The Wheel of Fortune

Gold at over $1,600 feasible before year-end - GFMS

From Mineweb.com:
Author: Rhona O'Connell
Posted: Thursday , 13 Jan 2011
LONDON -

GFMS has released its "Gold Survey 2010 - Update 2", in which the research house highlights the critical role of investment in the gold market last year and forecasts powerful western investment this year, strong enough to more than offset some of the fundamental headwinds that will be generated by higher prices.

The annual average price was 26% higher than in 2009 and a series of record high prices were posted as investment was driven by a raft of influences, most notably initially were European sovereign debt concerns and, arguably, rising concern about fiat currencies in general. GFMS as a house does not subscribe to the view that the major fiat currencies are destined to fall and that all government debt obligations will become worthless. It does note, however, that this view is relatively widespread and is informing gold investment activity, with gold regarded as the best hedge against official policies that are seen as undermining the three major currencies........read on

Keiser Report interviews Australia's Steve Keen

I had the pleasure of having dinner with Steve in Sydney late last year. Steve's views are certainly different than those coming from the government and media, although those who can see into and analyse our possible futures usually are. Steve's views on the Australian property market have been ridiculed by many in the Australian mainstream media, time will tell, I suspect Steve was just too early when he announced the sky is falling.

If you want to read more of Steve's work, you can access his website here

NIA Interview with Bill Murphy of GATA

Gold Imports by India Likely Reached Record, World Gold Council Says

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Gold imports by India, the biggest bullion consumer, likely reached a record last year driven by investment demand, according to the World Gold Council.

Purchases were about 800 metric tons, compared with 557 tons in 2009, Ajay Mitra, managing director for India and the Middle East at the producer-funded group, said today in a phone interview from Dubai.

Imports at that level “would be the highest for India in its history,” he said. The group hasn’t released final data for last year. Purchases in 2010 may exceed 750 tons, Mitra said Nov. 17. The Bombay Bullion Association said Jan. 3 imports probably totaled 700 tons in 2010.

Gold for immediate delivery rallied 30 percent last year to reach a record $1,431.25 an ounce on Dec. 7 as investors bought the metal as a protector of wealth. Demand for bullion as an investment in India surged 73 percent in the year ended Sept. 30, according to World Gold Council data. Purchases by the Asian country this year will remain “strong,” said Mitra.

“Our assessment is demand will continue to be strong,” he said. “Price is no longer a factor.”.....read on

From The Gold Economizer:

January 7, 2011 - I was gratified to see how well my recent article (Is China Behind The Big Silver Short Dec 25^th, 2010) was received, when over 50 websites worldwide picked it up in the first 24 hours. But I am afraid that a fair bit of confusion was created by that article, which I want to clarify here.

First, I am not presenting this as fact. I am presenting this as a theory that explains the observable facts.

With no transparency in the banking industry, we will never get a chance to see the swap books of JP Morgan or HSBC to find out which of their clients are shorting silver, or how much of the money behind silver shorts comes from JPM's own proprietary trading desk, and this is how it SHOULD be. But the presumption IS that the CFTC is monitoring these books, and would perform their duty to investigate any clearly manipulative and excessively large short positions not being held by legitimate hedgers of mine production. Sadly, we cannot depend on the CFTC to put fair, realistic position limits in place, or even to enforce the unrealistic position limits already in place, which are far too high compared to annual silver production and compared to above ground silver inventories to actually succeed in limiting anything......read on

Gold rush: Biggest California nugget up for sale

From The Christian Science Monitor:

The California gold rush is still on, maybe not as heady as it was 150 years ago, but still on – especially since the discovery last spring of a giant among gold nuggets, which will soon go up for auction.

The tale of the so-called Washington nugget – so named because it was discovered near the famous northern California Mother Lode Gold Rush mining camp of Washington – is a story made for retelling around the campfire. The nugget was found by an amateur miner who was out sleuthing on his own property, using a metal detector. When the man brought the nugget to the offices of geologist Fred Holabrid in Reno, Nev., for verification, Mr. Holabrid knew it was "one in a trillion."

The Washington nugget weighed in at 100 ounces and is about the size of a small loaf of bread. By way of comparison, the largest California nugget still in existence, which is on display at the Smithsonian Museum, weighs 80 ounces.

Upon seeing the whopper, “I just screamed and everyone thought something was wrong,” says Holabrid in a phone interview. Of all the gold panned or mined since the Forty-niner rush, no more than 100 nuggets of that size have ever been plucked from California gold fields. “They were melted down purely for their monetary value,” he adds.......read on