Free Republic

Gold Price Crash On Sovereign Debt Contagion And Economic Growth Risk Commodities / Gold and Silver 2010 Feb 05, 2010 - 04:36 AM By: GoldCore Gold fell sharply yesterday and is trading at $1,052/oz. In Euro and GBP terms, gold is trading at €770/oz and £673/oz. Support for gold is currently seen at $1,025/oz to $1,030/oz and resistance at $1,115/oz. Equity markets internationally are tumbling amid sovereign debt default risk and global recovery doubts. Gold sold off yesterday as traders liquidated positions en masse and large stop loss positions were triggered. Gold was down 4% in US dollar terms but...

DOW BREAKS BELOW 10,000 Vince Veneziani Feb. 4, 2010, 4:01 PM The Dow plunged below 10,000 today, and at 4:00 PM it was at around 9999.84. But same late ticks appear to have put it over the top. The NASDAQ: Down 2.75% to 2130 after a 59 point loss. The S&P 2.75% as well, dropping 30 points to close at 1066. Crude oil took an enormous haircut of 5.26%, falling to $72.93 a barrel amid the turmoil. Gold lost $50 to plummet to $1063 an ounce. Silver los nearly 6%, falling to $15.36 an ounce. Why did everything go sour?[snip]

WHAT JUST HAPPENED WITH GOLD? Joe Weisenthal Feb. 4, 2010, 10:37 AM Once again, gold proves to be no defense against chaos. Look what just happened:[snip]

Citi: Gold Will Be Annihilated If Inflation Doesn't Pick Up Soon Vincent Fernando | Feb. 3, 2010, 1:31 PM | 471 | 7 PrintTags: Investing, Commodities, Gold, Analyst Research Citi's Alan Heap warns that gold could soon lose a lot of the factors supporting its price right now. That's because a stronger U.S. dollar and rising interest rates would be bad news for gold, based on history. Also, investment demand for physical gold is abating when measured by slowing demand for physical bullion and a leveling-off of gold ETF demand. Most importantly, Mr. Heap reminds investors that gold hasn't been...

American Grain Harvest Impact On Agri-Food Prices Commodities / Agricultural Commodities Feb 01, 2010 - 01:48 PM By: Ned_W_Schmidt The North American Agri-Food harvest is either complete, or almost complete. We say that as much of the corn crop remains still in the field due to being wet, frozen, or covered with snow and ice. For all the best efforts of those involved in the Global Warming Scam, the winter of 2009-10 has been far more powerful than their now clearly questionable documentation would have suggested. Despite the weather, the North American 2009 harvest appears to have been good, with...

Stratfor: Anyone Exporting Commodities To China Is About To Get Creamed Lawrence Delevingne Feb. 1, 2010, 12:01 PM Global intelligence firm Stratfor has a video analysis explaining the risks of a Chinese economic slow-down: "Both investors and countries whose economies are dependent on China start February increasingly worried about the direction of the Chinese economy. Monetary tightening and allocations of resources mean that present growth expectations are unsustainable," says Stratfor. Major points of the report: * Asian investors are worried about the impact of monetary tightening in China on a fragile world economy * There are conflicting reports from China...

Gold, Commodity And Stock Markets Are At A Critical Juncture Commodities / Gold and Silver 2010 Jan 31, 2010 - 02:32 PM By: Clive Maund In this Gold Market update we are going to "cast our net wide" and consider the outlook not just for gold and PM stocks but also the dollar, other commodities and the the broad US stockmarket. The reason for this is that COMMODITY AND STOCKMARKETS ARE AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE AND MUST REVERSE TO THE UPSIDE IMMEDIATELY to avert the risk of a catastrophic decline, similar to 2008 or even worse. The severe deterioration last...

Why Soros Is Probably Buying Gold Now by: Peter Cooper January 29, 2010 Given the moves by rival hedge fund managers like John Paulson into the yellow metal, it would be surprising if that living trading legend George Soros is not buying gold at the moment. Indeed, you should always buy when this man hints he might be selling. His comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week seem classic trader double-speak. What does Soros mean when he says gold is the ‘ultimate bubble’ asset class? False prophets Newspapers like the normally sensible Daily Telegraph fell for his...

Chavez Furiously Backtracking As Venezuela Petro-Economy Deteriorates Gus Lubin Jan. 26, 2010, 3:11 PM In anticipation of Thursday's Carabobo oil field auction, outspoken Marxist president Hugo Chavez quietly pleaded for foreign investment. ""Investment and experience from foreign oil firms is necessary in Venezuela. We need it," Chavez said, according to Dow Jones. The statement is a serious turnaround for a government that has nationalized dozens of foreign oil companies in recent years. But they 'need' foreign investment because mismanagement is turning the country into just another failed petro-state. This is also the second instance of Chavez backtracking today.[snip]

Another Big Disappointment For The Bulls, As Markets End Lower Vince Veneziani Jan. 26, 2010, 4:01 PM Despite meager gains yesterday and a lift off into the afternoon today, the major indices just couldn't take the sell offs and once again proved to be a disappointment for the bulls. The Dow, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 all ended modestly lower. With China's economic lending tightening, the U.S. steel industry backed down and took a hit, as we previously discussed this morning. Gold was a winner, squeezing out a gain of $2.50 to close just below $1100. Silver was down 2%...

Prechter: Gold To Fall 40% From Here Joe Weisenthal Jan. 25, 2010, 3:31 PM Elliot Wave maven Robert Prechter is usually a dollar bull (despite being a gloomer), and as such he usually dislikes gold. According to Reuters, Prechter is out with a new call on gold. Specifically, he expects it to fall 40%, saying the metal "is over-owned and overvalued and is about to resume a bear market, if [it] hasn't already."[snip](Go to the site to see the video)

Why China's About To End Dollar-Peg by: Jeff Nielson January 25, 2010 Having received several comments and questions from readers about the future of China's monetary policy, which “pegs” the price of the renminbi to the U.S. dollar, that usually serves as a good indicator that this is a topic worthy of a more detailed discussion. The general attitude I have encountered (which is obviously fueled by how the mainstream media chooses to report this issue) is that China's government is likely to retain the dollar-peg either because a) that has been its policy throughout the last decade; or b)...

If This Isn’t Inflation, Then What Is? by: Paco Ahlgren January 25, 2010 Over the last year, I have written extensively about the economic crisis on The Bottom Violation. I’ve positively flogged the proverbial dead horses of quantitative easing and impending dollar collapse to the point where my arm feels like it’s going to fall off. And many of you have politely — and sometimes not-so-politely — offered to tell me just exactly how wrong I am. So the debate rages. Are we in an inflationary or deflationary environment? Are asset-classes rising in price, or falling in price? Over the...

January Markets Signal A Textbook Recession Vincent Fernando Jan. 25, 2010, 9:50 AM Let's be clear that we're not calling for a U.S. recession (in the technical GDP-decline sense) in 2009. We're just saying that asset classes traded as if we're entering one. Check out the chart from Econompic below. Bonds rallied while stocks, commodities, and real estate (Real Estate Investment Trusts, REITs) fell. Even emerging market equities proved themselves to be more volatile than U.S. stocks (the S&P 500), falling by a larger amount as they generally are expected to. This is pretty close to textbook economics 101 expected...

Gold Scary Price Drop, When Every One Panics, Buy? Commodities / Gold and Silver 2010 Jan 24, 2010 - 09:31 AM By: Merv Burak This week’s gold price drop almost looks scary but I’ll wait for a drop below $1075 before getting all flustered. The potential head and shoulder pattern (mentioned in previous weeks) remains in effect until then. When All Around You are in a Panic, BUY? A basic comment by bulls during a time of reaction is to buy as all around you are in a panic. This sounds like good advice as we are told that the...

Dow Ends Down 220, Largest Three Day Drop Since March '09 Vince Veneziani Jan. 22, 2010, 4:01 PM Thank God the market was open for only four days this week. The Dow took an extreme beating, ending the week down over 4% at 10155 points. NASDAQ: Not much better. Down 3.6% for the week with the S&P down 3.75%. Commodities suffered the same fate as equities. Down, down, and down. Oil: Down 2.4% to $74.27 a barrel. Gold: Down 1% to $1092/ounce. Silver: Down 3% to $17/ounce. It's tough to be a bull today.

How Can Localities Cope If The U.S. Dollar Crashes? Currencies / US Dollar Jan 20, 2010 - 06:34 AM By: Richard C Cook A “run on the dollar,” or any currency, for that matter, takes place when the currency is losing its value. This happens when a country’s debt becomes so great that there is danger of a major default–that is, large scale or even national bankruptcy. At that point, people whose wealth is in that currency, or in relatively liquid assets denominated in the currency, try to get rid of them as fast as they can. Today, that includes...

Jim Rogers is sounding the alarm -- buy agricultural commodities ahead of the riots. The financial crisis has cut off investment in agriculture, with many farmers unable to get loans for fertilizer according to Mr. Rogers. Of course, this means agricultural commodities will make a killing: CNBC: "Sometimes in the next few years we're going to have very serious shortages of food everywhere in the world and prices are going to go through the roof." Cotton and coffee are good buys because they are very distressed, while sugar, despite the fact that it has gone up a lot, is still...

Cheap Crude Oil Is Gone, And That's Good News Commodities / Crude Oil Jan 15, 2010 - 04:21 PM By: Casey Research Marin Katusa writes: Over the next year or two, you will likely find yourself paying a LOT more at the gas pump. Big changes are taking place in the oil industry. With increased global demand and declining supply, easy oil is not so easy anymore. Everything is about to get more expensive. From gasoline to anti-freeze, life jackets to golf balls, and eye glasses to fertilizer. There are very few things in the modern world that aren't made...

Gold Super Spike To $5,000 Commodities / Gold and Silver 2010 Jan 14, 2010 - 06:37 PM By: Money Morning Peter Krauth writes: Let me get right to the point. Gold's going to $5,000 an ounce.I know that sounds preposterous to most people. In fact, some of you probably think I'm crazy. But for a whole host of reasons, $5,000 may well end up being a conservative estimate. So before you start posting comments that I've gone bonkers, hear me out... In 2001, gold traded as low as $255 an ounce. Within eight years, its price had quadrupled to more...