Free Republic

The US financial system is experiencing a combination of a heart attack (fibrillation from absent trade recycled surpluses), a massive hairball (subprime debt securities) working through the bank arteries, and a realization (like Wiley Coyote in cartoons) that no terra firma lies beneath the economic feet as the depths below are vividly apparent.

Gold has long been valued, and not just for its beauty. The metal is also valuable for its resistance to chemical reactions, and for its electrical qualities. But some people have always valued gold most as an investment, even without any guarantee of growth in its value. For years, gold prices fell. Now gold is in the news because prices have risen to their highest levels since the early nineteen eighties. Gold is trading above five hundred dollars a troy ounce, about thirty-one grams. There seems to be no simple explanation for the increase in gold prices. Experts say investments...

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb.com) -- Gold’s growing legion of supporters could be in for a testing few weeks. Bullion’s price tumbled overnight to $490 an ounce, a drop of $12 from 24 hours earlier. Insiders are not overly concerned, though, noting that the drop is being driven by a lack of interest rather than any new factors. Trading and liquidity in most investment markets are drying up as both professional and amateur punters wind down ahead of the Western World’s festive season. The overnight drop, however, dashed hopes that the recent out-performance of gold shares was a portent for another strong move...

LONDON: Heavy demand for gold from Russia, China, India, the Middle East and possibly the United States is likely to push the price up to a record high of $650 an ounce by the end of 2006. In the United States, where demand for gold is about half that of Europe, concern about the impact of the changeover at the millennium boosted gold demand in 1999, and fear could at some time be a factor again, Frank Holmes, chief executive of US Global Investors, said this week. "If fear takes hold the price of gold could jump faster than people...

Gold prices rose Monday, hitting fresh 24-year highs as investor interest in the yellow metal booms. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, spot gold was up $7.70 at $527 an ounce in morning trading. In European trading, spot gold rose as high as $541.30 an ounce. Spot gold is trading at levels not seen since 1981. Traders said the contract is testing resistance at $541.80 and $543.20, and that resistance would likely be a short-term top followed by a dip to $523.10 and $531.00. Long-term charts say that if the contract breaks through $543.20, however, it would be going for...

The price of gold passed $500 an ounce last week, its highest level since the late 1980s. This is either an ominous development—or it isn't... If you'd lived a century ago, gold would have been the basis of your money. Great Britain dominated the global gold standard; its currency, the pound, was freely convertible into gold... On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Americans to surrender their gold coin; the country effectively went on a paper-money standard... Higher demand collides with constricted supplies; wham, prices rise... Gold is an unending mystery, because its value lies less in what...

December 5, 2005 The market price for an ounce of gold rose to over $500 last week, a significant milestone for economists watching precious metals and commodities markets. The last time gold topped $500 was December 1987, in the wake of the “Black Monday” stock market collapse earlier that fall. Gold prices historically rise when faith in paper currencies erodes, as investors seek the intrinsic value of gold to protect themselves from inflation. It’s interesting to note that while the U.S. dollar has regained some of its value relative to other paper currencies like the Euro, it continues to lose...

As gold flirts with 20-year highs, we are hearing more from the "gold bugs" or, as they are sometimes appropriately called, the "doom-and-gloomers". Appropriately, because a gold bug's current outlook for the future of traditional financial assets such as stocks, bonds and currencies is not optimistic, particularly in the US. A gold bug traces today's financial problems back to the removal of gold backing from global currencies; without such backing, there is no limit to the amount of money that politicians and the banking system can create. Monetary inflation inevitably leads to price inflation, and creates asset bubbles and excess...

NOTHING swells the breast so much as the thought that you have been proved right at last. After riding high at the start of the 1980s, gold bugs had a miserable couple of decades. The price declined relentlessly, mocking their credo that the security of the financial system ultimately depends upon the yellow metal. Lately, though, the faithful have enjoyed their reward. In the past five years the price of gold has doubled. This week in Asian trading it briefly surpassed $500 a troy ounce—a level last breached in 1987. You can almost feel the bugs' excitement as the message...

Rush to gold pushes prices higher The price of gold has continued its relentless climb and looks set to pass the $500-an-ounce level this week. The metal's price hit an 18-year high of $498.75 (£290.66) in early trading on Monday. Its rising value is being driven by strong demand for jewellery and moves by some countries to increase their gold reserves. The threat of terrorism and the ensuing economic uncertainty has also added to gold's image as safe investment. Analysts say that the gold price is likely to continue past the $500-an-ounce mark, even if some investors decide to take...