With All The "Surprising" Sovereign Debt Worries Popping Up .....

It´s probably not a bad time for another posting on GOLD.... Especially when more & more people are realizing that not only bank balance sheets have something in common with Charles Ponzi, Madoff or Enron .... For investors outside the US it is not insignificant to highlight that it is not the $ price per ounce that matters.......In Germany it is almost impossible to find the € price per ounce in the media....Even in the so called "business" papers & channels...... The history of my earlier GOLD related postings gives a hint why i think that at least a "few" percentage of every portfolio should include GOLD ....

Nachdem ja momentan die Welt "plötzlich" gemerkt hat das neben den Bankenbilanzen praktisch alle relevanten Staatshaushalte zumindest in nicht unwesentlichen Teilen etwas mit Charles Ponzi, Madoff & Enron zu tun haben, ist es mal wieder Zeit für ein Posting in Sachen GOLD..... Zudem kann es nicht schaden wenn man nochmal gesondert darauf hinweist das für alle nicht US Investoren der $ Preis je Unze irrelevant ist ist...... Leider ist es z.B. in Deutschland fast unmöglich den € Preis je Unze in den gängigen Medien zu erhaschen.... Gilt im übrigen auch für die sog. "Fachpresse" ...... ;-) Ein Blick in meine "gesammelten Werke" zum Thema Gold dürfte erklären warum ich es nicht verkehrt finde, wenn zumindest ein "kleiner" Prozentsatz des Portfolios aus Gold besteht.....

H/T Todd Harrison / Minyanville via Pragmatic Capitalist

Jesse

Is gold a bubble?

As someone who has been a close observer of bubbles for the past ten years the data does not recommend that conclusion. And what makes me even more curious about this point of view is that the very people who for the most part denied the existence of the obvious bubbles in tech, housing, risk, banking and credit, even to the point of absurdity, who could not or would not see a bubble if it perched on the end of their nose, who are card carrying members of the international monied fraternity, are the most vocal in calling gold a bubble with emotional arguments lacking any fundamental data.

AMEN ;-)

UPDATE:

Implications For Gold In The Aftermath Of The Greek Crisis BoA via ZH

Emerging market central banks (EM CB) are ever more aware that gold is really one of the few viable alternatives to the USD. Top holders of currency reserves like China, Russia or India will likely need to increase their exposure to gold over the coming months and years as the value of fiat currency reserve holdings like the USD or the EUR comes into question. The obvious problem with diversification is that there is simply not enough gold to go around. So a deterioration of Greece’s creditworthiness, even if negative for the EUR, should be supportive of gold prices in the long run, in our view.

click on image for a sharper view / auf Grafik für schärfere Version klicken

Somewhat "irritating" that suddenly even Wall Street banks are not bashing GOLD on a daily basis..... Bank of America is getting exited that some EM central banks will diversify their holdings ....I wonder if they view a diversfication of private holdings into GOLD a "Black Swan" event....After watching BofA drawing all the right conclusions they "ignore" that the same diversification effect would be true for every non central bank investor....The percentage of GOLD related investments vs Assets Under Management makes even the Chinese exposure look like "excessive"..... ;-) For more related links visit the comments

Irgendwie "ungewohnt" das plötzlich selbst Wall Street Banken nicht mehr tagtäglich Goldbashing betreiben....Bank of America führt als Argument an das die Zentralbanken in den EM Ihr Goldbestände aufstocken werden. Ich für meinen Teil denke das neben den Zentralbanken vor allem die Privaten als Käufer auftreten werden.......Selbst in dieser Matrix wird diese Möglichkeit bestenfalls ansatzweise gestreift ( obwohl die richtigen Schlußfolgeriungen getroffen werden ).. Wenn man sich das Verhältnis von Gold zu den verwalteten Vermögen ansieht erscheint selbst der Goldanteil China´s als eine starke Übergewichtung..... ;-) Mehr zum Thema gibt es in den Kommentaren....

IMF Sells Gold To India's Reserve Bank & Remembering The "Brown Bottom"

Good to be a GOLD-BUG .......Take a look at this excellent Graph to put today´s news when it comes to gold & central banks into perspective..... So much for the overhang of the "massive" IMF gold sale threatening the price of gold...... As discussed earlier it looks like the headwind has transformed into a tailwind.....The price is flirting with new highs today....And it´s not only a "weak US$ story" ( H/T The Privateer via Mish ).... The chances are very high that Gold will continue to outperform for some time to come ( not so sure obout the short term ).......

Schon schön wenn.. man ein GOLD-BUG ist..... Diese Grafik gibt einen erstklassigen Überblick wenn es um Gold und Zentralbanken geht..... Da Gold heute nahe neuer Hochs (und das nicht nur in US$ , H/TThe Privateer via Mish )notiert ist von dem vielbeschworenen Überhang der den Goldpreis angeblich extrem belasten wird wenn das Gold letztendlich verkauft wird nicht viel zu spüren....Wie bereits früher erwähnt sieht es ganz so aus als wenn aus dem jahrelangen Gegenwind von Verkäufen durch die Institutionen zunehmend ein Rückenwind geworden ist..... ;-) Die Chancen stehen mehr als gut das Gold auch weiterhin outperformen wird ( kurzfristig bin ich mir weniger sicher ) .....

IMF sells gold to India's Reserve Bank

The International Monetary Fund said Monday it's selling 200 metric tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India, to help shore up the fund's finances. The sale is part of a total of 403.3 metric tons of gold approved for sale in September, the IMF said.

via Jesse

RBI’s decision to shore up its gold reserves needs to be seen in the context of other central banks across the globe increasing their gold reserves. Among them are the central banks of China, Russia and a few countries in the European Union.

In the last one year, China has increased its gold holdings, by weight, by 75.69%, Russia by 18.78%, the Philippines by 18.50% and Mexico by 108.91%.

Compared with this, India’s central bank did not add anything to its gold reserves in the last one year, according to Bloomberg data.

In fact, the share of gold in India’s total reserves has dwindled over the decade.

In March 1994, the share of gold in the total reserves of the country was 20.86%; by the end of June 2009, gold constituted only 3.7% of the total reserves.

“Gold is the ultimate currency. In fact, only gold came to our rescue during (the) 1991 crisis, so it makes sense that RBI should try to increase its gold holdings,” Patil said.

At the current market value of $1,054 an ounce, or per 28.5g, RBI would need to spend about $7.4 billion to buy 200 tonnes of gold. With this, its gold reserve will rise to $17.716 billion, or roughly 6.20% of the total reserves.

A committee set up by a group of central banks overseeing the gold sales by the IMF has allowed the fund to sell 400 tonnes of its gold annually and 2,000 tonnes in total during the five years starting 27 September.

According to a report by the Associated Press dated 20 September, India, along with China and Russia, had evinced interest in buying IMF-held gold.

IMF’s total holding at historical price is valued at about $9.2 billion on its balance sheet. At market prices, as of 28 August, the fund’s total gold holdings were worth $98.8 billion.

I just coudn´t resist......

Konnte mir den nachfolgenden Chart einfach nicht verkneifen......

Gold: Does Gordon Brown's regret selling half of Britains' gold reserves 10 years ago?

Adjusting to todays & future prices combined with the "rock solid" outlook for the pound the "Brown Bottom" will provide even more reasons for SCHADENFREUDE for years to come.....

Auf aktuelle und zukünftige Preise gemünzt und den mehr als soliden Ausblick für das "britische Pfund" dürfe der "Brown Bottom" noch jahrelang für gehörig SCHADENFREUDE sorgen......

The Mess That Greenspan Made

Make sure you read The significance of the IMF-RBI gold sales also from Tim

Verweise zudem auf The significance of the IMF-RBI gold sales ebenfalls von Tim. Sehr gute Zusammenfassung

UPDATE:

Couldn´resist...... Nice call...... ;-)

Wohl ein Trade an dem Goldman kein Geld verdient...... ;-)

Goldman on Gold Prices: Central Bank Buying Something to Watch MB WSJ

“In addition to this potential shift of central banks from being net sellers to net buyers of gold, the continued weakness in real interest rates continues to provide strong support to gold prices over the medium term,” Goldman analysts write.

Low interest rates could make for “upside risk” to Goldman’s price forecast of $960 a troy ounce.

But we can’t help but notice that they haven’t raised their forecast even though we’re already around $1,100. The obvious question is when does Goldman see a pullback coming?

The following chart via Rolfe Winkler sums it up...

Denke der nachfolgende Chart von Rolfe Winkler spricht Bände....

Scarcity. That Is The Answer To The Question “Why Gold?” End Of Story !

The headline is from the latest David Rosenberg piece ( as always much needed ANTI SPIN ) and sums up the some of the reasons (here is another good overview, thank god that at least the banks are "well capitalized"...... ) why Gold should outperform for some time to come ( not so sure obout the short term )....... Especially when one of the biggest headwinds during the past decades is becoming a tailwind ( see Central Banks Net Buyers Of Gold....... )

Die Überschrift stammt aus dem letzten Report von David Rosenberg ( dringend benötigter ANTI SPIN ) und faßt einige der Gründe ( hier noch ne nette Übersicht., da kann man ja von Glück sprechen das zumindest die Banken ""well capitalized" sind...) dafür zusammen das Gold auch weiterhin outperformen wird ( kurzfristig bin ich mir da weit weniger sicher ) ..... Das gilt umso mehr als sich der stärkste Gegenwind der letzten Jahrzehnte zunemhemnd in einen angenehmen Rückenwind zu wandeln scheint ( siehe Central Banks Net Buyers Of Gold....... )

WHAT IT IS ABOUT GOLD?

After all, you can’t calculate a P/E. There is no dividend discount model. There is no interest rate or income stream. No — gold is a store of value and one that has been durable and reliable for thousands of years. No fiat currency system has outlived gold. The question is what is so sacred about fiat paper money? A backing of the government printing press, is that the alluring factor? The Fed has been pumping money into the system at an unprecedented fashion and even if it is sitting idle on commercial bank balance sheets as excess reserves, that money is still in the system.

So what about gold? How much of that is in the system? How about the fact that global gold production, after doubling from 1980 to 1999, has completely stagnated over the past decade? Has fiat currency done that? And, how long does it normally take for a gold mine to yield production? Answer -- five years or so? Do you think it takes Bernanke et al that long to print greenbacks? At least we know with some degree of confidence about the supply of gold; there are reserves equivalent to about 40% of the total amount of gold above the ground (and half of that is in South Africa).

As we said, it takes time, usually five years, and plenty of financial resources to bring gold mines into production. In this sense the supply side of the gold equation is relatively constant — in economic parlance. Fiat government-issued currency is not — especially in the context of a U.S. monetary and fiscal authority that will stop at nothing to revive a cycle of overspending and overborrowing.

In the current sense, the pullback in consumer spending is being replaced either by government spending or incentives to prevent households from modifying their spending behaviour away from frugality; and the pullback in credit demand by the consumer sector is being offset by the Fed’s involvement in the mortgage market to ensure that borrowing costs remain very low, and by the FHA to ensure that down-payment requirements are as close to zero as possible. The supply of gold is reasonably easy to figure out — the supply of fiat currency is less easy to figure out. The behaviour of not just the U.S. government but governments everywhere seems to be that reflationary policies will ultimately be the key towards redressing the ongoing private sector deleveraging cycle.

Back to the gold market. There is an estimated 120,000-140,000 tons of gold above ground. That would equate to roughly $4 trillion. The total amount of U.S. dollars in circulation globally is estimated at $8 trillion, and the total size of the global money supply would thereby be closer to $30 trillion. The size of the world stock market is around $40 trillion. At last count, the total size of the global bond market was north of $80 trillion. The total world derivatives market has been estimated at about $800 trillion, face or nominal value. Hopefully all this places the total value of gold above ground into a certain perspective.

So, here is what makes gold so attractive, beyond the fact that it is a hedge against irresponsible fiscal, monetary policies and reckless trade policies, is that relative to fiat currency, bonds and equities, it is scarce.

We can also get into geopolitical uncertainties and reckless trade policies, but they are just the proverbial cherry on the ice cream.

Scarcity. That is the answer to the question “why gold?” End of story.

Just to back the amount of currency that is out there right now, gold has the potential to triple from here, never mind merely double. Sounds outlandish, to be sure, but when gold was carving out its bottom at $255/oz in September 1999 (when the S&P 500 was flirting near 1,300 — sorry to have to add that one in), was anyone calling for it to rise four-fold in the next decade? Secular bull markets usually last 16 to 18 years and this one is just in year 10, so let’s say that we are barely past the halfway point in both duration and magnitude in this gold cycle

Paul Tudor Jones ♥ gold FT Alphaville

By our estimation, G7 central banks have upwards of 35% of total reserve
assets in gold. However, the remaining countries that make up the G20 only have 3.5% of their reserve assets in gold. These countries have seen a $2.2 trillion increase in reserve assets over the last five years, making up well over 50% of the increase in global reserves. However, despite a 150% increase in the price of gold, 97% of the increase in reserve assets has been in the form of paper currency or interest-bearing notes backed by paper currency.

> I also urge everybody still not convinced that at least a small part of their portfolio should include GOLD to read the following report........

> Der nachfolgende Report verdeutlicht mehr als eindrucksvoll warum meiner Meinung nach in jedes Depot GOLD zumindest einen gewissen Prozentsatz enthalten sollte.....

Sprott Oct 2009 Comment

H/T ZH

Speaking Of A Money Illusion........

As assumed last Friday the Dow finally hit 10 K. After looking at the chart you probably know why i prefer gold....... I think a few years from now this ratio will be even more favourable.....Wouldn´t surprise me if we see similar ratios like in 1980 . The same is true when you price the S&P 500 in Gold .....

Wie bereits letzten Freitag hat der Dow die 10 K geknackt. Habe das mal zum Anlaß genommen das Dow/Gold upzudaten. Unschwer zu erkennen warum ich seit langer Zeit Gold bevorzuge.... Meiner Meinung nach wird sich dieses Verhältnis zukünftig noch weiter zugunsten von Gold beschleunigen.... Ich würde selbst ein Verhältnis ähnlich dem Jahr 1980 für nicht "unwahrscheinlich" halten. Ähnlich verhält es sich wenn man den S&P 500 in Gold kalkuliert .....



WSJ

And you thought you had broken even. If investors had bought gold when the Dow first closed above 10000 in March 1999, they'd be up almost 280%.

Put another way, Dow 10000 a decade ago "cost" 36 ounces of gold, treating each Dow point as $1.

When the Dow revisited that level Wednesday, it was worth only 9.276 ounces of gold.

In oil terms, the Dow has gone from 609 barrels to 133.

Chart via Zero Hedge

bigger / größer

Dow 10,000: A Celebration Jesse

Team coverage today on Bloomberg by the Money Honeys as the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 10,000 intra-day, led by J.P. Morgan, in a move that surely epitomizes the illusions of wealth granted by modern accounting practices.

Can you believe the NYSE had the nerve to prepare new Dow 10,000 hats and distribute them for today? The first time the Dow Industrials crossed 10,000 was in 1999. The last time it closed over 10,000 was in October of 2008, just
before the most recent plunge of the collapsing credit bubble.

That does not speak well of equities for the "buy and hold" crowd, which has surely had a wild ride if they have indeed managed to hold on for the last ten years, and ex-dividends and fees and commissions and inflation and a plunging US dollar and soaring commodities are... even.

AMEN :-)

UPDATE:

The following videos are too good to be buried in the comment section..... Judging from this interview Bloomberg has morphed into another version of CNBC.......

Denke die folgenden Clips sind zu gut um in den Kommentaren versteckt zu werden..... Muß gestehen das ich nach dem folgenden Interview den Eindruck habe das sich Blommberg und CNBC nicht mehr wesentlich voneinander unterscheiden......

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Money Shot
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Dow Jones Rebounds to 1999
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

When Monetizing 12% Percent Of GDP Isn´t Enough.......

Not quite an "Exit Strategy"....... This Cartoon on "Green Shoots" is spot on..... :-) As long as the pound & gilts are not crashing this will continue.....I´m pretty sure Bernanke is watching the market reaction very closely UPDATE: Fed’s Kohn on Lessons From Buying Government Bonds… in Britain .... Especially with the Fed running low on ammo..... Read A 300-year-old example of quantitative easing.... John Law, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke... via The Mess That Greenspan Made as a reminder what can happen.......

Das ist wohl das Gegenteil der dank der tagtäglichen "Green Shoots Visionen" diskutierten Exitstrategie der Notenbanken......Die Lage muß wirklich KLASSE sein......Dieser Cartoon trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf...... Aber solange das Pfund & Gilts nicht crashen wird dieses in der Vergangenheit mehrmals massiv fehlgeschlagenes "Experiment" ( siehe A 300-year-old example of quantitative easing...... John Law, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke... ) weitergehen...... Bernanke dürfte die Marktreaktion sehr genau verfolgen UPDATE: Fed’s Kohn on Lessons From Buying Government Bonds… in Britain ..... Das gilt umso mehr als die Programme der Fed auf "Reserve" ( siehe Running low on ammo via R.Winkler ) laufen......

The governor’s insatiable appetite for QE FT Alphaville

The Governor invited the Committee to vote on the proposition that:

Bank Rate should be maintained at 0.5%;

The Bank of England should finance a further £50 billion of asset purchases by the creation of central bank reserves, implying a total quantity of £175 billion of such asset purchases. The Bank should seek to complete the additional purchases within the next three months.

Six members of the Committee (Charles Bean, Paul Tucker, Kate Barker, Spencer Dale, Paul Fisher and Andrew Sentance) voted in favour of the proposition. Three members of the Committee (the Governor, Tim Besley and David Miles) voted against, preferring to increase the size of the asset purchase programme by £75 billion to a total of £200 billion.

Yep, Mervyn King, together with Besley and Miles wanted the rate of monetary stimulus increasing, not just extending at the current rate of £50bn-a-quarter. That was good for half a cent off sterling versus the dollar and a third of a cent v the euro on Wednesday morning. Gilts, of course, spiked higher.

Somebody stop me Alice Cook from the great blog UK Bubble

The extraordinary thing about UK monetary policy today is how close it is shadowing fiscal policy. This year, the Bank of England printing presses will produce roughly the same amount of new money as this year's fiscal deficit. Or to put it more bluntly, the private sector have, on a net basis, stopped lending money to the government.

The Casey Report

> The estimated issuance is based on this "optimitic" forecast.... Especially compared to the IMF, OECD, Bloomberg etc..... No surprise to see the BOE also out of touch....... Good to know that at least this leads to a "review" of the AAA rating.... Hallelujah! :-) After watching this & this chart it should be clear to anybody not working at an rating agency that an AAA is more or less history.....

> Die o.g. Emission der Gilts basierd auf der unten aufgeführten "wenig konservativen" BSP Prognose...... Vergleicht diese mal mit denen von IMF, OECD, Bloomberg..... Überflüssig zu erwähnen das die BOE ebenfalls jenseits aller Realität prognostiziert..... Immerhin wird "gedroht" das AAA Rating einer ernsthaften Prüfung zu unterziehen..... Was wären wir nur ohne die Ratingagenturen....... Spätestens nachdem man sich diesen & diesen Chart vor Augen führt dürfte jedem der nicht gerade für eine Ratingagentur arbeitet klar sein das ein AAA wohl auf Jahre hinaus nicht mehr als ein feuchter Traum von Brown & Co sein wird.....

FT Alphaville

The Chancellor has forecast that the economy will contract by 3.5% in 2009, followed by GDP growth of 1.25% in 2010 and 3.5% in 2011. He sees long-term trend growth at 2.75%

> While i´m still in the deflation camp for some time to come but i´m pretty sure down the road the central banks will once more cause massive inflation ( read Inflation: What the heck is it? from Mish). If you want to know the details why i think this will happen i would like to refer to the podcast with Chris Martenson. Couldn´t have said it better.....H/T Pension Pulse.... One of many reason why i´m a "Goldbug" ( regardless of the timing - H/T Zero Hedge). The best "insurance"( relatively speaking ) you can buy to protect yourself from the "wisdom" of King, Bernanke & Co.. :-)

> Obwohl ich die nächsten Jahre noch dem Deflationscamp zuzuordnen bin steht zu befürchten das die Notenbänker Ihr Ziel einer stark "erhöhten" Inflation nicht verfehlen wird. Wichtig zu wissen das ich mit der Definition von Mish ( siehe Inflation: What the heck is it?.) übereinstimme die mit den Veränderungen der Konsumentenpreisen nur sehr indirekt etwas zu tun haben. Für alle die die Logik hinter dieser Einschätzung erfahren möchten die verweise ich gerne auf den erstklassigen Podcast mit Chris Martenson. Kann es beser nicht formulieren..... Dank an Pension Pulse..... Einer von vielen Gründen warum ich ein Freund des Goldes bin ( und das unabhängig vom timing / Dank an Zero Hedge ) Auf Dauer gesehen die zumindest relativ beste Absicherung gegen die "Weisheit" von Bernanke, King & Co .....

Gold’s Post-Bubble Performance In The UK, US And Japan.

I still think that we will see deflation in the US and other parts of the world but in the end i think the report from Dresdner is spot on....... Needless to say that i call myself a goldbug and have "little" faith in any fiat currency...... It´s probably helpful ( often overlooked ) to note that Gold in reaching new highs in almost every other world currency besides the $ ( see Goldchart in €, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Yen etc ) . Would be nice to see a goldchart vs the Icelandic Krona or the Forint......

Ich bin nach wie vor der Meinung das es in naher Zukunft eine Deflation in weiten Teilen der Welt geben wird. Im Endeffekt wird es aber zu dem im Dresdner Report geschilderten Ergebnis kommen...... Wohl überflüssig zu erwähnen das ich ein Goldbug bin und mein Misstrauen hinsichtlich Währungen nicht nur auf den $ ( obwohl dort extrem ausgeprägt ...) beschränkt ist.....Werde zumindest nicht mehr ganz so offen belächelt wie noch vor einigen Jahren..... PS: Bei der Qualität der heimischen Wirtschaftspresse ist es wenig überraschend das oftmals lediglich der Goldpreis in $ behandelt wird. Dabei wird wie nicht anders zu erwarten in schöner Regelmäßigkeit ausser Acht gelassen das Gold in den anderen Leitwährungen momentan nahe historischen Hochs notiert ( siehe Goldchart in €, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Yen etc ) . Habe leider keinen Goldchart vs islänsiche Krone oder ungarischen Forint auftreiben können......

Thanks again to Wall Street Follies

FT Alphaville

One way to combat the mess of a bubble popping is, as Dresdner puts it,“reducing confidence in the value of money” — i.e. creating inflation.

What the rise in the US and UK gold price tells us is that those two countries (assuming gold is in fact acting as an inflationary hedge here) are not shying away from their inflationary task.

They are, unlike Japan, really going for it.

Back to Dresdner:

Japan had no Japanese precedent to study. The last experience of deflation was buried so far in the past that anyone predicting a recurrence could be safely dismissed as a crank. The BoJ was dominated by inflation vigilantes who bitterly rued inflating the bubble and were determined at all costs to avoid a repeat. They remained far behind the curve and allowed growth in the monetary base to collapse. The contrast with the United States could not be clearer. Ben Bernanke is an authority on the historical experiences of deflation, and in his famous speech of 2002 laid out his playbook for all to see.

And to conclude:

No policy response to a post-bubble bust can ever be free of unintended consequences. The speed and scale of the current economic fiasco as good as ensures that the mistakes will be serious. The key question for investors is whether over the long haul their bias will be deflationary (too little, too late) or inflationary (too much, too fast). Given the different pressures that policymakers are working under, we find it hard to believe that the world as a whole will choose the Japanese path.

UPDATE: Prefect timing.....

If you still have some doubts make sure you read the latest (desperate) Fed effort via Naked Capitalism Fed Ponders Issuing Debt to Finance Its Mushrooming Balance Sheet

Sollte immer noch leichte Zweifel bestehen dem empfehle ich einen Blick auf den neuesten (verzweifelten) Versuch der Fed zu werfen Fed Ponders Issuing Debt to Finance Its Mushrooming Balance Sheet Via Naked Capitalism