

Gold has settle back from its record high of late last year but I believe with in the next week or so the gold price will start to test these new levels. Time is now then the opportune time to make a Gold Investment an secure your savings against the inflation monster. 


If you would like more information on Gold investing or the current gold prices check out www.easygoldinvestment.com

World Bank chief calls for new gold standard

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) –- The president of the World Bank said in a newspaper editorial Monday that the Group of 20 leading economies should consider adopting a global reserve currency based on gold as part of structural reforms to the world’s foreign-exchange regime.

Reuters

World Bank President Robert Zoellick speaks at an event in Washington in October.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said in an article the Financial Times that leading economies should consider “employing gold as an international reference point of market expectations about inflation, deflation and future currency values.”

Zoellick made the proposal as part of reforms to be considered at this week’s G-20 meeting in Seoul.

“Although textbooks may view gold as the old money, markets are using gold as an alternative monetary asset today,” said Zoellick.

He said such a reform would reflect economic realities and should be considered as a successor to the existing global currency paradigm known as “Bretton Woods II.”

Zoellick said a return to some sort of currency link to gold would be “practical and feasible, not radical.”Bretton Woods II refers to the system which began in 1971, when U.S. President Nixon ended the dollar’s link to gold as established under the Bretton Woods agreement.

“This new system is likely to need to involve the dollar, the euro, the yen, the pound and a renminbi that moves towards internationalization and then an open capital account,” he said.

Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
Source

HANDS DOWN, THE CHEAPEST PLACE IN THE WORLD TO BUY GOLD COINS

For anyone looking to hold gold as a store of value or even medium of exchange, major gold coin mintages like the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Krugerrand are advantageous because they’re recognizable worldwide.

You can do business in a coin shop anywhere in the world from Vancouver to Vanuatu with one of these coins; bulk bullion, on the other hand, needs to be specially weighed and assayed by experts before being traded.

For this reason, the premiums for which gold coins sell tend to rise substantially in crisis periods when demand for physical metal is high. In the initial days of the 2008 financial crisis, premiums shot up from 4% to well over 10%, even though the price of gold was simultaneously falling sharply.

Today, with gold routinely taking out its all-time highs, gold coin premiums around the world have remained fairly high– this is one of the things that we typically look at here at Sovereign Man as we constantly travel the globe… and why what I’m about to tell you might have you falling out of your chair:

Tim Staermose, one of our Asia partners, was in Hong Kong last week, and he conducted his normal rounds of the various banks in the Central business district that sell gold bullion coins over the counter to walk-in customers such as Hang Seng Bank, Bank of China, and Wing Lung Bank.

At Hang Seng Bank, Canadian 1 Oz Maple Leaf coins — in pure, 24 karat gold — were available for cash purchase in Hong Kong dollars at just 0.5% above the prevailing spot price of gold.

This is dirt-cheap… or as they say here in Chile, ‘precio de huevos’, and it certainly presents an interesting arbitrage opportunity. Depending on your objectives, however, there may be even better gold coin buys in Hong Kong at the moment.

Over at the Bank of China, for example, the Chinese Panda coins were quoted at 4.9% above spot gold.

Personally, I think the Panda is one of the most beautiful gold coins of all, and in North America they typically sell for much greater mark-ups above the spot gold price of gold than most other coins, often over 20%. In the UK it’s even more.

Many collectors value the Pandas simply for their aesthetic beauty; and it probably doesn’t hurt that the dealers authorized by the People’s Bank of China to sell Pandas in the US have a virtual monopoly on the market.

Still, this situation can be exploited to your advantage– the difference between the buy price in Hong Kong and the sell price in North America is roughly $275 per 1-ounce coin.

If I had nothing to do and were looking for some adventure, I’d raise some grubstake to fly to Hong Kong, buy coins, and sell them back home at a profit to pay for the trip… or better yet, offer a fee-based service to gold coin investors to buy cheap coins in Hong Kong on their behalf.

For other folks who haven’t yet built up a stash of gold bullion, I would urge you to consider taking a trip to Hong Kong to get started; I’m certain that the money you’ll save will more than pay for the flights, and a nice holiday for you and your loved ones as well.

Original Post

GGold Remains Soft in Range, Despite Weak Dollar and Inflation Hints

Gold is maintaining a weak tone within the recent range after failing to regain the $1400 level yesterday. This softer tone emerged in the wake of decent bond auctions in Portugal, Spain and Italy this week, which have seemingly reduced the perceived risk of imminent default or bailout. That has taken some of the European risk premium out of the metals market. However, the downside in gold may prove to be limited for several reasons.
Most analysts seem to agree that this week's European auctions haven't fundamentally changed anything. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; 'countries don't extract themselves from debt crises by incurring more debt.' At best they have bought themselves some more time; a kick of the can as it were. There still seems to be a fairly broad consensus that Portugal will ultimately have to tap the EFSF bailout fund, like Greece and Ireland before it. At that point, the market will turn its attention to Spain, with Belgium perhaps providing and intervening diversion. Nevertheless, the euro has rebounded sharply, reaching a 4-week high. Euro strength has weighed on the dollar and a weak greenback tends to have a supportive affect on gold.
There is unquestionably rising concerns about inflation globally, which too tends to be supportive to gold. Today Dec HICP inflation in the eurozone was confirmed at an above-target 2.2% y/y. German and Spanish inflation were confirmed at 1.9% y/y and 2.9% y/y respectively, with accelerations in core inflation noted. I commented on the implications of hotter inflation in Spain in the 03-Jan Morning Report. ECB President Trichet expressed heightened concern about inflation on Thursday and those sentiments were echoed by Axel Weber today. The implication being that tighter monetary policy within the EU may be on the horizon. However, I'm having a hard time reconciling if inflation risks really do trump periphery default risks. If the ECB hikes, borrowing costs for the debt laden PIIGS would rise as well, pushing them closer to default or bailout.
UK PPI for Dec came in higher than expected, with input prices +3.4% m/m, +12.5% y/y. With output prices up a comparatively low 4.2% y/y, its abundantly clear that corporate profit margins continue to get squeezed. Given the still sorry state of the UK economy, companies remain reluctant to pass along higher input prices to cautious and price sensitive consumers. However, something has to give: Either prices must rise at the consumer level, or share prices must suffer due to reduced profit margins.
US CPI for Dec came in higher than expected as well at +0.5%. Core remained relatively tame at +0.1%, in-line with expectations. These data were tempered somewhat by a better than expected industrial production print for Dec.
China continues its efforts to tamp-down inflation, raising its bank reserve requirement another 50bp. This was the seventh such hike since early-2010. That pushed the yuan to a new record high versus dollar, a week before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits President Obama in Washington, DC. Well, isn't that convenient? Undoubtedly, further yuan appreciation will be a topic of discussion, which should contribute to weight on the dollar. Additionally, given China's recent efforts to single-handedly save Europe, one can imagine President Obama encouraging President Hu to keep the 'love' coming our way as well.
Inflation, specifically food price inflation, has taken a rather violent turn in a number of countries recently, reminiscent of the 2007/2008 global food crisis. Riots have broken out in Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, India, and China. Unrest is North Africa has now reportedly spread to Morocco, Yemen and Jordan. Many countries are considering price controls and other measures to quell the unrest, but as we've seen in the past, various forms of price suppression can have a negative impact on supply, exacerbating the problem.


Gold Investment Tips


Original Post 

U.S Growth & Gold Prices

With late this year many economic analysis's are predicting a return to positive growth numbers in the U.S economy and many Gold investors are wondering where this leaves the gold price.

Firstly it is not for sure that the U.S economic numbers late this year will be in good shape, at present it is just pure speculation. If the growth in the U.S economy is nothing more than the injection of Q.E 2 helping push some rosy numbers through the statistical grinder this growth will be short lived. One thing that it may do is help the U.S dollar gain some strength against the other main currencies such as the Yen and the Euro. The interesting thing will be wether the Gold price will stay inverse to the movements of the dollar or will recouple and move forward inline with the rise of the dollar.

Let take the wait and see attitude but for long term investors I think that the gold price outlook is still bullish for sometime yet.

Gold Investment Tips

Indian Central Bank Gold Imports

India has been importing a record amount of gold over the last year but the indian central bank is losing it battle against inflation, spurring investors to sell government bonds.

Gold shipments into India (Which is the 3rd largest economy in Asain) have risen to 800 m3 tons from 557 tons in 2009 and breaking through the previous limit high of 769 m3 tons in 2007, according to Rajef Patel, CEP for India and the Middle East at the World Gold Council. Forecast for this year are looking to push in excess of 800 m3 tons once again,, this will take INdia into the position of one of the worlds largest net buyers of gold, fight with China to hold that position.