Gold Editorials & Commentary

All the precious metals are strongly bullish at the moment. Gold is seeing accumulation on sideways moves now instead of corrective moves. The action is more bullish than I would have imagined at this stage in the secular bull market.

Since the market crash in late 2008 we have seen investors favor quality stocks that pay dividends and have steady earnings. Fast growth companies and equities with physical resources like commodities have also done well.

Much has been made of the fact that the 1980 top of $850 per oz equates to a price of over $2200 per oz in 2009 after allowing for inflation. But let's take a look at the 1980 chart for gold.

The US Dollar Chart below - courtesy stockcharts.com - is whispering some very quiet yet potentially important messages.

GLD - on buy signal.

Five years ago this week, an obscure little ETF called StreetTracks Gold Shares was born. As the first American ETF enabling stock traders to gain direct price exposure to a physical commodity, GLD was truly revolutionary.

A retired friend, an academic in a field unrelated to the subject of economics or finance, recently asked me to tell him what I thought was happening in these (to him) surreal worlds.

So far this week has been generous with our commodity ETFs moving higher, other than natural gas which is clearly in a bear market.

In 1964 the USGovt introduced the zinc dimes clad with silver. They at least admitted the debauchery publicly. Now pre-1964 silver coins are all considered different, and valued differently too, higher. Rome committed the same coinage fraud 1900 years ago.

Commodities continue to perform well as the US dollar tests the October lows. If we step back and take a look at the weekly charts of the gold, silver, oil and natural gas ETFs we can get a better feel for what to expect in the coming week.

On longer-term charts gold looks great here as it accelerates away from its recently completed 20-month consolidation pattern. The prospect is for a powerful, steep multi-month advance, punctuated by mostly brief periods of consolidation.

The major US indices resumed their rallies this past week but that didn't stop the metals from moving higher also. It looks as if the US markets will continue higher for now. The rally concerns me and is something we need to keep a close eye on.

GLD - on buy signal.

With the US stock markets very overextended technically, my recent research has focused on this development's implications.

I was sent an email with ten questions this week. That is nothing new but the title of the email had me a bit confused as to why I was on the list of recipients. It was titled "Questions for all wise people".

So far this week has been slow in regards to commodity ETF funds. Gold continues to shine while silver refuses to make a move higher.

Dear Mr Bernanke,

YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR JOB

Everyone is talking about commodities as the place to be in the coming months. I tend to agree, but it is still important to know where each commodity is trading to maximize returns and reduce risk.

God love him, that Jon Nadler. He can make a sentence out of two words and has some incredible turns of phrase, as well as eye catching titles to his pieces.

It is foreseeable that once this period of willful self-delusion reaches its apex; the citizens of this nation will make their voices heard and new economic and political theories will emerge to replace the old tried and failed, Keynesian self serving incre

It was a more exciting week than I could have imagined, and I imagined quite the exciting week. Let's get right into it today.

GLD - buy signal this week.

Last week gold's major new uptrend became established when following a successful test of support at the breakout point it advanced to new highs, indifferent to temporary dollar strength.

With the steady stream of claims toward an economic recovery, one must do a reality check from time to time.

After India's central bank gobbled up half of the gold (200 metric tons) the IMF recently offered for sale, gold surged 2.4% on Tuesday to a new all-time nominal high near $10

Precious Metals ETF have gone wild the past 2 weeks. Last week we saw gold and silver prices drop sharply as it shook out short term trader's stop orders before breaking out and moving higher.

Things are looking good for the gold bugs these days. September and early October saw the (long awaited) break above $1,000. This past week saw the technical pull back to the breakout point, and Thursday was the turnaround day.

The last week of October was something else. Heavy fiscal year end selling for mutual funds seemed to put a damper on good news and push stocks and commodities lower.

The gold option writers got what they wanted this past week and while gold call holders got taken, technically it was good for gold. It's now ready to move higher again now that it's free from the shadow of option expiry.