Comments (1) Welcome to Gold World's new weekend review. Each week we'll take a look at the week that was and what's ahead, along with what you may have missed form our free sister sites, Wealth Daily, Energy and Capital, and our free blogs. Enjoy.
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Since the start of 2008, gold has gained nearly 20%, as funds, speculators, and nervous investors shift to the safe havens of gold on expectations of more rate cuts.
Will you really be shocked if we breach $1,200 gold this year? I won't be.
$106 oil, $4 possibilities at the pump, crumbling housing numbers, higher inflationary risks, recession, geopolitical risks, and a much weaker dollar following Europe's decision to leave rates pat at 4% are still weighing heavily on Wall Street, sending the calmest of investors screaming to exit doors.
And when the "Oracle of Omaha" says we're in a recession, we're screwed. Indeed, despite political influence, we're in a recession. We may have to wait six months for the "experts" to make the official announcement, but truth is we're already there.
That fact was cemented after non-farm payrolls plunged 63,000 to lows not seen since March 2003. Yep, it's another sign of recession, making the golden safe havens even more attractive.
Sure, short covering and liquidity boosting sprees are propping up the dollar, but don't expect that to last long. With the jobs number that weak, the Fed may have no choice but to cut another 50 to 75 bps, which will only weaken the dollar further and drive gold well above $1,000.
All the while, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet repeatedly supported a strong dollar policy in the U.S., which mysteriously fell on deaf ears among currency traders.
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For the week of March 3, 2008, here's what we covered in Gold World and elsewhere.
Exploring Today's Gold Stocks: Week of March 3, 2008
"We're writing this week's issue of "The Drill Rig" from the Professional Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 2008 conference - one of the largest conferences for geologists and mining companies. It's the second day of the conference and we're already we've met with several companies and gotten some new ideas," says the Gold World staff.
Renewable Energy Tax Credit: Why Tax-Free Income is Hurting You Today... How to Profit Tomorrow
"Companies would get a new production tax credit of 50 cents per gallon of cellulosic ethanol through 2010 and increase tax credits for gas stations that install pumps for dispensing alternative fuels. I can't reiterate enough how much it behooves us to do this, especially since over 22 billion gallons of the stuff needs to be in the nation's fuel lines by 2022, per a Bush-imposed mandate," says Nick Hodge.
Gazprom Stock: The Russian Gas Investment Up 57%... and Running
"Post-Soviet Russia's economic kingmaker is natural gas, and new President-elect Dmitri Medvedev is also the country's energy czar, helping steer soaring stock prices. In this article, we'll take a look at Russia's gas monopoly, Gazprom--in the context of the country's new leadership."
Japanese Renewable Energy
"Japan is about to throw nearly $2 billion into an international fund that fuels clean energy technology in developing countries. With Japan's technological advantage in everything from hybrid cars to robots, it's safe to assume that Japanese companies will be among the world's leaders in CleanTech within a few years."
The Visa Stock IPO, Part II: The Backdoor Profit Play on Visa's Initial Public Offering
The biggest beneficiaries of Visa's IPO will be the Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan. Each stands to reap millions if they sell their stake, post-IPO. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase cashed out their holdings post-MasterCard IPO and took one-time gains of more than $100 million. How do you get a piece of the Visa IPO before it goes public?
"We May be Scratching the Bottom," says Yun.
On February 25, Yun tried to argue that the housing market is "scratching the bottom", a horrible reminder of Hank Paulson's 2008 "at or near bottom" theory. What Yun fails to understand is that because sales were down 0.4% from December 2007, it doesn't mean we're bottoming anywhere. Inventories are now at a 10.3 month supply glut. That's 50% higher year over year.
Born of Panic: The Crisis that Gave Us the Fed
New to banking panics? Well the truth is that they used to happen all of the time. The big one though was the money panic of 1907. In some ways, it was the last straw. So here's part 3. It's about how what happened in 1907 put us where we are today.
No Signs of Recovery... Buy these puts
$106 oil, $4 possibilities at the pump, housing still falling apart, higher inflationary risks, recession, geopolitical risks, and a much weaker dollar following Europe's decision to leave rates pat at 4%, killing the dollar, are still weighing heavily on Wall Street. And when the "Oracle of Omaha" says we're in a recession, we're screwed. In deed, despite political influence, we're in a recession. We may have to wait six months for the "experts" to make the official announcement, but truth is we're already there.
U.S. IPO Market: $21.4 Billion Worth of IPOs Shelved
This is the "worst market crisis in 60 years," says George Soros. "We have not seen a nationwide decline in housing like this since the Great Depression," said the President of Wells Fargo & Co. in December 2007. So, how can you be shocked when $21.4 billion worth of IPOs are shelved since the first of the year?
Water Sector Investments: How a Drought can make it Rain Money
"The company's claim to fame, so to speak, is the invention of center pivot technology for crop irrigation equipment--the giant sprinklers you can see in fields across the country."
The VIX Indicator: The Ultimate "Fear Gauge" For Beating the Crowds to Big Profits
"It may be as cliché as it gets, but it's true. Investors are motivated by two things and two things only: Fear and Greed. It's just that simple. So more often than not, they turn quite bullish when they think a stock is headed higher and quite bearish when they fear that all is lost. The trouble with this strategy though is that for most retail investors, it is exactly at these extremes in sentiment that they often lose their shirts."
That's it for this week. For more, visit your free EnergyandCapital.com, GoldWorld.com, and WealthDaily.com.
Have a great weekend,
Ian L. Cooper
http://www.goldworld.com
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