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‘Bullion’ Category

A Mad Rush as Gold Bugs Get the Boot

November 24, 2009 by jasonogrady

Interesting article from the WSJ about how HSBC PLC owner of one of the biggest vaults in the U.S. is telling it’s clients to remove their gold from its vaults.

Fleets of armored trucks piled with gold bars and coins have been streaming out of midtown Manhattan in one unexpected consequence of the gold craze.

Amid gold’s rise — it has gained 32% this year and reached a record on Monday — investors have been loading up on bullion and coins. One big problem now is where to store it. The solution from HSBC, owner of one of the biggest vaults in the U.S.: somewhere else.

HSBC has told retail clients to remove their small holdings from its fortress beneath its tower on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The bank has decided retail customers aren’t profitable enough and is demanding those clients remove their gold to make room for more lucrative institutional customers.

Source: WSJ

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Gold Bulls Set New Target For Rally: $1,300 an Ounce

November 12, 2009 by jasonogrady

Another good Gold article from WSJ.

Gold prices could rise to as high as $1,300 an ounce in the near-term as inflation concerns and the likelihood of continuing dollar weakness draws buyers.

Gold set a record Wednesday, building on this month’s rally.

The nearby November contract rose $12.10 to $1,114, after setting an intraday record of $1,117.60 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Most-active December gold also rose $12.10, to $1,114.60. Spot gold hit $1,118.70.

The November gold contract has risen nearly 7.2% this month and is up 26% for the year.

The dollar is likely to remain weak as long as U.S. interest rates remain low, making gold an attractive alternative to paper currency.

Source: WSJ

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WSJ: Banks Show Midas Touch With Their Bets on Bullion

March 16, 2009 by jasonogrady

By CAROLYN CUI

Gold is proving to be some banks’ silver lining.

Precious-metals trading is typically a small part of banking operations, especially compared to their larger bond and equity desks. But as writedowns, withering trading volumes and limited deal flow have become the norm, any glimmer of revenue helps.

“Throughout my 14-year career in gold, I have never been busier,” UBS AG’s global metals strategist John Reade said on a conference call Friday with clients. He said he’d been “nearly overwhelmed” by inquiries from clients looking to gain exposure to gold.

UBS, HSBC Holdings PLC, and Scotiabank in Canada are among a handful of financial institutions that have maintained a significant bullion business, physically handling gold bars kept behind vaults. Most banks have scaled back or abandoned this line of work, because gold prices were so depressed during the 1980s and 1990s.

While many banks have left the bullion business, others, such as UBS, HSBC and Scotiabank, have recently profited from trading in precious metals. Here, gold bullion of 1,000, 500, 250 and 50 grams.

Banks generally make money selling bullion bars and related financial instruments, while also collecting a small fee for housing actual bullion bars for other investors.

Over the last four months gold has risen nearly 32%, though it fell last week, closing Friday at $929.80 per troy ounce.

(more…)

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Newsweek: Cash In A Mattress? No, Gold In The Closet

March 16, 2009 by jasonogrady

With prices setting new records, the worried wealthy are piling up ingots in home safes. NEWSWEEK goes shopping for precious metal.

By Lisa Miller

A hundred-ounce gold bar, when you hold it in your hand, is surprisingly small and even more surprisingly heavy. It’s somewhat longer and fatter than a Hershey bar, but it weighs six-plus pounds—as much as your old calculus textbook. Its color is unforgettable. Pure gold is gold. It’s not like your wedding ring or your grandmother’s bracelet. It’s a deep, dense yellow, the way the ocean is deep blue, and it sparkles. You can understand at last why the Bible says the streets of heaven are paved with it.

On the day I held the gold bar in my hand, it was worth nearly $100,000. My companion—an established, accomplished, affluent businessman of retirement age—had bought it as a hedge against the sinking Dow and his fear that Obama’s stimulus package will inevitably trigger wild inflation. We had picked it up in the basement of an HSBC bank branch in midtown Manhattan. When I handed it back to him, he put it in his briefcase. We went upstairs, past guards, through metal doors. Out on the street, we said goodbye and I watched him go, a tall, thin man carrying a $100,000 briefcase. He doesn’t want me to tell you his name—or, really, anything about him—because he’s keeping the gold in a safe in his basement. His friends, he says, are doing the same thing. “There is an increase in the number of wise, reasonable, well-read, well-intentioned people who are buying some gold and putting it aside,” says Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, a daily analysis of financial news.

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WSJ: Bearish Big Investors Catch Gold Bug

March 9, 2009 by jasonogrady

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN

Large investors, including some who anticipated troubles for the housing and financial sectors, have been buying gold, concerned that moves by governments to shovel money at problem areas could cripple leading currencies.

Firms such as Eton Park Capital Management LP, Greenlight Capital Inc., Hayman Advisors LP and Paulson & Co. have been ramping up gold exposure in recent months, according to investors in the funds. Blue Ridge Capital Holdings LLC and Highfields Capital Management LP also have been recent buyers, according to public filings about their year-end holdings. Those two firms couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.

Some of these funds have become among the largest holders of gold exchange-traded funds, such as the SPDR Gold Shares ETF, while also buying gold futures contracts, swaps and even physical bars of the yellow metal.

For years, gold fans often were fast-moving traders and so-called gold bugs, a crowd of bears ever-convinced that the underpinnings of global economies and markets were set to crumble and inflation about to soar. Gold has disappointed some investors because it hasn’t been a home-run investment despite recent financial ills.

The recent purchases of gold by the hedge-fund investors, some of whom have top records, suggests they are coming to share deep worries about the health of global economies and how ongoing problems are being addressed.

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How to buy American Gold Eagles at spot

December 6, 2008 by jasonogrady
UPDATE 12/08/08: It appears that the discount has been reduced to 8% (It started at 30%). Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. I hope that you picked something up!

Using this technique you can earn 20% (up to $200) cash back on qualifying eBay purchases. Yes, Virginia that means gold!

For example you can find $50 Gold Eagles on eBay for as low as $950 (with free shipping). After the $200 cash back (which takes 60 days to receive), your net price is $750 which is less than the spot price of gold as of this writing.

That’s a great deal considering that the Mint has been sold out of gold Eagles for a while and that many dealers (including large Coin World advertisers like APMEX) are currently charging a $200 to $220 premium over spot for gold Eagles.

Note: You must follow this technique exactly. Do not complete the eBay purchase if you don’t see the 20% off icon on the eBay listing and on the eBay Commit To Buy/Checkout page. I will not be held liable for your eBay purchases so please read and understand this technique before completing your purchase.

Here’s the summary:
- You must have accounts eBay, PayPal and Live.com where the name, postal address and email address match. If you already have a Live/MSN/Passport account and you’re not positive that all your credentials match, it’s best to just create a new account on the MSN Live Cash Back page. Remember to use the same name, postal address and email address that you use on eBay and PayPal.
- Once you’re certain that all three accounts agree follow this link and click on the first “Silver For Sale” eBay link in the shaded box at the top of the search results. This takes you into eBay through a special “Live.com” door that allows the 20% cash back eligibility.
- Be sure that you stay in the same window on eBay that you entered from Live.com. Don’t switch windows or tabs in your Web browser or you may lose the special eBay “session” that gives you the cash back. I think that you only have an hour to make your purchase, so it’s best to “watch” the item on eBay before you enter.
- Since the maximum cash back on eBay is $200, you should try to find a product that is as close to $1,000 as possible to maximize this deal. I purchased a gold Eagle for $950 which will net out to only $750 after the cash back.
- It’s strictly limited to one per person (too bad!) – hence all the account verifications.
Good luck and have fun!
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Gold Advances with Silver as Oil Falls

December 3, 2008 by jasonogrady

The U.S. dollar on Tuesday lost steam, and helped gold recover from its biggest previous day session decline since March. That, despite another day of falling oil prices. New York silver and gold futures gained 2.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, while platinum declined 0.3 percent.

January crude-oil lost another $2.32, or 4.7 percent, following Monday’s $5.15 drop to close to $46.96 a barrel. Oil is now at its lowest level in more than three years. The average price for unleaded gasoline declined nearly one cent to $1.812 a gallon, according to AAA.

March silver gained 23 cents to close to $9.615 an ounce.

January platinum fell $2.60 to settle at $807.30 an ounce.

Gold for February rose $6.50 to close to $783.30 an ounce.

Tip: CoinNews.net

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‘Bullion’ Category

By CAROLYN CUI

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN