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THE GOLDEN POT gold news & views - charts & more not so much a forum but rather a news archive

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:29:56 02/21/02 Thu

Edgy speculators offload gold

COMMENTS from the head of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, provided edgy gold speculators with the ideal opportunity to offload some of their gold positions, leading to a drop in the gold price and profit-taking across the Johannesburg-listed gold companies.

The JSE Securities Exchange's gold index dropped 8,96% to 2352.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:28:08 02/21/02 Thu

Good as gold

NOTHING is as good as gold, and certainly the euro isn't. What a good buy gold has been in bad times, climbing when the world's stock markets were crashing.... Hang on a moment, is somebody spinning these figures? Surely the price of gold has been moving sideways for years? Even that, of course, would be better than the FT-SE Index, which tracks the shares of our leading companies and has lost 16 per cent of its value and is down by a quarter from its peak - but the point is that we are used to measuring the price of gold in dollars. Measure it in euros, and it sparkles. Anyone in any of the dozen countries of the eurozone who distrusted the new currency when it was launched three years ago and switched his money into gold shows a profit of 20 per cent. Now these countries are being papered with promises to pay (in euros, naturally) but gold does not depend on the promises of governments and central bankers. It is the natural ally of the individual against the state or superstate, which is more than can be said of the euro.

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Silver -- Sharefin, 17:26:52 02/21/02 Thu

Silver Falls 2 Percent

“There's no real supply fear with the silver market right now,'' said Howard Patten, an analyst at Barclays Capital in London. “I would expect prices to soften from here onward.”

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Bill Murphy (Gata) Interview with Jeff Rense Feb 19 -- Shadowfax, 20:16:03 02/20/02 Wed

Well worth a listen
Feb 19 in archive

http://events.yahoo.com/shows/endoftheline/02archives.html

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:21:02 02/20/02 Wed

Financial Sense Online

Central Banks - Battle Gold to Keep it From Rising
The recent gold rally ended yesterday after the German central bank surprised the gold markets by saying it wants to sell off some of its reserves. The statement coming from Germany’s central bank shocked the gold markets because previously they had said they would not sell gold. The announcement was designed to stop the gold rally in its tracks. If gold is allowed to rise, many of the world’s leading banks in the US and Germany would run into problems with their gold shorts and their derivative books. The statement was designed to have a maximum effect on gold prices to keep gold from rising above $305 an ounce. Several key banks start to get themselves in trouble as prices rise above $305, $315, and $325.

Financial Stress Increasing
It is now a question with dwindling supplies and rising financial stress in the world’s financial system if central banks can keep the lid shut on Pandora’s Box. Currency devaluations are spreading around the globe, central banks are inflating and printing paper like there is no tomorrow, and credit and financial risk is growing everywhere. It is the ultimate "Confidence Game," a game they have played so well for so long. However, the brush fires keeps spreading and sprouting out of nowhere. There are more fires that are getting harder to contain. It is becoming the ultimate battle between the forces of paper and gold. Looking at 5,000 years of history the odds favor gold. Fiat money systems have never survived very long. This one has survived for three decades. The fires you see spreading in the financial markets, the currency markets and throughout economies around the globe signal its coming demise.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 18:02:58 02/20/02 Wed

If Germany shuns gold others may follow

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Gold -- Sharefin, 18:01:56 02/20/02 Wed

Early NY gold still retreating after Buba clarifies

"The Bundesbank was an excuse yesterday to help knock the market down when everybody was looking at all the longs in the Commitments of Traders report," said a floor broker, referring to the unwieldy 36,333 net speculative long position reported by the CFTC on Friday.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:59:47 02/20/02 Wed

Gold finds support in afternoon as Bundesbank tries to ease concerns

A spokesman said today significant sales of gold are not foreseen in the immediate future.

"We are bound by the accord between the central banks, which is valid until Sept 2004 and we will respect it," he said.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:58:06 02/20/02 Wed

Gold falls to 'good rebuy' area

David Solin, technical analyst at partner at FX Analytics, says the recent sell-off in gold has brought the shiny metal to a "good rebuy/add area." He thinks gold could resume its upward trend to a high around $308.25 to $308.55, with potential for gains to $318.50 to $319.00, and possibly even the October 1999 high of $338.50. "Though I am still no long term bull, the continued widespread bearishness could provide enough fuel for another sharp upleg ahead," he said in a note to clients.

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Fanny Mae & Freddie Mac -- Sharefin, 17:54:32 02/20/02 Wed

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Face Risk Similar to Enron's, WSJ Says

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:50:13 02/20/02 Wed

Gold soothed after Buba comments, turns to upside

On Wednesday morning a Bundesbank spokesman told Reuters that it planned no immediate gold sales.

``Gold has a lot more going for it (than silver). It may have more to do and might have to get its boots on and have a rally,'' one trader said.

``I think gold was heading to $292 anyway and it was a question of when. Maybe it wouldn't have done it so quickly without the Buba comments,'' he said, adding that the central bank's comments threw the bears exactly the bone they needed to sell off an already overbought market.

``I'm not convinced that Buba is driving the gold price. I think it just helped the bears get their way,'' he said.

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Kaplan Snippet -- Sharefin, 17:44:53 02/20/02 Wed

Gold in correction mode

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Kaplan Snippet -- Sharefin, 17:41:47 02/20/02 Wed

Bundesbank

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported a comment by the president of the Bundesbank hinting that, perhaps, they were considering selling off some or all of their gold reserves in order to obtain other assets that pay interest. The market took such comments quite hard and sold off sharply. Due to the fact that Germany is a signatory to the Washington Accord, it was incomprehensible that such gold sales could occur before the year 2005. The comment was officially retracted this morning and full adherence to the Washington Accord was stated.

I find it almost impossible that Germany would even consider selling off gold reserves as the Bank of England has shown the folly of selling gold reserves in a rising market.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 16:23:36 02/20/02 Wed

Short-term Gold Update

Since the September high at $296 gold has broken through no less than five layers of supply between November and January. This is the mark of a healthy baby bull. In the past, gold rallies that failed and reversed took ages to regain the lost ground and supply hung like a dead weight around the market's neck for months at a time. Yet gold's last correction only lasted about 10 weeks and prices exceeded the September high. In the process several new layers of demand have been created in this market as delineated by the multiple parallel channels in the gold chart. A sign of even greater short-term strength would be if gold manages to keep above $290-$292 throughout its latest correction. This would add even greater impetus to its next upward leg.

We mentioned recently that gold's dominant interim cycle (the 40-week cycle) is up into spring and we should have a ways to go before gold's next serious correction. The cycle channels have aligned across all timeframes and are pointing to the target chart resistance area near $345. Looking at a two-year continuous contract gold chart provides a magnificent perspective of where we are along the gold cycle. Three distinctive parabolic bowls are visible in the gold chart from January 2001 to the present. We are presently completing the third (and presumably final) bowl before the blast-off in gold prices, which nearly always takes place after a triple parabolic bowl-shaped bottom. This is more than just an inverse head and shoulders pattern, it is extremely parabolic in nature which means that not only are the commercials heavily accumulating but that long-, intermediate-, and short-term cycles have aligned beautifully to produce an extraordinary rise in gold prices.

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JP Morgan -- Sharefin, 09:51:53 02/20/02 Wed

Over 30 trillion in derivatives

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ChartsRus -- Sharefin, 09:42:22 02/20/02 Wed

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ChartsRus -- Sharefin, 09:41:03 02/20/02 Wed

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Gold -- Sharefin, 07:45:38 02/20/02 Wed

Bundesbank nails gold

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Gold -- Sharefin, 07:42:44 02/20/02 Wed

Calling the gold price

On June 25 last year, Murenbeeld's consultancy issued a report entitled "Gold - A Brighter Outlook" that put the metal's slump to last year's April low of $255 an ounce, and subsequent recovery, into perspective. The report is prescient in its entirety and in its specifics. Maybe economics isn't so dismal after all; maybe it is even science.

Although the report has aged, it contains important and permanent lessons about gold's economic mechanism.

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Snipped from Le Metropole -- Sharefin, 07:30:27 02/20/02 Wed

Welteke Comments and Gold

By Bernard Connolly

Welteke’s comments this afternoon suggesting that the Buba might consider selling some of its gold in certain circumstances had a substantial impact on the intraday price of gold.
However, Welteke’s comments are not all that surprising. They express Buba satisfaction at the recent rise in gold prices, and seem largely aimed at giving notice that when discussions on extending the Washington agreement (expiring 2004) open in earnest, Buba wants to be allocated part of the quota of gold sales.
Welteke comments suggest a desire to sell into a rising market, and that Buba sees the gold-market rising. They also imply that any sales would be driven by necessity stemming from Germany’s problems in complying with the stability pact. However, Germany’s stability pact problems are only one indication of the growing problems in the world financial system-problems which are likely to make gold increasingly attractive as a real asset.
Weltekes' comments this afternoon, suggesting that the Bundesbank might contemplate slowly selling some of its gold in certain circumstances, have had a substantial impact on the gold price.. Any suggestion that the Bundesbank might sell is very major news. And if the Bundesbank attitude is changing, then so might the attitudes of, say, the Banque de France or the Banca d'Italia.

However, what Welteke said was not actually all that surprising. He says that recent gold price rises are pleasing to the Bundesbank and show how important it is not to sell at the wrong time. Welteke also refers to the Washington agreement. That is due to expire in September 2004 and a number of participating central banks have already said that discussions about its extension or replacement would start well before that date and might be somewhat less secret than the discussions preceding the current agreement. Among the 15 participating banks, several -- the SNB, the BoE and the Nederlandsche Bank -- will have been able to sell, by September 2004, most or even all of the gold they want to sell. The agreement was supposedly based on limiting participating central bank sales to the excess of annual final demand over annual gold supply. If that is carried forward beyond the expiry of the present agreement, then the only realistic potential sellers, in any size, among the participating central banks are indeed the Bundesbank, the B d'I and the B de F. Welteke says clearly that he does not want a return to a free-for-all in gold sales, so it looks as though Welteke is giving advance notice that when the quota is shared out in the next agreement, the Bundesbank will want to have the right to some of that quota.

The reasons for Welteke's apparent desire to sell some gold are made clear in his comments. First, there is a timing issue: he implies one should think of selling only into a rising market, not into a selling one, as a number of central banks were doing in the several years before the Washington agreement. He seems to believe that gold is indeed now a rising market and is likely to remain so when a renewal of the agreement might make Bundesbank sales possible. But why sell if the price is rising? Welteke's comments answer that question, too. His answer comes in the context of necessity: a discussion of Germany' s fiscal problems under the Stability Pact. He says that any interest payments received from assets bought with the proceeds of gold sales should be used to reduce the budget deficit (he actually says debt, but the mechanism would have to involve a lower deficit), not to increase public spending as many in Germany have been advocating. But it is precisely problems of the sort that Welteke is concerned with that have contributed to recent increases in the gold price. Such problems --whether in private sector borrowers, semi-public borrowers or state borrowers --are likely to become more widespread around the world. As the example of the London Gold Pool in the 1960s showed, when there are perceived to be systemic problems in the world financial system leading both to inflation fears and to credit worries (indeed the latter may end up producing the former) -- and in an environment where financial regression and suppression are likely to be restricting the menu of alternative hedges -- even deliberate attempts by a cartel of central banks to depress the gold price will be unsuccessful. The more that institutions such as the Bundesbank are seen to be under pressure from politicians to increase the amount of seigniorage they extract (there are limits on how much the Bundesbank can do this on its own, given that it can no longer independently increase the monetary base, so it has to look to ways of increasing the return on its assets rather than to expanding the size of its balance sheet) the more likely it is that that private markets will lose confidence in central banks in general and will be attracted towards real assets with no counterparty risk and relative ease of acquisition and storage without incurring the costs of capital controls, of which gold is likely to be the most attractive.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 06:57:02 02/20/02 Wed

Newmont Mining/Normandy -2: Connected To Franco-Nevada

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) completed the acquisition of Normandy Mining Ltd. (A.NDY) and named David H. Francisco acting chief executive of Normandy.

On Sunday, Newmont completed its purchase of Franco-Nevada Mining Corp. (T.FN) and declared its bid for Normandy unconditional. At the beginning of the month, Newmont said it expected to complete its $2.2 billion combined acquisition of Normandy and Franco-Nevada by mid-February after AngloGold Ltd. (AU) dropped out of the battle to acquire Normandy.

In a press release Wednesday, Newmont said the Normandy shares, together with the Normandy shares owned by Franco-Nevada, represent more than 79% of all Normandy shares. Newmont wants to transform the three companies into a mineral resource company.

Newmont's bid for Normandy expires Tuesday.

Francisco, who now serves as Newmont's executive vice president, operations, replaces Robert J. Champion de Crespigny at Normandy.

Normandy also reconstituted its board with the appointment of Bruce D. Hansen, chief financial officer and senior vice president of Newmont, and Britt D. Banks, vice president, general counsel and secretary of Newmont. They join Pierre Lassonde, president of Newmont, John Prescott and Bernard Wheelahan on the Normandy board. The other Normandy directors resigned.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 06:53:49 02/20/02 Wed

Sliding gold and Wall Street do some serious damage

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Aquarius Platinum -- Sharefin, 06:51:05 02/20/02 Wed

Aquarius Platinum Confirms Canadian Takeover Talks

Aquarius Platinum, the British-listed mining group, confirmed on Monday it had been the subject of takeover talks with Placer Dome, the Canadian precious metals miner. The admission, made in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, followed speculation in the Australian and UK press over the weekend.
Aquarius said it had held "some discussions with Placer in relation to it acquiring an interest of some nature in Aquarius", but that the discussions had been terminated.
"Aquarius is unable to anticipate whether there will be further discussions between the parties," it added.
The group's Australian-listed shares rose 11 per cent to A$9.45 on the news while the London-listed shares rose by a more modest 6 per cent in early trading to 325.5p.
Press reports on Sunday said Placer Dome, the world's sixth-largest gold miner, was preparing a bid of 400p a share, valuing Aquarius at about £285m ($399m).
There had also been speculation that any offer for Aquarius could draw counter-offers from Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum miner, Barrick Resources of the US or Lonmin, the £1.8bn platinum miner listed in London.
Lonmin has previously said it wants to expand its platinum interests and Impala, the South African platinum miner that is Lonmin's main rival, owns about 10 per cent of Aquarius.
Aquarius, a Bermudan-registered group, has interests in South Africa in the geological region known as the Bushveld Complex. In 1999 it set itself the target of becoming the fourth largest primary platinum producer. It aims to have three mines - Kroondaal, Marikana and Everest South - producing 500,000 ounces a year of platinum group metals by 2003.
Prices for platinum group metals have been buoyed in the last two years by strong demand for catalytic converters in the automotive industry and from mobile phones.
However, analysts are forecasting that slowing mobile phone sales and better catalyst technologies, which require less PMG material, will exert downward pressure on prices for the next few years.
Placer Dome, based in Vancouver, was uncontactable for immediate comment.

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SWC -- Cyclist, 06:50:14 02/20/02 Wed

reached support at 15.60.Risk reward is positive with a 20.00 target

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Gold -- Sharefin, 06:49:19 02/20/02 Wed

Europe Precious Metals: Sellers Push Gold Dn Amid Nervous Trade

Gold continued its downtrend Wednesday, with sellers pushing prices lower following comments by Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke that Germany may start to sell some of its gold.
With France and Italy expected to throw themselves into the ring for a potential rollover of the September 1999 Washington Agreement, aggressive sellers entered to push spot gold to a low bid of $291.88 a troy ounce before some light profit-taking helped take the market into slightly safer territory, around $294/oz.
With U.S. fund long liquidation having entered en masse Tuesday, dealers believe selling is set to continue this afternoon and prices could test $290/oz support.
The next support below this is around the important 50-day and 200-day moving averages, at $284/oz and $278/oz respectively, with a move through these levels likely to see prices freefall to the lows seen at the end of last year.
Silver watched gold and meandered around $4.50/oz throughout the morning.
Platinum failed to attract renewed interest despite news that Russian quotas have been signed, giving the Central Bank, Gokhran (Ministry of Finance), Koryak and Amur quotas for platinum and rhodium, while providing main producer Norilsk Nickel with a five-year platinum quota and a one year rhodium quota. It would appear that nothing was awarded to either Rosbank or Vneshtorgbank.
Spot platinum moved around $470/oz, with palladium following a similar pattern, hovering around $375/oz throughout the session.
Analysts said the platinum group metals are still in their traditional position of waiting for Russian announcements on deliveries and hoping to find nervous consumers willing to enter the spot market to buy. "So far it appears that no one wants to play," sadi analyst Ross Norman of thebulliondesk.com.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 20:38:20 02/19/02 Tue

Gold prices fall sharply

The recent rally reflected "the problems the global economy and financial markets are having dealing with a deflationary environment and the consequent undermining of credit quality," Sean Darby of Hong Kong-based Nomura International said in a research report issued Monday.

Although Darby sees spot gold prices, which were trading around $293 Tuesday, as "overbought," he changed his suggested asset allocation to favor holding gold over the U.S. dollar.

Erik Gebhard, an analyst at Altavest.com said comments from Ernst Welteke, president of Bundesbank, inferring that the German central bank will sell gold reserves contributed to Tuesday's price weakness. However, "if we were to look at the timing of central bank sales, a 'sell' indication is almost a perfect indicator to buy as they are notoriously poor market timers," he said.

All-in-all, however, Tuesday's move lower is "simply a technical correction," said Gebhard. "It's what markets typically do after a big move," he said.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 20:31:58 02/19/02 Tue

Gold Down More Than $5 On Fund Sales

-- Bundesbank news sparks more aggressive liquidation
-- Support at $290 seen tested in near term

New York, Feb. 19 (OsterDowJones) - Comex Apr gold was dumped by speculators Tuesday to nine-day lows of $293 per ounce as a failure to go higher last week prompted widespread disappointed selling.
Dip-buying and trade short covering managed to prop prices up at recent lows just above $296 through most of the day, but an announcement by DeutscheBundesbank that it may consider selling its gold reserves in the future sparked a more aggressive campaign late in the session that drove prices sharply lower.
Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke made the following remarks on Bloomberg Television about German gold reserves:
"We have significant gold reserves in the Bundesbank, and of course we are happy if the gold price rises. That shows that you shouldn't sell your gold at the wrong time.
"At the moment, there is an agreement between the central banks limiting the sale of gold. That is sensible since if we all sold central bank gold we

** Part of story missing **
Euro gold coins strongly suggests the German authorities are acquainting themselves with market counterparties."
"They are already very heavy gold lenders," he said.
The current European Central Bank agreement announced in September 1999 limiting central bank sales to 400 tons per year expires in October 2005.
Analysts claim it is "highly likely" that it will be announced that the agreement will be rolled over for another five years before the end of this year, and that at that time Germany will be added to the list of sellers. Should that be the case, the earliest date German sales could be made would be late 2005, they argued.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 20:27:43 02/19/02 Tue

Golden Star having a bumper year

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Gold -- Sharefin, 20:04:57 02/19/02 Tue

Scientists skeptical on gold claim

Scientists are skeptical about claims by a Chennai-based chemical engineer having a technology to commercially extract gold from sea water and say that such tall claims should have been scientifically examined before being aired in public.


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Seems like desperate times calls for desparate news.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and inspire fear in the hearts of those who want gold higher.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:58:43 02/19/02 Tue

The Bullion Desk's Norman Comments on Welteke Gold Statement

Following are comments by Ross Norman, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, on Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke's statement that Germany, the world's second-largest gold holder, wants to sell some of its reserves to buy other assets.

Welteke's comment came in an interview with Bloomberg television, to be aired tomorrow.

``Even if there were sales, this doesn't step outside the Washington accord (limiting central banks' gold sales). The impact wouldn't occur for two or three years.

``All that it's doing is shaking the nerve of the weak longs. With Comex (division of the New York Mercantile Exchange) particularly long at the moment, you might see some short-term selling on the back of it.

``Fundamentally I still believe the market should be above $300 (an ounce). I suspect that this might be a temporary setback when some of the weaker longs are shaken out.

``I suspect (the Bundesbank) will do it in an orderly fashion, and the unwinding of hedging that's going on and the supply-side discipline that'll come from the contraction of the producer base will more than counter what the central banks will be prepared to off-load.

``There's nothing new in the expectation that the Washington accord will be extended anyway. In a sense, I suppose the Germans are saying they want to be in the queue when the next round comes.''

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:56:47 02/19/02 Tue

Gold dives on Bundesbank comments

Bundesbank president Mr Ernst Welteke told Bloomberg Television: "We have significant gold reserves in the Bundesbank, and of course we are happy if the gold price rises. That shows that you shouldn't sell your gold at the wrong time."

"At the moment, there is an agreement between the central banks limiting the sale of gold. That is sensible since if we all sold central bank gold we send the gold price plummeting. That wouldn't be sensible.

"But I could imagine that we slowly sell some of this gold and reinvest the revenue in assets that pay an interest," Mr Welteke said.

The current European Central Bank agreement announced in September 1999 limiting central bank sales to 400 tonnes per year expires in October 2005.

Analysts claim it is "highly likely" that it will be announced that the agreement will be rolled over for another five years before the end of this year, and that at that time Germany will be added to the list of sellers. Should that be the case, the earliest date German sales could be made would be late 2005, they argued.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:54:24 02/19/02 Tue

German comment shakes gold

"It's shaken out some weak longs, I guess, and we touched off some stops below $294.70 in April. That was the key level," said a dealer at a bullion trading firm. "Now I think people are trying to digest the news."

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Seems to me the news is a non-event, just more of the propaganda goldbugs are used to.

One would guess that the strong hands are still holding,
And that the selling was done by one of the big gold sellers as per usual.

Smells like an Enronitis lie to me.
Disinfomration from a CEO who knows otherwise....^o-o^....

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:49:03 02/19/02 Tue

Bundesbank comment shakes gold bulls on COMEX

COMEX gold tumbled Tuesday after European Central Bank council member Ernst Welteke raised the prospect of eventual German bullion reserve sales under a 1999 agreement capping European central bank gold selling.

Welteke, who is also head of the German Bundesbank was quoted in an interview to run Wednesday on Bloomberg Television saying "I could imagine that we slowly sell some of this gold and reinvest the revenue in assets that pay an interest."

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Seems most goldbugs believe this is what's already happened.
That the Bundesbanks has already leased(sold) it's gold forwards and is enjoying the paltry interest.

Now they want to sell what they don't have,
And they are talking about it two years before they are allowed to do it (2004).

Strike two in the propaganda wars.
With strike one being that the Al-Quada Gold Strike.

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Buffett Ends Banking Investment in Citigroup -- Giovanni Dioro, 19:23:09 02/19/02 Tue

In a recent SEC filing it appears that Buffett has ended his investment that originally started with Salomon Brothers, which was taken over by Travelers, which merged with Citibank and formed Citigroup.

For an investor who loves financial investments, he appears now to have dumped Citigroup and also dumped Freddie Mac a couple of years ago.

Does Buffett know something? Did all these accounting shenannigans scare him off? Are Banks overextended and is a financial crisis looming?

Well Buffett is shrewd and conservative of an investor. He is an insider and a genious in his own right. It may just be that Buffett finds better risk/reward investments elsewhere.

I will tell you one thing - once interest rates start rising there is going to be a lot of hurt out there both in financial institutions and for most everyone. But even then, we look to Japan and we see that interest rates can remain low for a long time.
Buffett May Have Severed Citigroup Ties

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You Lie....You Fry!! -- auspec, 18:15:41 02/19/02 Tue

The following was written in response to a friend's explanation of Placer D's assurances of reducing their hedges post Washington Agreement and then doing exactly the opposite:


Give em hell, friend, the days of abusing gold advocates and skating freely away are kaput! Ask Buttock Gold how{e} their shareprice and management incentives have done lately. Their deeds exposed on the internet have played a huge role in this falling out of favor. We are in a small gold fishbowl and communication is widespread and up to the minute, little slips by anymore. Blanchard Re-Smirch, JT and Place Mats, StrangloGold and Buttock have clearly identified their allegiances, no true gold advocate would have ANYTHING to do with them. To quote my favorite S. African: "Screw Em!" Let's accelerate their demise.
We {gold advocates} DEMAND that our companies follow the roles played by the likes of Durban Deep, IAMGOLD, GoldCorp, Samex and the multitude of avowed non-hedgers who are showing true insight and leadership qualities. We are into and sold out for GOLD and its proper place in world finance and will not tolerate lies, chicanery, or acts of sabotage on our King of Metals!!
Don't just sell these losers that DON'T believe in gold, give em hell as you go, spread the word far and wide in this little fishbowl where every ripple reaches the other side. ******There is NO other market this small that has such a world-wide impact and degree of importance!******* Unified gold afficionados control this market, WE make the rules, sooner or later this will be visible to ALL!!
You buy gold from Blanchard Be-Smirch? You're trading with the enemy. You own Pusser Dumb and tolerate their lies? Who's side you on?
Time to ascend the nearest table top and start screaming bloody murder! These sphincters cannot hear you otherwise. Sort em out one by one, StrangloGold's Boy Bobby talks a nice game, but is a few nucleotides short of a chromosome. Maybe he doesn't really know what's going on, but quite likely it's his responsibility to find out. Turn a blind eye to misdeeds often enough and you'll end up w Enronitis.
Will we soon have a new Boston Strangler?? Bout time for the "Judge" to quit diddling and perform his Constitutional duties, no? Can the man still access his conscience? Cough it up, Man, you think this is all going to fade into distant memory? Your social schedule too programmed to permit this straight-forward case the attention it deserves? You gonna fold from pressure above?
A college hockey player, former pro football player, a Yankee Newspaper Editor, and a rag-tag bunch of gold lovers going to defeat the proudest and the richest?? HELL, YES! Just watch.
Restful evening to all,



auspec

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Venezuelan currency falls 2.9% today -- Donald, 12:45:11 02/19/02 Tue

The currency has fallen a total of 16.3% since Feb. 13

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swc -- Cyclist, 12:45:02 02/19/02 Tue

has made a 50% retracement

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gold -- Cyclist, 12:15:44 02/19/02 Tue

is being played like a violin...:)

April gold -- Cyclist, 17:22:04 02/18/02 Mon

looking for a home around 285 at the end of the week.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 10:01:42 02/19/02 Tue

Dollar Moves Higher; Gold Falls

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Gold -- Sharefin, 07:02:22 02/19/02 Tue

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Silver -- Sharefin, 05:06:57 02/19/02 Tue

DAVID MORGAN SILVER REPORT - Audio

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:08:56 02/19/02 Tue

Further Consolidation In Canadian Gold Sector


Miramar Mining has agreed to buy its smaller rival Hope Bay Gold for US$29.7 million in stock to expand their gold mining and exploration operations in northern Canada.
Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Miramar would issue 0.263 share for each Hope Bay Gold share, the companies said in a Business Wire release. Miramar shareholders would own 62 percent of the company and Hope Bay Gold shareholders would control the rest, the companies said.
The companies are already partners in the Hope Bay gold exploration project in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by regulators and Hope Bay shareholders, the companies said.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:05:35 02/19/02 Tue

Major gold campaign lined up for DSF

"Gold has always been viewed as an investment and a wise spending choice, but the Gold and Jewellery Group is working hard to bring the point home. Since gold prices have room to rise, this is perhaps a very good time to invest," said Tawfique Abdullah, chairman of the Group.

This year, the Group is offering a 'passport' to all shoppers spending Dh500 on gold and jewellery, which includes a coupon for a daily raffle that would fetch 1 kilo of gold and a separate coupon for the grand raffle that would fetch 10 kg of gold on the concluding day of the festival.

Besides, the passport would offer a series of discounts and facilities in various outlets, including Wild Wadi, Bur Juman Centre and Al Ghurair City. All the draws will be held in the new Global Village at the Festival City.

The group's campaign has a golden egg as its central mnemonic, aimed at giving gold a 'face-lift' and breathing new life into the gold industry.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:01:47 02/19/02 Tue

Major gold campaign lined up for DSF

Dubai's gold jewellery retail sales fell by 9.42 per cent last year to Dh250 million compared to Dh276 million worth of jewellery sold in 2000, according to the Gold and Jewellery Group.

The group has also ann-ounced a comprehensive promotion for this year's Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), which involves 41 kg of gold to be given away in raffle draws and five golden egg races every day.

The total volume of bullion and jewellery sold in the emirate is about 101 tonnes amounting $1 billion, according to officials.

---

U.S. may be falling into the same liquidity trap as Japan -- Donald, 03:59:51 02/19/02 Tue

click here

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 03:59:03 02/19/02 Tue

High Street gold turns a new leaf

HIGH street jewellery stores in the UK enjoyed record sales of gold jewellery in 2001, it has been revealed.

The World Gold Council, the industry body that promotes and monitors gold consumption internationally, said sales of gold jewellery in the UK in the final quarter of last year rose by 12% to 21.6 tonnes.

And for the year as a whole demand rose by 7% to an all-time record level for the UK of 69.2 tonnes.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 03:53:06 02/19/02 Tue

Newmont Completes Purchase In bid To Be Number One Gold Producer

Australian group Newmont Mining completed its purchase of the Franco-Nevada Mining, clearing a final hurdle for Newmont to become the largest gold producer. Terms have not disclosed.
The acquisition of Franco-Nevada, which controls 19.8 percent of Normandy Mining, helped Newmont win a bidding contest against South Africa's AngloGold last month for Normandy. Toronto-based Franco-Nevada, the third-biggest mining company, agreed to be taken over by Newmont as part of the consolidation.
Newmont's Canadian shares will begin trading Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “NMC.” Newmont plans to start trading on the Australian Stock Exchange on February 25th under the ticker “NEM.”
Newmont extended its $3.28 billion bid for Normandy, Australia's biggest gold producer, to February 26th from last Friday to give Normandy shareholders more time to accept the proposal.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 03:49:59 02/19/02 Tue

Africa's South Deep Gold Mine Seen At 700,000 Oz By Aug 2003

---

London morning gold news -- Donald, 03:48:56 02/19/02 Tue

click here

---

Black Friday 1869 -- Sharefin, 20:31:29 02/18/02 Mon



When Ulysses S. Grant assumed the presidency in March 1869 the national economy faced several problems: the federal debt was huge in the wake of the Civil War; hundreds of millions of unredeemable "greenbacks" had forced gold coins out of circulation; and the country's credit was precarious. As his first presidential act, Grant signed a law promising that the federal government would pay holders of U.S. bonds in "gold or its equivalent" and would redeem the greenbacks as soon as practicable. The price of gold dropped to $130 an ounce, a low point not seen since Congress suspended payments in gold or silver in 1862.

Grant's talented treasury secretary, George Boutwell, implemented reforms at the Treasury Department to limit counterfeiting and enhance tax collection. Boutwell also began selling the Treasury's surplus gold for greenbacks, and then used the paper currency to buy back government bonds. The administration's policy kept the money supply even, the price of gold low, and reduced the national debt $50 million by September 1869.

Because the gold market hovered around the relatively small figure of $15 million, the federal government was essentially able to set the price; selling more of the Treasury's gold reduced the price, while selling less raised it. Thus, gold investors could not try to make a profit based on economic indicators, but were hostage to unpredictable government actions in the market. Gould and Fisk realized, though, that gaining inside information on the government's plans would allow them buy massive amounts of gold at a low price and then sell high, reaping enormous profits.

Black Friday 1869

Jay Gould

Jay Gould

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:36:04 02/18/02 Mon

Placer Dome stock lower on limited growth outlook

Shares of Placer Dome lost some of their recent glitter on Monday as investors sifted through the gold miner's recent earnings.

Placer Dome shares were down 73 Canadian cents, or 3.6 percent, at C$19.10 a share on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

A research note said the company has no growth prospects and is dealing with maturing mines.

``In short, 2001 was a declining year for Placer Dome that reflected the maturing nature of its operations and lower commodity prices,'' Barry Allan, an analyst with Research Capital, said in a research report.

Allan forecasted higher average gold prices in 2002 but added that Placer Dome has a ``clear absence of growth prospects and is dealing with its maturing mines.''

Allan, who said his overall outlook for the gold sector is positive, has a ``hold'' recommendation on Placer Dome stock.

Last week, the Canadian gold miner reported fourth-quarter earnings of $29 million, or 9 cents a share, up from a loss of $89 million, or 27 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

On Friday, Placer Dome told analysts its hedge position at the end of September was 8.7 million ounces, including call options, compared with 7.9 million ounces sold forward at the end of December.

Brian MacArthur, an analyst with UBS Warburg, maintained his ``buy'' recommendation on the stock due to Placer's strong hedge book and its leverage to gold and copper.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:33:59 02/18/02 Mon

Gold, tin reserves found in N. Sumatra

---

Gold propaganda -- Sharefin, 19:28:56 02/18/02 Mon

Terrorists mine gold trade


Al-Qaeda gold shipments routed through Dubai


Al Qaeda's Road Paved With Gold

----
Psychological warfare that was expected here in this commentary.

In the sound-bite culture we are immersed in, everyone should have their BS meter turned on "high."

Regarding the timing of the Prudential and Bloomberg statements, the Bard said it best:

Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.-Hamlet, Act II, Scene 1

As this coming Monday is a market holiday in the USA, expect some fresh gold-bashing statements in the press, while the anti-gold forces try to regroup.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:19:11 02/18/02 Mon

Market to abandon tael for new service

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:17:48 02/18/02 Mon

Hong Kong to commence 99.99% gold trading before April

The Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society in Hong Kong will commence its 99.99% purity gold trading service in the first quarter of this year, an official from the Exchange said Monday. "The new trading service is a strategy in response to the market demand. In regards to the growing demand for 99.99% purity gold, especially in the Asian markets, more goldsmiths favor using higher purity gold to produce gold jewelry and coins," the official said. The Exchange now trades only 99% purity gold. "We have no plans to stop trading our existing 99% purity gold as there's still a group of supporters although its popularity is expected to weaken soon," he said.
Meanwhile, the official said the 99.99% purity gold would be traded in grams, instead of the "tael" unit which the Exchange is using in trading 99% purity gold. "Gram is becoming an international symbol unit for gold, and has been used in countries like Japan and China. To follow the international market direction, the 99.99% purity gold will be traded in grams rather than tael," he said. Meanwhile, the official added that the Exchange was looking for opportunities to cooperate with the Shanghai Futures Exchange once it officially launches this year. The Shanghai Futures Exchange started its simulation trading in November last year, but has yet to decide on an official launch date.

---

Gold Fields -- Sharefin, 19:16:18 02/18/02 Mon

Gold consolidation plan crumbles

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:13:41 02/18/02 Mon

Barrick Gold Posts 4Q Net Loss On Costs

Barrick Gold Corp., hit by costs tied to a lawsuit and a major acquisition, reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $94 million, or 17 cents a share. The gold producer also changed its long-running practice of selling all its gold production at prearranged prices.

Barrick said the latest quarter included $117 million of costs associated with its acquisition of Homestake Mining Co., completed Dec. 14. Barrick also booked a provision of $59 million due to a recent court ruling that a Homestake affiliate had improperly failed to complete the acquisition of Troilus gold mine from Inmet Mining Corp. in 1997. Barrick is appealing the ruling.

For the year-earlier quarter, Barrick reported a net loss of $996 million, or $2.51 a share, including a $1.1 billion asset write-down. Barrick said it has restated its full-year results for 2000 to conform with U.S. accounting principles, which the company recently adopted as its main standard, but the company didn't provide restated results for the fourth quarter of that year.

Boosted by Homestake's production, revenue from gold sales was $520 million for the latest quarter, up 38% from $377 million a year earlier.

Barrick expects to produce 5.7 million ounces of gold with total cash operating costs of $167 an ounce this year. Last year, Barrick and Homestake produced a combined 6.1 million ounces of gold with cash operating costs of $162 an ounce. The drop in production seen for this year is due to the previously announced planned closure of seven mines, including Homestake's namesake mine in South Dakota.

Altering its long-running practice of hedging its gold output, or selling its future gold production at prearranged prices, Barrick said it will sell half its 2002 gold production at spot-market prices. The other half is expected to be sold at $365 an ounce, it said. For 14 years, as the price of gold sagged or stayed flat, Barrick sold its entire annual production at prearranged prices above spot prices, a move that generated billions of dollars of added revenue for the company.

The move to reduce the amount of hedged gold was prompted by Barrick's increased production base, higher spot prices for gold and lower interest rates, Barrick President and Chief Executive Randall Oliphant told analysts. Under Barrick's hedging strategy, the company earns interest on cash raised by selling gold borrowed from central banks.

---

I think I made a mistake posting that e-mail here. -- kapex, 19:06:58 02/18/02 Mon

I know finny wants to keep the site Gold related and I should not have posted it.
OTOH

It is relavent to whats going on and thats why I did.

It contained quite a few relavent pieces of info that pertains to a lot of what is happening, but nonetheless I regret doing it now.

As far as Gold goes, I have been in a watch mode over the last week as the metal and stocks have hit a bit of a brick wall.
Understandable and not unexpected, although what happens over the near term is not as important as what is happening longer term.
Gold has climbed a wall of worry and the entire fundamental picture for it is better than ever!
Unfortunately, with that improved enviroment there are a few drawbacks. The main one being the "Opportunity" to buy at incredible bargin levels is gone. I don't see Gold going back to the 260's. Hell, I don't even see it going back to the 270's.
The world is moving into physical Gold ownership and the mining stocks are showing whats comming for physical metal prices.
The thing to watch for in here now will be dips that will shake your faith in the true direction.
I said a week and a half ago that Gold and the stocks looked toppy and I actually bought puts on the XAU. I got out at the 65 and change level and then late Friday played the Feb expiring 70 puts again as a combination of things happened that told me they were going to hit it and they did.
In at 1.05 and towards the end of the day they were 3.50 in the money although they closed at 2.60 at cash settlement.
The funny thing is I have made money on the short side over the last week with the exception of Hecla Mining.
It just keeps going and going and going!

So tomorrow the markets are open again and I don't have a clue as to what will happen next. Actually......I do have a feeling, but I am becoming reticent to post it as a chosen few can't handle anything but Gold to the moon and beyond for stocks, and this group really needs to get a grip!

The last thing I am going to do is start calling day by day.
Feb Gold which is cash for all intents and purposes did make a 5th wave.
April did not.

BUT!
The 5th wave could have been a B wave and the XAU looks similar.
But I wouldn't count on it.

My gut says we could correct right now and the other side of my gut says we could begin back up. One thing for sure is I don't want to be on the sidelines with fund money and I'm Not!

So, a few more days of action and things should clear up Elliott wise.

Technically speaking, the MACD for weekly Gold has made a series of lower peaks as Gold has spiked up. Thats not good!
So maybe Gold does need to show something over the near term as there are some things of concern. Sentiment has gotten a bit ahead of itself as Lots of bullish articles came out about Gold.

I think the next 3 or 4 days will be interesting to say the least!

---

Silver -- Sharefin, 18:30:09 02/18/02 Mon

The LME suspends trading in silver contract

The Exchange has decided to suspend its silver contract with effect from close of business 1 March 2002

and therefore, with immediate effect, no trades in this contract will be permitted if they have a prompt date beyond 1 March 2002.

---

April gold -- Cyclist, 17:22:04 02/18/02 Mon

looking for a home around 285 at the end of the week.

---

Kapex, -- normandy revulsion, 17:00:50 02/18/02 Mon

The evidence is crystal clear. If the sheep don't wake up soon its all over.

---

TandT. Scruffy -- normandy revulsion, 16:48:48 02/18/02 Mon

Good Post.

---

TERRORISM and TREASON is a way of life -- Scruffy, 14:37:42 02/18/02 Mon



The evidence is overwhelming that the US governemt is complicit in the cover up and was involved of the 911 attack

Historically, this is nothing new

The US government was involved in the Oklahoma City Bombing and the WTC Bombing of 1993 including cover up

Involvement include US intelligence, military, president and congress, fbi, justice department. I don't blame them for what they did. This couldn't have happened without the complicity of whoever is voting for or supporting them,

Obviously, a good response is to attack Afghanistan and focus on Bin Laden since it will boost moral of the nation and not focus on things that make people uncomfortable ... better to stick our heads in the sand

The anthrax attack seems to have been of a variety gotten from Fort Detrick, the US biological weapons in a CIA project ... at least their contributing

There was a story about the Taliban, bin Laden and Al Queda using GOLD to finance their terrorist operation ... that validates gold's value

There is no doubt in my mind that Bush and gang will carry out biological attacks either real or phony to stir up the fear of the country

I am not enthusiastic about those mandatory vaccinations especially given the estimated 25,000-40,000 dead, 275,000 permanently sick, studies indicate about 500,000 veterans sick, with 8 out of 10 Gulf War Vets families where at least 1 person is chronically sich ( pretty staggering ) got the anthrax vaccine ... so probably over a million military and civilian casualties from the gulf war ... not to talk about the hepatitis B vaccine given to the gays in NY and SF ...

the official burning of the constitution and bill of rights by overwhelming approval of congress and the american people was not a happy event but i say, people get the kind of government they deserve


I see part of the plan is to destroy the economy of the US and make it closer to a third world country.by looting the wealth ... the poorer one can make the people, the more power and control can be gotten. i can see why they may want to beef up security. when the future really comes, there will not be a lot of unhappy campers out there so they will need to deal with the disgruntled element ... the standard of living is headed towards the sewer for future generations but i sense it may arrive there even quicker than i think

I have written off the countries future ... the Homeland Security agency is an indication of where we are headed ... but I think if people want security, they should have it, have microchips and other implant devices ... the better the government can track and control people, the safer people will be ... i will forego protection

My hope is that GOLD will go up in price so I can find safe haven somewhere else or maybe get a high paying job helping to build that pipeline thru afghanistan or a courier for the largest drug trafficker in the world, the US government


What effect will domestic terrorism attacks - biological attacks, small nuke weapon ( just one ) - have on the price of gold

I can see them contaminating the food supply

Will people buy gold if they are in a state of fear

Will they say anybody who owns anything gold is a terrorist

If the price of gold without manipulation ajnd stability longer term should be at $600-$800

then i figure with the shortage, it will be much higher $1000-$1400

and if demand for it picks up in a major way ... the sellers will pump it up, i can see $2000-$3000

and if it becomes like dot.coms ... maybe $6000 an ounce where they are pumping the crap out of it ... well actually if it was really like the dot.coms, we'd be talking $6,000,000 per ounce at least


i work in the city so not a good place to be ... i can imagine them doing a small nuke to further terrorize the population and further their agenda

there is no doubt they will either release smallpos or contrive it in order to vaccinate the population with who knows what ... don't want to be around for that

there is a view that the cabal is trying to hold down the price of gold. that is true but they also intend it to be a nuclear bomb into the economy. all those derivatives were intentional. on one level, they make money, loot the economy. on another level they create an economic bomb they can detonate the US economy and make it's inhabitants poorer and obtain more control

the biggest looting is going on at the Pentagon .... 3-4 TRILLION dollars is unaccounted for ...

catherine austin fitts found 59 billion missing in 1999 and another 12 billion the next year ... she has a website
she also did a study on HUD properties and CIA drug money


in the 30 years i have observed congress, they have covered up virtually every major scandal. contrary to popular belief, even watergate was covered up except the more trivial aspects ...

when things get this bad and still people don't notice, our country is pretty much toast

the fact that GATA was allowed to go on C_SPAN, it is an indication, the cabal may want more exposure ...

maybe the cabal can have more control and the goldbugs can make a few dollars

as soon as i can scrape together a few dollars, i want to exit out of the war zone ... go somewhere a little more quiet


Scruffy

---

WGC 800,000 oz of retail purchases -- BillD, 13:31:57 02/18/02 Mon

Someone posted the other day that the 800,000 number was a MISPRINT ... the actual retail that day was 80,000 oz. Big Difference.

Check it out ..

BillD

---

An e-mail I recieved from a friend in Hawaii -- kapex, 13:26:22 02/18/02 Mon

Subject: [InternationalLabourNetworking] The Bombshell !! Bush Urges
Daschle
to Limit 9-11 Investigations !! WAKE UP CALL


EVIDENCE BUILDS - ACT NOW TO PREVENT A COVER UP & WAR:

There are now 12 Congressional Committees planning to investigate 9-
11, and how it was allowed to occur. Bush & Cheney have taken the
unprecedented step of urging the Senate to "limit" inquiries into 9-
11. Read the below reports and you may understand "why" Bush and
Cheney don't want this in the light of day. [Also, Canadian
Television Program SCALDS mainstream US media for completely ignoring
the below disturbing reports.]

It is CRITICAL THAT YOU SPREAD THIS INFORMATION OUT AND DEMAND THAT
WORLD MEDIA AND THE CONGRESS FULLY INVESTIGATE THIS. Cheney has
spoken of a list of 40 to 50 nations where US military strikes may
occur. If another major terrorist strike occurs in the US, we may
very well lose our civil rights completely. As this begins to come
out there may be some desperate people in our government that will do
desperate things. We must act now, while we still have freedom to
act. For a freely emailed Activist Kit, reply to
findtruth40@hotmail.com with "Send Kit" in the subject line.

Does all this sound too bizarre? I'm sure pre-war Germans had the
same skepticism in the 30's. After seeing the "Superbowl-Neuremburg
Rally" on Sunday, any conscious person should begin to be worried.

CALL TALK SHOWS, WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ASKING, "WHY DOESN'T
BUSH WANT A FULL INVESTIGATION OF 9-11?" and "WHY ARE ONLY FORIEGN
MEDIA LOOKING INTO THE BELOW REPORTS?"



We may be witnessing the Nazification of our nation.
--Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate in literature, January, 2002


What do we know of 9-11 that should be investigated?

Pre 9-11 Intelligence Breakdowns:
- Reportedly the Bush Administration forced the FBI to "back
off" on their investigations of terrorism in the Middle East. FBI
Deputy Director O'Neill (killed in WTC on 9-11) reportedly resigned
not long before 9-11 over this investigative obstruction, claiming
that the main obstruction was the interests of American Oil
Companies. (Source: Recently released French Book, "Bin Laden,
La Verite Interdite" (Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth)

- US Oil interests were well represented within the negotiating team,
that apparently was the source of the threat to "bury Afghanistan in
a carpet of bombs" unless they played ball in creating a major oil
pipeline through Afghanistan. This threat was reportedly made
several months before 9-11. (Bush's family has a strong oil
background. So do some of his top aides.

-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was until the end of last
year president of Halliburton, a company that provides services for
the oil industry;

-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice was between 1991 and 2000
manager for Chevron;

-Ministers of Commerce and Energy, Donald Evans and Stanley
Abraham worked for Tom Brown, another oil giant.
[ BBC interview on the above issue: - The Bush Administration forced
the FBI to back off of the Bin Laden investigation months before 9-
11. Source: BBC transcript BUSH ? BIN LADEN HIDDEN AGENDA!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/newsnight/newsid_1645000/16455
27.stm]

- CIA Station Chief in Dubai met with Bin Laden only 7 weeks before 9-
11 took place, yet they did not try to apprehend him, only met with
him. - The CIA station chief in Dubai met with Bin Laden 7 weeks
before 9-11, and at a time when Bin Laden was supposedly "wanted" by
the CIA.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.html·
(English)
(German Trans.) http://www.orf.at/orfon/011031-44569/index.html

- US government agent claims the CIA has been dealing with Bin Laden
since 1987, and he suggests in his interview that the terrorist acts
of late may well have been planned and paid for by the CIA with US
taxpayers money to enable the Bush Administration to "legitimately"
bomb Afghanistan into submission.

An interview with Michael Springman exposes the CIA's links
with the terrorist attacks on September 11 [Michael Springman worked
for the US government for 20 years with the foreign service and
consulate. He just went public with the story of his involvement in a
large scale CIA operation that brought hundreds of people from
the middle east to the US, issued them passports and trained them to
be terrorists. Hear the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
interview here. http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewNote.cfm?REF=1267]

-Insider Trading profits off the 9-11 terror don't lead to
Osama Bin Laden, but to AB Brown Trust, until recently chaired by the
3rd highest man in the CIA.

-[Someone with considerable financial resources, and foreknowledge of
the terrorist event, put stock options "against" the airlines that
were to explode that week of 9-11. - INSIDER TRADING PROFITS from 9-
11 were reported by the US media when they thought it was Arab
terrorists . . . but then the story mysteriously died. Then the UK
Independent revealed that it leads to a firm chaired by the 3rd
highest man in the CIA (and stranger still is that $2.5 million of
the "winnings" are still unclaimed (see below for URL to entire
story). http://globalresearch.ca/articles/RUP110A.html .
Info confirmed by Independent Newspaper in UK:
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99402]

[Standard FAA and DOD "intercept and shoot down procedures" were
violated on 9-11 (see FAA and DOD procedures on "intercepts").]
It is a FACT that standard intercept procedures for dealing with
these kinds of situations ARE TOTALLY ESTABLISHED, IN FORCE and ON-
LINE in these United States 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours
a day. Regarding rules governing IFR requirements, see FAA Order
7400.2E
- 'Procedures for Handling Airspace Matters,' Effective Date:
December 7, 2000 (Includes Change 1, effective July 7, 2001), Chapter
14-1-2.
Full text posted at:
http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/AIR/air1401.html#14-1-2FAA

- Guide to Basic Flight Information and Air Traffic Control (ATC)
Procedures,' (Includes Change 3 Effective: July 12, 2001) Chapter 5-
6-4 "Interception Signals" Full text posted at:
http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/AIM/Chap5/aim0506.html#5-6-4

- FAA Order 7110.65M 'Air Traffic Control' (Includes Change 3
Effective: July 12, 2001), Chapter 10-2-5 "Emergency Situations"
Full text posted at:
http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/ATC/Chp10/atc1002.html#10-2-5

- FAA Order 7110.65M 'Air Traffic Control' (Includes Change 3
Effective: July 12, 2001), Chapter 10-1-1 "Emergency Determinations"
Full text posted at:
http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/ATC/Chp10/atc1001.html#10-1-1

- FAA Order 7610.4J 'Special Military Operations' (Effective Date:
> November 3, 1998; Includes: Change 1, effective July 3, 2000;
Change 2, effective July 12, 2001), Chapter 4, Section 5, "Air
Defense Liaison Officers (ADLO's)"
> Full text posted at:
> http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/MIL/Ch4/mil0405.html#Section%205

- FAA Order 7610.4J 'Special Military Operations' (Effective Date:
November 3, 1998; Includes: Change 1, effective July 3, 2000;
Change 2, effective July 12, 2001), Chapter 7, Section 1-2, "Escort
of Hijacked Aircraft: Requests for Service"
> Full text posted at:
> http://faa.gov/ATpubs/MIL/Ch7/mil0701.html#7-1-2

- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3610.01A,' 1
June 2001, "Aircraft Piracy (Hijacking) and Destruction of Derelict
Airborne Objects," 4. Policy (page 1)
> PDF available at:
> http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/cjcsd/cjcsi/3610_01a.pdf
> Backup at:
> http://emperors-clothes.com/9-11backups/3610_01a.pdf

For a clear and detailed description of flight plans, fixes, and
Air Traffic Control, see: 'Direct-To Requirements' by Gregory Dennis
and Emina Torlak at: http://sdg.lcs.mit.edu/atc/D2Requirements.htm

Absolutely NO executive-level input of ANY KIND is required for
standard intercepts to be scrambled.


WHY DID BUSH'S STAFF NOT FOLLOW NORMAL PROCEDURES IN THE CASE OF A
NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON 9-11? DID HE KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?

The UK Independent Newspaper has questioned how Bush, who claimed in
two public appearances to have seen the first plane hit the first
tower on television the morning of 9-11, before the 2nd tower got
hit? The significance of this is that no one in the world saw that
first tower get hit, at that time, on television. They also question
why Bush continued to sit with elementary school students after the
2nd tower was hit and he was informed, "America is under attack."
Standard procedure for such a situation is to whisk the President
away, if not for his safety, for the safety of the students. Unless
he knew something more than we did that morning. The Independent
asks, "what television station was HE watching?"


Is it Outrageous to Consider that Elements of a Nations' Government
Could Committ Terror on It's Own People for Political Reasons?

- ABC News.com's May/2001 story resurfaces about how the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff have in the past ACTUALLY DESIGNED a plan to committ
domestic terror on Americans to whip them into a war hysteria, to
support war efforts by the govt.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/jointchiefs_010501.html

[The National Security Archive has a PDF version of the Operation
Northwoods plan, which author James Bamford says "may be the most
corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government." It can be found at
the following URL:]
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/

After 9-11 Oddities:

Anthrax sent to top Democrat Daschle and to the U.S. media (NBC & The
National Inquirer) had the effect of "uniting the nation behind the
Bush Administration's war effort," and literally shutting down
Congress in many ways.

Oddities exist when the anthrax issue is looked at closely:
- New Science Journal says Anthrax sent to Daschle is NOT Russian or
Iraqi, but likely US military strain.

- San Francisco Chronicle reports, the anthrax strain produced in US
University is destroyed on ok of FBI (they had studied this for
years, some at university question the timing of the destruction of
those anthrax spores . . . right now of all times (?))



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/09/MN153227.DTL

Terror Anthrax Linked to Type Made by U.S.
The powder used in the anthrax attacks is virtually
indistinguishable from that produced by the United States
military, according to federal scientists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/national/03POWD.html?todaysheadlines


After 9-11 Administration Damage Control Efforts:

Fire Engineering Magazine assails the incredible speed that the
evidence in the WTC collapse is being destroyed. Never
in the history of fire investigations has evidence been destroyed
this fast before exhaustive investigations can be completed. ["We
must try to find out why the twin towers fell" By James
Quintiere,Baltimore Sun 1/3/01
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-
op.towers03jan03.story
-WTC "INVESTIGATION"?: A CALL TO ACTION from Fire Engineering
Magazine]
-
- Bush Admin. declares they will "seal the records of presidents
beginning with Father Bush/Reagans (an act never before done in US
presidential history)."

- "It is not a stretch to wonder if this White House is up to
something that it doesn't want known 12 years from now or
anytimethereafter. [A direct quote from the piece carried by Scripps
Howard News Service, 11/5/2001. Re: Bush's sealing of presidential
records for the first time in U.S. history]


- Bush & Cheney urge Senate Leader to "limit" inquiries into 9-11:
Senate perplexed by this. Don't go there: Bush Asks Daschle to Limit
Sept. 11 Probes Date: Wednesday, January 30 @ 10:09:24 EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush personally asked Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation
into the events of September 11, congressional and White House
sources told CNN.

The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders
Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation. He
asked that only the House and Senate intelligence committees look
into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have
allowed the terrorist attacks to occur, rather than a broader inquiry
that some lawmakers have proposed, the sources said.

Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice
President Dick Cheney last Friday to make the same request.

"The vice president expressed the concern that a review of what
happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from
the effort in the war on terrorism," Daschle told reporters.

But, Daschle said, he has not agreed to limit the investigation. "I
acknowledged that concern, and it is for that reason that the
Intelligence Committee is going to begin this effort, trying to limit
the scope and the overall review of what happened," said Daschle, D-
South Dakota. "But clearly, I think the American people are entitled
to know what happened and why," he said.

Foreign Officials have powerful concerns over 9-11:

FORMER GERMAN CABINET MINISTER ATTACKS OFFICIAL BRAINWASHING ON
SEPTEMBER 11 ISSUE
[Source: Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Jan. 13] PARTIAL TRANSLATION

In a full-page interview with the Sunday edition (Jan. 13) of the
Berlin Tagesspiegel daily, former German Minister of Technology,
Andreas von Buelow, said he does not buy any of the official theories
that have been presented to date, on the events of September 11.

Q: You seem so angry, really upset.

Von Buelow: I can explain what's bothering me: I see that after the
horrifying attacks of Sept. 11, all political public opinion is being
forced into a direction that I consider wrong.

Q: What do you mean by that?

Von Buelow: I wonder why many questions are not asked. Normally, with
such a terrible thing, various leads and tracks appear that are then
commented on, by the investigators, the media, the government: Is
there something here or not? Are the explanations plausible? This
time, this is not the case at all. It already began just hours after
the attacks in New York and Washington and--

Q: In those hours, there was horror, and grief.

Von Buelow: Right, but actually it was astounding: There are 26
intelligence services in the U.S.A. with a budget of $30 billion--

Q: ...more than the German defense budget...

Von Buelow: --which were not able to prevent the attacks. In fact,
they didn't even have an inkling they would happen. For 60 decisive
minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter
planes stay on the ground, 48 hours later, however, the FBI presented
a list of suicide attackers. Within ten days, it emerged that seven
of them were still alive.

Q: What, please?

Von Buelow: Yes, yes. And why did the FBI chief take no position
regarding contradictions? Where the list came from, why it was
false? If I were the chief investigator (state attorney) in such a
case, I would regularly go to the public, and give information on
which lead are valid and which not.

Q: That sounds like--

Von Buelow: --like assailants who, in their preparations, leave
tracks behind them like a herd of stampeding elephants? They made
payments with credit cards with their own names; they reported to
their flight instructors with their own names. They left behind
rented cars with flight manuals in Arabic for jumbo
jets. They took with them, on their suicide trip, wills and farewell
letters, which fall into the hands of the FBI, because they were
stored in the wrong place and wrongly addressed. Clues were left like
behind like in a child's game of hide-and-seek, which were to be
followed!

There is also the theory of one British flight engineer: According to
this, the steering of the planes was perhaps taken out of the pilots'
hands, from outside. The Americans had developed a method in the
1970s, whereby they could rescue hijacked planes by intervening into
the computer piloting [automatic pilot system]. This theory says,
this technique was abused in this case. That's a theory....

Q: Which sounds really adventurous, and was never considered.

Von Buelow: You see! I do not accept this theory, but I find it worth
considering. And what about the obscure stock transactions? In the
week prior to the attacks, the amount of transactions in stocks in
American Airlines, United Airlines, and insurance companies,
increased 1,200%. It was for a value of $15 billion. Some people must
have known something. Who?

Q: Why don't you speculate on who it might have been.

Von Buelow: With the help of the horrifying attacks, the Western mass
democracies were subjected to brainwashing. The enemy image of anti-
communism doesn't work any more; it is to be replaced by peoples of
Islamic belief. They are accused of having given birth to suicidal
terrorism.

Q: Brainwashing? That's a tough term.

Von Buelow: Yes? But the idea of the enemy image doesn't come from
me. It comes from Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samuel Huntington, two
policy-makers of American intelligence and foreign policy. Already in
the middle of the 1990s, Huntingon believed, people in Europe and the
U.S. needed someone they could hate-- this would strengthen their
identification with their own society. And Brzezinski, the mad dog,
as adviser to President Jimmy Carter, campaigned for the exclusive
right of the U.S. to seize all the raw materials of the world,
especially oil and gas.

Q: You mean, the events of Sept. 11--

Von Buelow: --fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry,
the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic
complex. This is in fact conspicuous. The huge raw materials reserves
of the former Soviet Union are now at their disposal, also the
pipeline routes and--

Q: Erich Follach described that at length in Spiegel: ``It's a matter
of military bases, drugs, oil and gas reserves.''

Von Buelow: I can state: the planning of the attacks was technically
and organizationally a master achievement. To hijack four huge
airplanes within a few minutes and within one hour, to drive them
into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers! This is
unthinkable, without years-long support from secret apparatuses of
the state and industry.

Q: You are a conspiracy theorist!

Von Buelow: Yeah, yeah. That's the ridicule heaped [on those raising
these questions] by those who would prefer to follow the official,
politically correct line. Even investigative journalists are fed
propaganda and disinformation. Anyone who doubts that, doesn't have
all his marbles! That is your accusation.

Q: Your career actually speaks against the idea that you are not in
your right mind. You were already in the 1970s, state secretary in
the Defense Ministry; in 1993 you were the SPD [Social Democratic
Party] speaker in the Schalk-Golodkowski investigation committee--

Von Buelow: And it all began there! Until that time, I did not have
any great knowledge of the work of intelligence agencies. And now we
had to take note of a great discrepancy: We shed light on the
dealings of the Stasi and other East bloc intelligence agencies in
the field of economic criminality, but as soon as we wanted to know
something about the activities of the BND [German intelligence
agency] or the CIA, it was mercilessly blocked. No information, no
cooperation, nothing! That's when I was first taken aback.


The Legacy:
"On the surface, selling arms to a country that sponsors terrorism,
of course, clearly, you'd have to argue it's wrong, but it's the
exception sometimes that proves the rule."

- George Bush on Good Morning America. 01/28/87


"You f**king son of a bitch, I saw what you wrote. We're not going to
forget this.",

- George W. Bush shouted at writer & editor Al Hunt,
& his 6 yr old son in a restaurant - 1988 ....



IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN ACTIVIST KIT TO GET INVOLVED URGING A FULL PUBLIC
INVESTIGATION OF 9-11 AND ITS AFTERMATH, REPLY to
findtruth40@hotmail.com WITH "SEND KIT" and it will be freely sent to
you.



"OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END THE DAY WE BECOME SILENT ABOUT THINGS THAT
MATTER" --
Martin Luther King

We may be witnessing the Nazification of our nation.
--Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate in literature, January, 2002



1) Enron Investigation Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/ddc22/petition.html

2) 9/11 Investigation Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/11601TFS/petition.html

---

Nick - Delete double post -- Giovanni Dioro, 10:32:39 02/18/02 Mon

Sorry about the double post. I refreshed main page and didn't think my post went through. I wanted to add the light bulb. So please delete first of 2 plus this one.

Thanks,

Gianni

---

The Stock Market is no Haven for Retirement Funds -- Giovanni Dioro, 10:19:47 02/18/02 Mon

The crux of the following article is that so much money has been poured into the stockmarket via individual retirement accounts (IRA's, PEP's, etc), and that the inflationary effects of the cashing out of these plans in the next 5 to 10 years cannot be allowed to happen. And thus people must protect their savings with an investment in precious metals.


All those Baby-boomers who have their entire retirement nestegg in the stock markets are up for a rude awakening in the coming years. Why?

Simply it is this, the govt has encouraged people to tie up their savings in IRA's or Individual Retirement Accounts. There have been Billions upon Billions poured into these accounts by Baby-boomers over the past 20 years or so.

The peculiar thing about IRA's is that if you put excess money into them, you can take a deduction off your taxable income. However if you try to take money out of the IRA, you will be heavily penalised. So what we get is a sort of Roach Motel where money can come in but it can't come out.

So what are the effects of a system where buying is rewarded and selling is penalised? Obviously the effects can be seen in what we got - a bloated stock market where traditional values were thrown out the window.

This bloated stock market presents a problem for monetary policy. The Fed has had a very easy money policy for the last 10 years which has encouraged borrowing. Now there is a huge debt overhang and in the face of a credit crunch, the Fed has been printing at even more obscene levels since the NYC attacks last autumn.

Now if we look at that over-inflated stockmarket again. Through "roach motel" retirement plans, the stockmarket has been a valve into which excess money could leave the everyday system and not affect consumer price inflation.

More importantly here is the key - Babyboomers can't get at their IRA's until they reach retirement age. Well baby-boomers are born starting in 1945 to about 1960. This means that they will start to retire around 2005, meaning starting from around 2005 onwards, $100's of billions of stocks will want to be sold and worked into the real economy. The inflationary effects are enormous.

I'm saying now that there is no way the Fed is going to let the stock market bubble stay intact until the bulk of these IRA's become freely redeemable. Therefore, we should continue to see more air let out of the stock market bubble over the next 5 to 10 years.

There will likely be some stocks that will perform well, but most will be losers. That is why it is important to be liquid in this environment. In this environment of devaluating currencies and savings accounts that pay negative rates of return (accounting for inflation and/or taxes) the holding of precious metals is of paramount importance. I feel that not only will precious metals hold their value over the next ten to twenty years, their purchasing power will increase dramatically.

Being 100% invested in precious metals can be risky because metal prices can stagnate for decades before they spurt higher, though I feel 10-20% invested in gold or silver bullion is prudent in these times.

(By the way, I took a tax accounting course in college about years ago, and I think you can start tapping your IRA in your 60's. If someone could clear up at what age you can cash out of an IRA, please post).

---

The Stock Market is no Haven for Retirement Funds -- Giovanni Dioro, 10:17:39 02/18/02 Mon

The crux of the following article is that so much money has been poured into the stockmarket via individual retirement accounts (IRA's, PEP's, etc), and that the inflationary effects of the cashing out of these plans in the next 5 to 10 years cannot be allowed to happen. And thus people must protect their savings with an investment in precious metals.


All those Baby-boomers who have their entire retirement nestegg in the stock markets are up for a rude awakening in the coming years. Why?

Simply it is this, the govt has encouraged people to tie up their savings in IRA's or Individual Retirement Accounts. There have been Billions upon Billions poured into these accounts by Baby-boomers over the past 20 years or so.

The peculiar thing about IRA's is that if you put excess money into them, you can take a deduction off your taxable income. However if you try to take money out of the IRA, you will be heavily penalised. So what we get is a sort of Roach Motel where money can come in but it can't come out.

So what are the effects of a system where buying is rewarded and selling is penalised? Obviously the effects can be seen in what we got - a bloated stock market where traditional values were thrown out the window.

This bloated stock market presents a problem for monetary policy. The Fed has had a very easy money policy for the last 10 years which has encouraged borrowing. Now there is a huge debt overhang and in the face of a credit crunch, the Fed has been printing at even more obscene levels since the NYC attacks last autumn.

Now if we look at that over-inflated stockmarket again. Through "roach motel" retirement plans, the stockmarket has been a valve into which excess money could leave the everyday system and not affect consumer price inflation.

More importantly here is the key - Babyboomers can't get at their IRA's until they reach retirement age. Well baby-boomers are born starting in 1945 to about 1960. This means that they will start to retire around 2005, meaning starting from around 2005 onwards, $100's of billions of stocks will want to be sold and worked into the real economy. The inflationary effects are enormous.

I'm saying now that there is no way the Fed is going to let the stock market bubble stay intact until the bulk of these IRA's become freely redeemable. Therefore, we should continue to see more air let out of the stock market bubble over the next 5 to 10 years.

There will likely be some stocks that will perform well, but most will be losers. That is why it is important to be liquid in this environment. In this environment of devaluating currencies and savings accounts that pay negative rates of return (accounting for inflation and/or taxes) the holding of precious metals is of paramount importance. I feel that not only will precious metals hold their value over the next ten to twenty years, their purchasing power will increase dramatically.

Being 100% invested in precious metals can be risky because metal prices can stagnate for decades before they spurt higher, though I feel 10-20% invested in gold or silver bullion is prudent in these times.

(By the way, I took a tax accounting course in college about years ago, and I think you can start tapping your IRA in your 60's. If someone could clear up at what age you can cash out of an IRA, please post).

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 01:18:43 02/18/02 Mon

WGC Weekly Review

The press is carrying reports of over 800,000 ounces of physical retail purchases last Friday alone.

-------
The 800,000 ounces purchased on the Friday mentioned is greater than the three month intake for the 4th Quarter 2001.

Slightly less than 25 tons all purchased on one day.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 00:48:12 02/18/02 Mon

Jill Leyland: Spokesperson, World Gold Council

I think the investment story is probably the interesting one. It's not just in Japan, but Japan is the big part of it.

It started with September 11th and the need for insurance or safe-haven assets, and it's continued partly because there are concerns over the Japanese economy, because of concerns over the financial frailty of some banks, and the fact that guarantees on your bank deposits are going to be limited from next April. The Japanese hold an enormous amount of their wealth, over half, in bank deposits.

So if you are concerned about the reliability of the bank and you know that only a certain amount of the deposit you have with the bank is going to be underpinned by guarantee insurance, then clearly you might well be looking for a way out - and a number have switched into gold. So we've had some very strong buying, partly at the end of the fourth quarter.

---

Barrick -- Sharefin, 00:45:26 02/18/02 Mon

Barrick to Sell Gold At Spot for First Time in 14 Years

The gold industry's arch-hedger and easy villain for purists will contribute to the upbeat tone of the bullion market this year by selling half its production at spot prices; the first time in more than a decade that it will not make full use of its premium gold sales programme.

---

Lenny's Daily Commentary -- Sharefin, 00:39:44 02/18/02 Mon

DAILY COMMENTARY

In an environment of rising lease rates, silver managed to improve by 8 cents in the last week as rumors swirl that a major international hedge fund is buying in quantity.

In January, it is thought that Japanese investors bought 10 tons of gold or so, a paltry $90 million USD or so,

-----
Strange how the numbers don't gel with the earlier reports from the WGC of over 800,000 ounces being sold in one day alone

The 800,000 ounces alone are worth approx $240 million, so January's purchases must be many multiples more than that mentioned in the above commentary.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:47:35 02/17/02 Sun

Australia says 'thanks a bullion'

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:44:07 02/17/02 Sun

Gold bulls on the increase - LBMA

The London Bullion Market Association is distributing the results of what must be the biggest and most comprehensive poll ever carried out among precious metals markets analysts.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:41:02 02/17/02 Sun

'Africa's mining could collapse if Mugabe stays'

Cape Town - Never before has the link between politics and economics been so clear as this week's warning by the foreign investment community that Africa's mining industry could collapse in the wake of another Robert Mugabe regime.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:37:47 02/17/02 Sun

Barrick Gold reduces hedgebook

Barrick Gold Corp said on Friday it will not increase its gold forward sales programme amid a bullish outlook for gold prices and low interest rates, but will put more emphasis on spot sales.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:35:51 02/17/02 Sun

Gold sector slips into foreign hands

Out of our grasp...overseas investors now have about 60pc of the Australian gold mining industry

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:34:15 02/17/02 Sun

Gold hopes rise despite output slide

AUSTRALIA'S gold production fell 5 per cent to 281 tonnes in 2001, making it the fourth year in a row in which production of the nation's third biggest export earner has fallen.

The plunging production between 1997 and 2001 coincided with weak US dollar bullion prices and some of Australia's best gold producing assets going into foreign hands.

---

Prudent Bear -- Sharefin, 16:25:04 02/17/02 Sun

Money, Monetary Policy and the Structure of Debt

---

Enron -- Sharefin, 15:54:18 02/17/02 Sun

Enron losers take revenge on Wall St

---

7 Fundamentals For Dollar Fall -- Giovanni Dioro, 10:22:05 02/17/02 Sun

The Following was written by Gary Scott. You can subscribe to his free electronic newsletter type mailing list at his main site at
http://www.garyascott.com
By the way from what I know of Gary Scott, he was spot on in saying 4-5 years ago that the Swiss franc would not be the strong reserve currency it once was, and he recently correctly called the Yen devaluation.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$
$$$
$$
$
Seven Fundamentals For a Dollar Fall

A look at the history of the US dollar gives us an urgent and timely warning.

Dear International Friend,

We have looked in numerous messages over the past year at the unusual strength of the US dollar and have seen that much of this strength is by default. With a basket case Japanese economy and unknown Euro, where else is there to go? This question remains unanswered (though we will see one idea later here), but seven economic fundamentals we reviewed at our last International Business Made EZ course in Quito are so similar to those of the last great dollar crash, we should review them again.

In the early 70s when the US dollar dropped dramatically against the yen, Swiss franc, German mark etc. and gold, the following forces were at work.


The US dollar was the reserve currency of the world.
A US President from Texas was fighting a war at the same time he financed great social reform. (Guns and Butter).
The US stock market had crashed after rising to all time highs. Overseas investors were looking for other markets that could rise.
The US government shifted from having budget surpluses to huge deficits.
The US economy was in a recession.
Energy prices were rising.
US dollar interest rates were very low.

The question is where to go? Japan and the Euro still pose problems, but now I am adding to my Euro position. More so I am increasing my Australian and Canadian dollar positions as well. Keep an eye on non Euro, European currencies, the Swiss franc (but not too much as there is danger here), plus the British pound, Danish kroner, Singapore and Hong Kong dollar.

Also keep an eye on silver and gold.

Until next message, good global investing and business!

Gary
http://www.garyascott.com/investing/500/

---

Piling into Gold vis-à-vis the ever-devaluing Yen -- Giovanni Dioro, 10:11:00 02/17/02 Sun

The Japanese piling into gold is exciting. People talk about the government doing away with or limiting the amount of money in savings account that will be guaranteed by the japanese govt.

While that is perhaps the main catalyst, there is also the fact that the japanese central bank is deliberately devaluing the Yen. The media tries to use the smokescreen that the japanese economy is a basket case and that is the reason for Yen weakness, but the fact is that the Japanese Central Bank is intervening in the currency exchange markets to prop up the dollar and devalue the Yen. Other Asian countries are griping about the weakening Yen, and the JCB plays dumb.

The JCB holds hundreds of Billions of Dollars in so called reserves - It got these Dollars by printing Yen and buying dollars so as to keep the Yen from appreciating, or now in this case, to blatantly devalue the Yen.

The common japanese people have been cautious about their currency, just like the Germans who saw their currency become virtually worthless at the end of WWII in the late 1940´s. They know what it is like to see paper currency burn, and they have been vocal in the past about govt attempts of increased govt/deficit spending that would devalue its currency, even if their objections to devaluation has prolonged the economic recession in Japan.

However in my opinion Japan needs a washout of its debts before it can get its economy moving again, not just these stimulus programs and low interest rates that keep the aenimic status quo.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:23:43 02/17/02 Sun

Ominous signs reflected in the rush to buy gold

FOR the past 30 years, few assets have seemed of less relevance to investors than gold. Yet when the price moves, as it has moved in the past 12 days, investors cannot afford not to pay attention. There are few more accurate barometers of approaching financial instability than the price of bullion.

In scrambling up by more than $40 to cross the $300 level in the past week - closing on Friday just a whisker below $300 - gold is signalling a widespread apprehension that the world economy may be far from out of the woods yet. When analysts such as Ian Williams of Durlacher forecast that gold will hit $600 an ounce within two years "on the basis of supply and demand imbalance", we could be headed for turbulent times indeed.

"The stock market bubble may have burst, but the gigantic credit bubble is intact and the most euphemistic prediction is that, like so many recessions, this one is going to be a ‘dubyah’. But, the second leg, when it commences, is likely to become very ugly."

Japan’s gold rush has not just developed in the last three weeks. While world gold demand fell 2% in the final quarter of last year compared with the previous year, Japanese demand jumped by 20% in the September-December period, with a 54% surge in investment demand for bar and coin to 21.5 tonnes.

This is one of the sharpest increases recorded, directly attributable, according to the World Gold Council’s biblical Gold Demand Trends, to the prospect of the Japanese government reducing protection for bank deposits in April.

This stampede has intensified in the current quarter. Rhona O’Connell, the City’s inestimable precious metals watcher and keeper of the abacus at the World Gold Council, noted strong interest from Japan in the past two weeks, with reports of 800,000 physical ounces of retail purchases in Japan on one day alone. So far in this up tick for gold, "dips are being bought", says O’Connell, "and the tone in the market remains positive".

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:19:03 02/17/02 Sun

The Full Monty

APR GOLD (298.90): The futures continue to traverse a lofty range with ease, suggesting they are building wind for a surge to 320. You should consider the move under way on a close above 304.50.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:17:18 02/17/02 Sun

Cycles Predict Real Estate, Stock Crash

The great equities sell-off is just around the corner as almost every Dow 30 component stock has traced out a bearish parabolic pattern with enormous downside implications. Along with the stock market, real estate prices stand to suffer their worst decline since the Great Depression.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:10:37 02/17/02 Sun

Watch the Fed for clues to rise in gold sector: Rest is just 'noise'

Mr. Williams says the real driver for gold is the Federal Reserve's interest rate cycle. What's more, he is confident that driver is about to serve up even larger gains in gold shares and investors should get ready to buy in on any pullbacks in the stocks.

"We reiterate our belief that the greatest upside in gold and gold stocks, related to the end of the most recent Fed easing cycle, is yet to come," he concluded in a note to clients earlier this week.

"Over the past 20 years, every time that the Fed has ended its easing cycle [this has happened six times] and the U.S. economy began its recovery, gold and gold stocks have risen significantly. End-of-easing rallies have the highest predictability, greatest duration and most amplitude of any type of gold rally."

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:07:22 02/17/02 Sun

India leading in gold consumption

India continues to top in the demand for gold. According to World Gold Council, (WGC) during January-September 2001 it was 662.3 tonnes while it was 855 tonnes for the year 2000. Next comes the United States, with total consumption less than 50 per cent of the Indian consumption.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:06:04 02/17/02 Sun

Newmont gets 66 percent of Normany Mining

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:04:32 02/17/02 Sun

Gold Demand Dips Slightly In Worldwide Downturn ; Investment In Precious Metal Rises As Jewelry Use Falls

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:03:27 02/17/02 Sun

Gold To Target $320/Oz On Investor Demand

-- Japanese retail demand for gold bullion anticipated at 40-50 tons in Q1
-- Concerns over equities valuation sparks investor interest in gold equities
-- Gold supply could tighten if jewelry demand revives

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 07:59:31 02/17/02 Sun

Gold Gets Respect ; `Rodney Dangerfield' Of Investments Sees New Surge During Uncertain Times

---

GATA -- Sharefin, 07:50:47 02/17/02 Sun

Massive debt and messy books

If you're looking to be, as is said of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, where the fiscal "puck" will be in a month or two, review this week's two hours of presentations by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee to journalists and investors at the Washington Press Club. GATA Chairman Bill Murphy and others describe how the world's largest bullion banks have manipulated the market for gold prices, in essence depressing the price in an effort to promote profitable bullion lending. See the testimony on C-Span.

"It's like a neutron bomb; it's like Enron," said Murphy, a former Wall Street commodities trader. He and the members of GATA see gold prices "melting up" to $600 an ounce and more as the world's largest money-center banks, and hedged gold producers, unwind tens of trillions of dollars of derivative trades and other gold short-sales and exchanges. "It's coming; I can't predict the timing." Central banks and commercial banks conspired to keep the price of gold depressed in the late 1990s as a way of manipulating economic signals, he says. See more on Murphy and gold at CBS MarketWatch.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 07:47:39 02/17/02 Sun

Van Eck gold bug still bullish

The manager of the nation's oldest gold fund is convinced that the recent run-up in the precious metal and its suppliers isn't over.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 07:35:52 02/17/02 Sun

Al Qaeda's Road Paved With Gold

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Charts Online -- Sharefin, 00:47:07 02/17/02 Sun

Gold Charts

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MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR FINANCIAL SCANDAL -- Sharefin, 00:43:26 02/17/02 Sun

MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR FINANCIAL SCANDAL

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Gold -- Sharefin, 00:26:37 02/17/02 Sun

Declines in the Gold Mining Industry

---

Hiding Tangible Wealth -- Sharefin, 00:21:46 02/17/02 Sun

Hiding Tangible Wealth

---

Japanese Demand For Gold -- Sharefin, 15:51:26 02/16/02 Sat

The New Japanese Gold Rush

---

Dow 10,000 Versus Gold $300 -- webfoot, 15:23:14 02/16/02 Sat



Weekly Update from Jim Puplava
main page

Sharefin please edit this :
I believe I followed the authors request at the bottom of the page for linking . You may want to check . Thank you
for the forum .
regards ,webfoot

---

Even though they have lost many trillions of dollars of paper wealth -- Donald, 13:33:49 02/16/02 Sat

56% of Canadians think the Bear Market is over

---

Even though they have lost many trillions of dollars of paper wealth -- Donald, 13:26:18 02/16/02 Sat

56% of Canadians think the Bear Market is over

---

Ron Paul -- Sharefin, 16:59:27 02/15/02 Fri

Congressman Ron Paul

Mr. Speaker, while I certainly share GATA's concerns over the effects of federal dealings in the gold market, my bill in no way interferes with the ability of the federal government to buy or sell gold. It simply requires that before the executive branch engages in such transactions, Congress has the chance to review it, debate it, and approve it.

Given the tremendous effects on the American economy from federal dealings in the gold market, it certainly is reasonable that the people's representatives have a role in approving these transactions, especially since Congress has a neglected but vital constitutional role in overseeing monetary policy. Therefore, I urge all my colleagues to stand up for sound economics, open government, and Congress' constitutional role in monetary policy by cosponsoring the Monetary Freedom and Accountability Act.

---

Credit Crunch -- Sharefin, 14:55:53 02/15/02 Fri

Commercial-Paper Market Slump Triggers Fears of a Credit Crunch

---

JP Morgan -- Sharefin, 14:42:39 02/15/02 Fri

GET READY FOR A JPM CHASE DEBT DOWNGRADE

---

Warren Buffett -- Sharefin, 05:18:48 02/15/02 Fri

Buffett's Berkshire Reports Holding No Citigroup

``In the post 9-11 and Enron world, there's a new focus on risk,'' said James Armstrong, president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates, which owns 603 Berkshire shares, a stake worth $44.4 million.

``It wouldn't surprise me if (Buffett) thought there were too many moving parts'' of Citigroup, he said. ``When he sold Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae he said he was concerned with the level of risk they were taking and didn't trust overconfidence in the risk management department. He sold his positions in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at prices lower than today which shows how much he was concerned about risk.''

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:56:15 02/15/02 Fri

Gold jewellery sales ease

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Gold -- Sharefin, 01:04:48 02/15/02 Fri

Gold keeps firm levels but appears to have hit ceiling

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Gold -- Sharefin, 01:03:02 02/15/02 Fri

Gold demand unexciting, but steady

The widely reported Japanese gold buying in the wake of government limitations of bank deposit insurance saw annual investment demand rise by 54 per cent, while quarterly demand was up one fifth. That contributed to a net increase in investment demand to 394.9 tonnes (12.7moz), a 4 per cent increase over 2000's 378.5 tonnes (12.2moz) in 2000.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 00:56:07 02/15/02 Fri

Indian Gold Demand Falls 20 Percent

Gold demand in India, the world’s largest consumer of the metal, plunged by 19 percent in the fourth quarter as the September terrorist attacks on the US discouraged year-end jewelry buying, the World Gold Council have said.
Indian gold use fell to only 185.1 metric tons during the final three months of 2001 from 229.6 tons a year earlier, the London based industry group said in a report. Indian gold demand normally is boosted during the quarter by seasonal gift-giving and purchases by farmers using income from harvests.
“Price volatility and a fall in confidence following the events of September 11th served to discourage even the traditional purchases of gold during this season,”the report said.
The drop in Indian demand contributed to a 2.2 percent decline in global gold consumption during the quarter to 876.9 tons from a record 896.7 tons a year earlier, the council said.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 00:54:07 02/15/02 Fri

South African Gold Producers Become Takeover Targets

The rising gold prices and a falling rand have boosted profits at South African gold companies, making them takeover targets at a time when the government regulations try to curb their growth abroad, analysts and executives said.
A 37 percent plunge in the rand against the US dollar last year sent gold prices to a record high when measured in the local currency. AngloGold and Gold Fields of South Africa, two of the world's top four gold producers, said profit in the recent quarter have as much as tripled from the preceding period.
There have been more than $10 billion worth of gold industry takeovers since the beginning of 2001. AngloGold, once the largest gold miner, has been overtaken by Canada's Barrick Gold and will slip to third when Newmont Mining buys Franco-Nevada Mining and Australia's Normandy Mining. Gold Fields' own planned merger with Franco-Nevada was stopped by the South African government.
“Industry consolidation does not have to be limited to a predatory role” for South African gold companies, James Wellsted, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, told a mining conference in Cape Town. “There must come a time when the merits of South African gold producers make them targets.”

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Gold -- Sharefin, 00:52:03 02/15/02 Fri

Asia Precious Metals: Gold Up, Quiet;More Gains Next Week

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Spot gold was trading slightly higher late Friday in Asia after a day of restrained consolidation with the metal appearing destined to push toward even greater heights from next week, market participants said.

Gold is at the top of a bullish trading channel, but should be expected to retrace recent gains and test US$290/oz support within the next couple of weeks, a Singapore trader said Friday.

Gold is at the top of a bullish trading channel, but should be expected to retrace recent gains and test US$290/oz support within the next couple of weeks, a Singapore trader said Friday.

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GATA on CSPAN -- Sharefin, 20:03:05 02/14/02 Thu

Watch - Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee: “The Gold Standard”

Tuesday, February 12, 2002 - Washington, DC

Speakers: Catherine Austin Fitts, President, Solari & former Assistant Secretary of Housing; William Murphy III, Chair, GATA; Chris Powell, GATA Secretary/Treasurer.

Length: 1 hr. 50 min.

(half way down the page)

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New charts page -- Sharefin, 19:12:55 02/14/02 Thu

Japanese TOCOM Precious Metal Charts

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Lenny Kaplan -- Sharefin, 18:21:47 02/14/02 Thu

DAILY COMMENTARY

But, all said, the gold market has a firmer tone then I have seen in many a year and it does indeed look to go higher. I remain very friendly to the upside although I do not see a runaway market occurring quickly as many of the technical indicators show this market to be overbought.

The financial press has made a very big deal about the Japanese buying of gold as a hedge against the collapse of their banking system and the further depreciation of their currency. While the percentage increases of their buying are most impressive, the absolute numbers are less than paltry. Please remember that in January, the Japanese bought about 10 tons of gold (a bit over $90 Million USD) from their huge savings pool of about 11 Trillion USD. I remain to be impressed. I firmly agree with most analysts in the industry that Japanese buying has the POTENTIAL to be the biggest, most bullish, stimulus seen in the gold market for decades, but potential is far from realization. As the famous line in a recent movie, "Show me the money".

Silver has been very strong of late, currently trading over $4.50 as bullish news continues to surface. Just yesterday, Comex depositories were drained of about 1.5 million ounces of silver and lease rates rose by about 50 basis points overnight

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HUI -- Sharefin, 18:03:38 02/14/02 Thu

HUI Index


GOX Index

---

Cobra -- Sharefin, 17:59:09 02/14/02 Thu

The metals certainly look bullish and the traders sense an upward bias.
It wouldn't surprise me to see a hefty rally.

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Tick-by-tick charts - Looking very bullish -- Sharefin, 17:42:08 02/14/02 Thu

GOLD Tick-by-Tick Chart

SILVER Tick-by-Tick Chart

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Silver -- Sharefin, 17:38:30 02/14/02 Thu

Lease Rates Confirm Silver Rally



- Silver lease rates rise on more borrowing, confirming price advance
- Gold consolidates further, preparing for another test of $310/oz
- Platinum rally anticipates likely Russian supply delays ahead, not
reflected in lease rates

By David Bogoslaw
New York, Feb. 14 (OsterDowJones) Precious metals futures settled mostly
higher Thursday with silver stepping out from under gold's shadow for the
first time in a few weeks, posting more solid gains on tightening short-term
lease rates in London.
"It appears our borrowers are back in silver. You had an almost two-point
jump in short-term lease rates," said Frank McGhee, a dealer at Chicago-based
Alliance Financial LLC. "It was the confirmation I was waiting for, the first
sign that demand is there."
The one-month silver lease rate had been languishing around 0% in recent
weeks, after plunging from a January high above 30% as borrowing demand was
satisfied by physical metal deliveries into London.
(Prices in Dollars per Troy Ounce)
Spot Change On Leading Nymex
Thursday Late NY Nymex Range (Includes Access)
Gold 299.50 Unch 302.20 (Apr) 298.50-301.10
Silver 4.55 +0.04 4.53 (Mar) 4.475-4.565
Platinum 481.00 +11.00 481.10 (Apr) 470.00-484.00
Palladium 378.00 -12.00 386.70 (Mar) 378.00-396.00

McGhee said it's not yet clear whether lease rates are merely catching up
to prices, which would suggest silver had been overpriced before.
"Or it's the same group that pushed us up to 35% that is back borrowing the
metal," he said.
March silver on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange
peaked at $4.565 a troy ounce before drifting back to close at $4.53, two
cents higher than Wednesday. The benchmark contract penetrated resistance at
$4.50 on Wednesday.
If borrowing persists, McGhee predicted the initial target would be around
the $4.80 level, and $5.00 after that.
"I'm back on the bull bandwagon," he declared.
Gold futures spent another day consolidating gains around $300, recovering
once again from early selling pressure as buying appeared on a lesser price
dip.
Buying by a major trade house pushed April gold to nearly $301 an ounce,
where it ran out of steam, eventually settling at $300.20, a 20-cent gain over
Wednesday.
"Gold is very quiet, stable. There's a wait-and-see attitude in the market
now that you've reached 148,000 contracts of open interest and you have bunch
of new longs," noted George Gero, senior vice president at Prudential
Securities. "Most of the eyes are on Enron and Global Crossing and similar
investigations, waiting for the market to show the next mine field."
He said he wasn't surprised at gold's ability to keep rebounding from
price dips back up to $300 in the face of stock market gains, as the recovery
in equities has been on low volume. He attributed the large bounce in stock
indices Wednesday to the unexpected 1.2% leap in retail sales in January,
excluding automotive sales.
Newmont Mining Corp. stock rose 65 cents to $24.58 a share following the
announcement late Wednesday that Newmont shareholders had approved the $5.1
billion takeover of Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada Mining Corp.
Gero said he is waiting to see the effects of the merger on the new
company's combined hedge book.
Noting the fact that no tightening has been seen yet in gold lease rates,
Alliance's McGhee said he was still awaiting confirmation of gold's potential
to keep moving higher. But he was impressed with the consolidation pattern and
said he was anticipating the next leg up to the $310-$315 area.
Given the long U.S. holiday weekend ahead, Prudential's Gero expected to
see position squaring on Friday, with either short covering or liquidation of
some longs before the early close. A lot would depend on the direction of the
stock market, he noted.
He pegged major resistance for April between $310 and $320, where producers
are waiting to sell production forward, and saw support at $290 in the event
of a sell-off.
Fund buying on the New York opening of platinum caught local floor brokers
short, forcing them to cover their positions, and catapulted the April
contract $10.40 higher to settle at $481.10 an ounce, a floor trader said.
While platinum lease rates aren't supporting the rally, McGhee at Alliance
speculated the market was looking further ahead to anticipated delays in
Russian shipments in platinum and palladium as a basis for the gains.
If April platinum is able to clear resistance between $490 and $495, he
said he saw nothing to stop it from rising to $560 an ounce, which even a
slight tightening in lease rates - by two to 2.5 percentage points - would
ensure.
You have a strong technical base," he noted. "You have a slight contango
now. I'd like to see the (forward) curve flatten out."

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:36:57 02/14/02 Thu

Overbought NY gold refuses to stay down, ends firm

Silver futures were helped by a 1,522,970 ounce drop in COMEX warehouse stocks and by borrowing in London.

"We've seen the beginnings of a possible squeeze. At least the lease rates have gone up today and that's why silver's up," said Donald Eckert, global bullion risk manager at J.P. Morgan Chase.

The one-month silver lease rates were indicated around 2.25 percent late Thursday, up from about 0.85 percent a day earlier. But so far, there is nothing like the tightness seen in January when lease rates spiked to 30 percent and spot silver rallied to $4.87 an ounce.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:21:54 02/14/02 Thu

Gold producer Placer Dome turns around losses for quarter but not on year

Revenue in the quarter fell to $292 million from $337 million a year-earlier mainly due to lower gold production and low metal prices. Production fell to 657,000 ounces of gold and 111 million pounds of copper, compared with 760,000 ounces of gold and 109 million pounds of copper a year earlier.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 17:20:27 02/14/02 Thu

Overbought NY gold ends firm

New York - COMEX gold moved out of negative territory to settle a touch higher on Thursday, as longs continued to hold on to bets that the price would break free of the magnetic $300 an ounce level and rally to new highs.

Trade selling pressured futures in the early part of the day, but locals got caught short and positions were covered before the upcoming US Presidents Day holiday weekend. Metals trading will end at midday Friday and the exchange will be closed om Monday.

"For three days in a row there was a view the market would drop and it hasn't. So it's held fairly well, and it looks as though things are going to start heating up maybe tomorrow," said a floor broker.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 17:13:45 02/14/02 Thu

India 2001 gold purchases up 8 pct to 110 tonnes

BOMBAY (AFX) - Gold purchases by Indians were up 8 pct year-on-year in the fourth quarter to December 31 last year at 110 tonnes, the World Gold Council said.

The Council said small investors last year were the biggest buyers of gold as interest rates on currency assets slipped following the global weakness in other investment options.

This trend continued even in the early weeks of the current year, the Council said in its latest gold report.

"In India, it is encouraging that we have been at par with last year's demand despite the adverse conditions prevailing the world over post-September 11," Council Regional Director GS Pillai said in the report.

"The official imports have also gone up thereby increasing the government's revenue from customs."

The Council, however, said India's demand was hit in the second half of 2001 due to a period which Hindus consider inauspicious for religious festivities, and then by price volatility after the terror attacks in New York and Washington.

"Overall the demand remained unchanged for 2001 at 855 tonnes as seen in the previous year," it said.

India is the world's largest consumer of gold.

---

Ron Paul -- Sharefin, 17:10:22 02/14/02 Thu

Paul Introduces Legislation Requiring Congressional Approval of Treasury Gold Dealings

Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul of Texas this week introduced legislation designed to curb the ability of the President or the Treasury Secretary to manipulate worldwide gold prices. The "Monetary Freedom and Accountability Act" restores proper congressional authority over gold policy by requiring that body to vote its approval before the President or Secretary buys or sells gold.

"The Constitution grants authority over monetary policy specifically to Congress alone, not to the executive or the administration," Paul stated. "Yet Congress has neglected its duty for decades, and now our foolish fiat money system is run without challenge exclusively by unelected Treasury and Fed bureaucrats. As a result, the Treasury has been able to engage in the buying and selling of gold to manipulate the worldwide market price. Gold is very important to markets and investors in America and across the globe, and Congress should not allow the administration to interfere in the gold market behind closed doors."

The private Gold Antitrust Action Committee held a press conference this week to discuss federal manipulation of gold markets. The group has uncovered evidence suggesting that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury department, operating through the Exchange-Stabilization fund and in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, have been systematically working to deflate the price of gold. Because rising gold prices are seen by investors as a barometer of inflation, the Fed has purportedly suppressed prices to disguise the true nature of the financial bubble of the 1990s.

"The Fed wants all of us to think the stock market is not overvalued, and that credit and monetary expansion can create lasting prosperity," Paul concluded. "My bill will make it harder for the Fed and the Treasury to manipulate gold prices, which should always serve as an unbiased indicator of the true health of world markets."

---

Ron Paul -- Sharefin, 17:00:08 02/14/02 Thu

DJ Rep. Paul Bill Seeks Hill OK Of Any ESF Gold Dealings

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex.,
introduced a bill Wednesday "to limit the use by the
President and the Secretary of the Treasury of the Exchange Stabilization Fund to buy or sell gold without Congressional approval."
In a statement, Rep. Paul said his bill restores proper Congressional authority over gold policy.

---

XAU Elliott Wave Count -- Cobra, 16:47:14 02/14/02 Thu

A very nice ABC in the XAU since Monday appears
to have printed wave 2 on the daily chart. Wave 1 of 3 looks to have peaked at 69.85.

We should now see 3 of 3.......UP!!!!
I look for it to be a breakaway move above
XAU 69 and it should be a fast moving event
with gaps and high volume.

Several gold stocks are in flag and pennant
formations which portends Upside action and soon.

The REAL action is Just ahead IMHO.

There is a slight possibility we could Still
see a wave C down in this 2 though. Above 69
XAU and I think we see New highs.

Thursday evening comments...02-14-02 7pm cdt

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Enron -- Sharefin, 16:40:05 02/14/02 Thu

Enron's Deals Were Marketed to Companies by Wall Street

---

Argentina -- Sharefin, 16:36:28 02/14/02 Thu

Argentine bank crisis spreads out to Uruguay

---

Venezuela -- Sharefin, 16:33:43 02/14/02 Thu

Venezuela's currency in freefall

---

Uruguay refuses to bail out bank which experienced a run yesterday -- Donald, 15:28:48 02/14/02 Thu

click here

---

Crisis and response -- Prometheus, 12:10:21 02/14/02 Thu

First, the crisis -
THE ECONOMY IS ABOUT TO DIE FROM AN OVERDOSE OF `RECOVERY':
*U.S. MACHINE TOOL CONSUMPTION in 2001 plummeted 34%
compared to 2000, to $2.65 billion, a 55% decline from 1997,
with the December 2001 level 46% lower than a year earlier,
according to a report issued today by the American Machine Tool
Distributors' Association (AMTDA)
and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

An AMT vice president characterized the situation as
"a deep, deep, deep sales slump."

The auto sector is no longer investing in machine tools
and tooling up, but is relying on benchmarking
and marketing to make and sell product.

*AIRBORNE INC., THE THIRD-LARGEST AIR FREIGHT CARRIER,
boosted productivity by 5.9% in the fourth quarter
by firing 600 employees, Bloomberg reports.
An example of lunatic cost-cutting,
rather than spending on new equipment.

*THE U.S. HOUSING BUBBLE is losing air,
as the Office of Federal Housing Oversight Management,
the Federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
is doubling its examination staff,
concerned about their exposure to technology risks and
subprime lending, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Rumor Mill News post"

Now the solution. You will probably find this funny and all too familiar.
Liar Liar How I learned to cope
Happy Valentine's Day. The Universe is Unfolding as it should.
Love, Promey

---

Insurance and Nakedness -- Sharefin, 08:00:44 02/14/02 Thu

Insurance and Nakedness

---

Stocks -- Sharefin, 07:32:03 02/14/02 Thu

The Pension Bomb

Brace yourselves, investors. There's another big earnings booby trap lurking out there. Like other recent market stunners, companies set this one for themselves during the late 1990s when their traditional pension plan investments were earning outsize returns. Thanks to the wizardry of pension accounting, companies could apply those gains to their bottom lines, where they worked wonders on stock prices. Now, of course, most pension-plan returns stink. And the effect on corporate profits will be anything but wonderful. Stock prices are already signalling the message: Poor pension-plan returns will depress earnings for years.

---

THREE BULLISH FLAG FORMATIONS -- HOLDEN, 06:31:36 02/14/02 Thu

Look here at the basics of what we are seeing:

http://www.chartpatterns.com/flagsandpennants.htm

How it is directly relevant:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DROOY&d=c&t=3m&l=on&z=b&q=l

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RANGY&d=c&t=3m&l=on&z=b&q=l

Golly, I see two flags!

I have 20,000 DROOY, but like my 14,000 RANGY better.

THIS IS BEING CONFIRMED IN THE THIRD FLAG, FORMATION IN PROCESS.....

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=FOREX_XAUUSDO&v=d6


Holden

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Mining -- Sharefin, 04:57:16 02/14/02 Thu

Mining giant warns of 'difficult' conditions

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 04:54:35 02/14/02 Thu

Japanese Net Gold Invest Offtake In Q1 Seen 40-50 MT - WGC

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 04:49:52 02/14/02 Thu

Global demand for gold fell slightly in 2001

The demand for gold for jewelry fell slightly in 2001 amid the global economic downturn, but sales of gold for investment rose as consumers sought a safe haven from volatile stock markets and security threats.

The World Gold Council, an association of gold producers that is headquartered in London, said Thursday that gold sales totaled 3,235.1 metric tons last year, a 2 percent drop from 2000.

"There's been a tremendous rush to gold in Japan," Leyland added. "There are a lot of worries there about the economy. ... They've seen some corporate bond defaults, problems with the solvency of the banks."

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:47:41 02/14/02 Thu

When Gold Is King

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 04:45:59 02/14/02 Thu

WGC takes the regional gold route

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 04:41:58 02/14/02 Thu

Tocqueville's Hathaway mines for gold

Manager likes Newmont Mining, Goldcorp, Gold Fields

The Tocqueville Gold Fund manager sees gold rising to between $400 and $500 an ounce, up from the current $300. "We're still in the very early stages of what could be a very big move for gold," he said.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 04:39:26 02/14/02 Thu

Knelson Joins IAMGOLD in Move to Bullion

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 04:36:15 02/14/02 Thu

Full Glare Of Publicity Will Focus On Chancellor Brown's Last Gold Sale

At the top come Andy Smith of Mitsui Precious Metals and Frederic Pannizzutti of GoldAvenue Geneva with $350/oz. Smith was a perennial bear of gold, but startled the market by changing his stance well before the end of last year when he forecast an average price for 2002 of US$315/oz. This would be painful enough for Brown, but US$350 would hang him out to dry. Close on Andy's heels comes Martin Murenbeeld of Murenbeld & Associates out of Vancouver forecasting a top price of US$345/oz and he is followed by Raymond Chan of RNA Holdings in Hong Kong with US$340/oz.

---

London morning gold news -- Donald, 04:30:12 02/14/02 Thu

"Gold will spend more time above $300 this year than below it"

---

Accounting professor charges that Cisco Systems has been rigging its earnings statements -- Donald, 02:14:22 02/14/02 Thu

click here

---

BOJ Governor worries out loud about a selloff in long term bonds -- Donald, 02:01:01 02/14/02 Thu

A selloff would raise long term interest rates and further weaken banks

---

Japanese savers continue buying gold, even as deflation worsens -- Donald, 01:52:05 02/14/02 Thu

click here

---

the breeze -- Dave, 00:11:45 02/14/02 Thu

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in........

it's like de jevue..... dying be eastiest way out.......
why don then fuggers jus die??????

---

GATA -- Sharefin, 00:01:46 02/14/02 Thu

The Internet site for C-SPAN says that C-SPAN2 will broadcast Tuesday's GATA conference in Washington at 4 a.m. Thursday, February 14, 7 1/2 hours from now. Here's the schedule's link:

click here

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GATA -- Sharefin, 18:46:00 02/13/02 Wed

The Internet site for C-SPAN says that C-SPAN2 will broadcast Tuesday's GATA conference in Washington at 4 a.m. Thursday, February 14, 7 1/2 hours from now. Here's the schedule's link:

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/fullschedule.csp

---

Prometheus -- Sharefin, 18:44:44 02/13/02 Wed

Just to add more confusion you can look at the earnings from top down or bottom up.
SP Earnings

---

More investor confusion as multiple meanings of P/E abound -- Prometheus, 13:50:45 02/13/02 Wed

Comstock In the Eye of the Beholder
scroll down to see the article.
One way to destroy Babylon was to destroy the language. No one could understand another and in the ensuing babble chaos reigned, building and commerce collapsed. In keeping with this great tradition, a week or so back, Barron's quietly changed the PE's of the S&P 500 from 40 to 29 (based on very favorable expectations, not reality - actual P/E is ~60). They did this by changing the P/E they report. Voila! A P/E ratio only slightly worse than the 1987 pre-crash numbers.

Adding this to unemployment rates that go down as jobs continue to be destroyed, because all whose benefits are cut off aren't counted . . . hedonic adjustments to profitability that skews labor information beyond any usefulness, and continual changes to the CPI based solely on the omission of any data that is unfavorable, and we're getting close to pure babble.
Thanks to you for trying to still tell it like it is.
Promey

---

JP Morgan tells employees everything is OK; (as did Enron) -- Donald, 11:11:23 02/13/02 Wed

Morgan insurers refuse to cover $1 billion derivative loss, Morgan will sue.

---

Argentine problems spill into Uruguay causing bank run there -- Donald, 10:48:15 02/13/02 Wed

click here

---

SWC follow up -- Cyclist, 10:37:05 02/13/02 Wed

It looks like the retrace is over for today ,abreak out
is ready to take place above the 16.75.
18 is the objective

---

Wealth -- Sharefin, 09:31:32 02/13/02 Wed

The deserving rich?

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 08:35:12 02/13/02 Wed

Why Is Mrs. Watanabe Buying Gold?

---

Hui -- Cyclist, 06:54:08 02/13/02 Wed

is breaking down.Triple top on the sixty mins.
SWC is a hold for two hours,to allow a retracement to occur

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 06:13:34 02/13/02 Wed

Gold Lower As Consolidation Continues

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 06:12:02 02/13/02 Wed

SA: Mining production and sales decrease in 2001

---

Gold Fields -- Sharefin, 06:10:36 02/13/02 Wed

Gold Fields sells down hedge

---

GATA -- Sharefin, 06:09:27 02/13/02 Wed

GATA back to elite; answers not forthcoming

---

Bonds -- Sharefin, 05:27:29 02/13/02 Wed

Japanese sold massive amounts of U.S. bonds in Jan

Japanese investors dumped massive amounts of foreign bonds, mostly U.S. Treasuries, in January on worries over rising U.S. interest rates and strong fund demand for the fiscal year-end, data showed.

---

Kaiser Aluminum -- Sharefin, 04:27:34 02/13/02 Wed

Kaiser Aluminum Files for Bankruptcy Protection

---

Moody's warns Japan to prepare for possible debt downgrade -- Donald, 03:45:48 02/13/02 Wed

Rating would drop Japan to the same level as Poland, South Africa, Cyprus, Greece and Latvia

---

Deja Vu -- Sharefin, 22:11:19 02/12/02 Tue

---

JP Morgan -- Sharefin, 19:41:39 02/12/02 Tue

JPMorgan credit insurance costs soar on loan fear

The cost of insuring against U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase defaulting on debt repayments has soared this week and will continue to rise as the extent of losses on loans to troubled corporates sinks in, traders said on Tuesday.

JPMorgan lent about $2.0 billion to collapsed energy trader Enron and helped arrange $2.25 billion of loans to bankrupt telecoms carrier Global Crossing and $1.6 billion of loans to failed discount retailer Kmart

``It is true that some of the price move is not specifically related to JPMorgan but is just about the big guns wanting out of anything that might catch Enronitis,'' the trader added.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:40:14 02/12/02 Tue

Gold industry gets hardcore on P.R.

---

Gold -- Sharefin, 19:36:45 02/12/02 Tue

Gold Fields head sees better days

Editor's note: Thom Calandra has vowed to dye his hair gold if the precious metal closes above $300 an ounce for five straight days. The spot price of gold late Monday fell below $300 to close at $299.80, ending a three-day run. Stay tuned.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - The gold industry, enjoying its first taste of $300 spot gold in two years, will meet this week in South Africa to discuss where to go from here.

The Cape Town mining conference brings together executives, investors and government officials from 25 countries. Many of them are hopeful that African nations, which are intensely reliant on natural resources, can draw investment dollars, euros and yen to their country's mining projects.

Gold's splash above $300 an ounce, mining veterans hope, will stir the waters for activity across the region, not just for gold, but copper, platinum and other metals. South Africa alone is one of the world's most prolific producers of gold. Nations such as Ghana are up-and-comers.

The questions for the folks watching Cape Town this week will be: Can gold's price stay near $300 long enough to justify claims from the metal's backers that this is the beginning of a great bull market for bullion? Just what are those gold folks thinking? See related story.

The active gold futures contract in New York last week surpassed $307 an ounce. The futures contract, which hasn't seen these levels since the summer of 2000, on Monday slipped below $300. So did the spot price, which closed above the psychological $300 level last week for the first time since February 2000. Traders in London and New York pointed to a holiday across parts of Asia, including Japan and China, where financial markets were closed Monday.

Gold has captured the imagination of the world's mining circles, none more so than in South Africa. Stock market investors during President Thabo Mbeki's state of the nation address last week, according to news reports, were distracted by the buoyant gold price and its effect on South African mining stocks, many of them near record highs.

To be sure, skeptics of gold's rally this year, especially on Wall Street, out-number the believers. Just Monday, an analyst at Prudential Securities, Jon Tumazos, decimated his price target for industry leader Newmont Mining, which this month will complete a three-way merger that catapults it into the No. 1 spot for gold production. The analyst reduced his stock price target for Newmont to $10 a share from $21, questioning the quality of the Denver-based company's reserves. See the Newmont flash.

In the hard-nosed business of gold mining, few executives are more looked to for their opinions, and operating strategies, than Chris Thompson. As chairman and chief executive of Gold Fields Ltd. of South Africa [GOLD, News, Chart, Research], Thompson heads the nation's second largest gold producer, after Anglogold Ltd. [AU, News, Chart, Research]


Gold Fields, with yearly output of 4.5 million ounces, is the world's fourth largest gold miner, after Newmont, Anglogold and Barrick Gold [ABX, News, Chart, Research]. The company, after benefiting from South Africa's weak rand, which boosts operating profit margins, tripled net income to $67 million in the December quarter. The profit explosion prompted close to 50 international money managers to dial into Gold Fields' quarterly update last week, a modern record.

Thompson prides himself on fashioning one of the world's largest non-hedged producers of the metal. Unlike Anglogold and Barrick, Gold Fields refrains from selling forward its production, a practice that would boost the payment it receives for that gold. The dark side of hedge books is they encourage loose lending of the metal, thus depressing the gold price.


With global interest rates at depressed levels, hedgers are no longer assured of hefty returns when they take the cash from their forward sales and put it into interest-bearing pieces of paper. Plus, gold's fresh volatility is scary for hedgers, who can get "caught out" by a rapid price rise and see their forward-sale price actually come in below the metal's spot price. Anglogold, the world's largest of the notorious hedged gold miners, is now saying it hopes to slowly reduce its hedge book. See related story.

What's more, the so-called contango between futures prices in faraway delivery months and nearby months is shrinking. A fat contango, which usually occurs when supplies are adequate, helps hedgers squeeze even more money out of their forward sales. View Thom Calandra's televised commentary.

Gold Fields' Thompson, who has been busy buying mining operations "on the cheap" in Australia and Ghana, spoke with me from South Africa on the eve of the Cape Town mining conference, which begins Tuesday. He had some news about gold's image campaign.

Thom Calandra: Mr. Thompson, do you see hedgers giving up their forward sales entirely?

Chris Thompson: The contango is now so low the profitability is out of hedging. It does not mean people will not hedge, especially if gold gets up in the $350 or $400 range. But the Aussies have already hedged nearly all their reserves and have little left to sell. Barrick, Anglogold, and so on, still have some reserves. But again, in a fast rising-price scenario, in which Anglogold, Barrick plus the Aussies all have very off-side hedge positions, I see the bullion banks being reluctant to provide them more credit. All in all there is unlikely to be much more hedging.

Thom Calandra: What do you tell money managers who say, 'I'd like to buy but the stock has almost doubled in a short period of time?' (Gold Fields shares trade on Nasdaq and in Johannesburg).

Chris Thompson: At $300 plus an ounce and the rand at 11.50 to the dollar, our dollar earnings will rise a whole lot more. (A weak rand price decreases Gold Fields' expenses but boosts the dollars the company receives from gold sales.) Secondly, as the gold cycle establishes itself, (stock-price) multiples will expand to a premium to the Standard & Poor's multiples. They always do.

Thom Calandra: Much has been made that gold lost its risk premium as an investment, especially after Sept. 11. One CEO practically said he was ready to give up on gold as an investment. Meanwhile, the World Gold Council last year unveiled a marketing campaign that promoted gold's "glow," all for the sake of promoting jewelry. What are the merits of promoting gold as both an investment and a piece of jewelry?

Chris Thompson: Much debate has taken place in the industry about whether we should only promote jewelry or investment gold as well. It tends to be the young bucks who want only jewelry. Those of us with gray and old gray hair are much more aware of the world's insecurities and cycles. I hold the investment portfolio at the World Gold Council and we have a plan under construction to promote investment demand. It will, I promise, be more effective than the jewelry effort and will be unveiled in April. See related story.

Thom Calandra: Does Gold Fields have any plans to issue dividends in gold, as some companies are beginning to do?

Chris Thompson: We will not pay dividends in gold. People who receive them get annoyed because they don't know what to do with the gold and bullion ownership is still illegal in South Africa.

Thom Calandra: So where do we go from here in terms of the gold price?

Chris Thompson: We are actually about one year into a new gold cycle. Look at the charts. They usually last three years or so. So there's much more to come. Load up and enjoy!

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:32:40 02/12/02 Tue

CANADA TIP SHEET: Cohen Sees Gold Price Staying High

After a long slump, the gold sector has come back to life. Several factors are responsible for the resurgence, said Robert Cohen, senior analyst at Goodman & Co. Investment Counsel and manager of the Dynamic Canadian Precious Metal Fund. Among these are: fear of inflation, concern over the high valuation of the U.S. dollar, the global economic slowdown and anxiety over corporate accounting practices.

Long term, the trend is also towards a higher gold price, as production is declining, Cohen said. The 115 largest gold mines produce about 1,100 tons of gold annually, he said. By 2010, production from these mines is projected to fall to 700 tons, and by 2013, production will fall to 350 tons, based on known reserves, he said.

Given the lack of exploration and new discoveries in the pipeline, "the fundamental picture for gold looks rather compelling," Cohen said. "Between now and end of the decade - based on the current spot gold prices - you're just not going to see new gold mines coming on."

The gold industry has been consolidating with several recent high-profile mergers, including Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM) pending acquisitions of Normandy Mining Ltd. (A.NDY) and Franco-Nevada Mining Corp. (T.FN). Cohen said he expects this to continue as "super seniors," such as Newmont and Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), look to grow via acquisition.

One area the seniors could target is the mid-cap sector, which includes a number of Dynamic holdings, such as Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (T.AGE), Glamis Gold Ltd. (GLG), Meridian Gold Inc. (MDG), Goldcorp Inc. (GG) and Goldfield Ltd. (A.GOL) of Australia.

All are well-run companies that tend not to hedge, Cohen said. Companies that don't hedge, or sell future gold production at an arranged price, are in a better position to benefit when the gold price rises, Cohen said. "In general, non-hedged companies have outperformed hedged companies," he said.

Regarding Newmont, Cohen said, "I think that the new Newmont is going to be the global go-to gold stock because it's going to be the biggest in reserves, biggest in production (and) it's unhedged."

The top gold stock traditionally was Barrick, which will need to evaluate its options in view of Newmont's latest moves, Cohen said. One option may be to do nothing, he said. "Maybe they're happy with where they are."

But if Barrick wants to be number one, it will have to act, Cohen said. That could mean merging with another senior producer, such as Anglogold Ltd. (AU), which lost out to Newmont in a bidding war for Normandy.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:25:14 02/12/02 Tue

NY gold ends positively, clambering back over key $300

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:22:32 02/12/02 Tue

Gold gets a bit of respect in uncertain times

A general feeling of global and economic uncertainty has investors looking again at the "ugly stepchild" of investments: gold.

Gold prices have hovered at a two-year-high of $300 an ounce for several days, which has created a buzz among gold dealers and retailers.

"Our activity has increased, no doubt," said Claus Degler, manager of Rocky Mountain Coin Inc. in Denver. "And it's not just in gold, but people are starting to buy rare coins. We've seen some old faces that we haven't seen in a long time."

Degler said most customers are looking into gold as a "hedge against economic uncertainty. It's another way to diversify your portfolio."

The U.S. economy's boom of the late 1990s drove people to the stock market and away from safe-haven investments, said Paul Montgomery, president of Jefferson Coin & Bullion of Jefferson, La.

"What makes gold perform is uncertainty," Montgomery said. "We've had our share of that lately with buildings coming down, the Euro weakening and the Enron scandal."

He said gold has suffered as the "ugly stepchild or Rodney Dangerfield" of the investment community because of the strong value of the U.S. dollar and booming stock market.

"We've had an entire generation who hasn't had to live with a safety net," he said.

Gold has been the safe investment of choice throughout modern history, Montgomery said, because it was a physical commodity that "had a value assigned to it because of its rarity.

"People can put their money into currency, but the bottom line is it's just paper," he said. "And you can't put a barrel of oil in your backyard. With gold, you can put a lot of money into a compact space."

He noted that jewelry was invented as a way for people in ancient times to store their gold investments close to them.

Although people today don't wear gold necklaces as a savings account, they still look to jewelry as good value for their money.

"A lot of people are looking at the whole Enron-Arthur Andersen issue, which makes the stock you own look less stable," said Steve Rosdal, co-owner of Hyde Park Jewelers in Denver. "That makes gold a little stronger and demand for jewelry is strong."

This is good news for Newmont Mining Corp. of Denver, which is set to become the world's largest gold producer after shareholder approval of a two-pronged deal to buy Australia's Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada Corp. in Toronto.

Though the company's stock dipped slightly as the merger approached, the company is confident prices will trend upward this year.

"The fact our stock didn't go down more today is attributable to the fact that many see gold will continue to rise in the future," said Newmont spokesman Doug Hock. "And gold is still up around $300, which is a psychologically important level."

Montgomery sees gold prices hitting $340 an ounce by the end of the year.

"As time goes by, gold is going to get the respect it's missed in last 25 years," he said. "We're going through a financial crisis in the world now."

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:13:01 02/12/02 Tue

Gold gets a bit of respect in uncertain times

A general feeling of global and economic uncertainty has investors looking again at the "ugly stepchild" of investments: gold.

Gold prices have hovered at a two-year-high of $300 an ounce for several days, which has created a buzz among gold dealers and retailers.

"Our activity has increased, no doubt," said Claus Degler, manager of Rocky Mountain Coin Inc. in Denver. "And it's not just in gold, but people are starting to buy rare coins. We've seen some old faces that we haven't seen in a long time."

Degler said most customers are looking into gold as a "hedge against economic uncertainty. It's another way to diversify your portfolio."

The U.S. economy's boom of the late 1990s drove people to the stock market and away from safe-haven investments, said Paul Montgomery, president of Jefferson Coin & Bullion of Jefferson, La.

"What makes gold perform is uncertainty," Montgomery said. "We've had our share of that lately with buildings coming down, the Euro weakening and the Enron scandal."

He said gold has suffered as the "ugly stepchild or Rodney Dangerfield" of the investment community because of the strong value of the U.S. dollar and booming stock market.

"We've had an entire generation who hasn't had to live with a safety net," he said.

Gold has been the safe investment of choice throughout modern history, Montgomery said, because it was a physical commodity that "had a value assigned to it because of its rarity.

"People can put their money into currency, but the bottom line is it's just paper," he said. "And you can't put a barrel of oil in your backyard. With gold, you can put a lot of money into a compact space."

He noted that jewelry was invented as a way for people in ancient times to store their gold investments close to them.

Although people today don't wear gold necklaces as a savings account, they still look to jewelry as good value for their money.

"A lot of people are looking at the whole Enron-Arthur Andersen issue, which makes the stock you own look less stable," said Steve Rosdal, co-owner of Hyde Park Jewelers in Denver. "That makes gold a little stronger and demand for jewelry is strong."

This is good news for Newmont Mining Corp. of Denver, which is set to become the world's largest gold producer after shareholder approval of a two-pronged deal to buy Australia's Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada Corp. in Toronto.

Though the company's stock dipped slightly as the merger approached, the company is confident prices will trend upward this year.

"The fact our stock didn't go down more today is attributable to the fact that many see gold will continue to rise in the future," said Newmont spokesman Doug Hock. "And gold is still up around $300, which is a psychologically important level."

Montgomery sees gold prices hitting $340 an ounce by the end of the year.

"As time goes by, gold is going to get the respect it's missed in last 25 years," he said. "We're going through a financial crisis in the world now."

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:06:56 02/12/02 Tue

Golden time for gold again

When investors seek a safe spot for their savings, gold, the oldest haven, comes into its own.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:05:37 02/12/02 Tue

Gold Output Declines in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe annual gold output has declined by 34.9 percent from a peak of 27.7 tons in 1999 to 18 tons in 2001

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Clif Droke -- Sharefin, 19:04:04 02/12/02 Tue

Stock, Real Estate and Currency Outlook

We've said it numerous times and we'll say it again-Year 2002 will be the worst year in stocks at probably any time since the Great Depression.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:00:05 02/12/02 Tue

GOLD & SILVER REVIEW - Erik Gebhard

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Gold -- Sharefin, 18:58:25 02/12/02 Tue

Closes Over $300 Point Gold Higher


- Consolidation suggests higher gold privce, but only if stock market wavers
- Silver has potential to penetrate $4.50 on fund interest if gold stays strong
- Platinum sold by commission houses on opening, filing technical chart gaps

New York, Feb. 12 (OsterDowJones) Precious metals futures settled mostly higher Tuesday with U.S. equity markets' recovery on Monday furnishing an initial reason to sell gold lower and buying on dips enabling gold to continue consolidating in a higher range, participants said.
Early selling on Comex was also justified by a weak closing on the Tolyo Commodity Exchange during Asian hours, with the resumption of Japanese investor buying insufficient to offset U.S. bank selling, according to UBS Warburg.
"There was a little disappointment that we didn't see more Japanese buying, but it was somewhat to be expected, given that the Nikkei (Stock Index) had good gains and there are less fears about the yen," said Dave Meger, senior metals analyst at Chicago brokerage Alaron Trading Corp.
April gold on Comex settled at $301.30 a troy ounce, up 50 cents from Monday and more than $3 off the $297.80 intraday low.
(Prices in Dollars per Troy Ounce)
Spot Change On Leading Nymex
Tuesday Late NY Nymex Range (Includes Access)
Gold 300.60 +0.40 301.30 (Apr) 297.80-302.40
Silver 4.495 +0.07 4.485 (Mar) 4.365- 4.49
Platinum 464.50 -5.50 463.30 (Apr) 462.00-468.00
Palladium 365.00 -8.00 373.00 (Mar) 364.00-375.00
Though the price action remained erratic, Meger cited thin volumes and sparse activity compared to last week's frenzied trading.
"A lot of people are waiting to see the (performance in the) equity markets," which are up one day and flat the next and have yet to indicate a longer-term trend, Meger said.
"The fact that we're managing closes above $300 to me continues to be a positive sign, so I'm looking for further gains. I think this little consolidation effect, from a technical perspective, will lead to higher prices," he said. "All this can change if we do see equity market strength over the next couple days."
While he was confident gold prices could work higher in the midst of stagnating equity markets, he said he was less certain of the upside if equities began to post steady gains again.
Meanwhile, higher share prices in gold equities remain a positive influence on underlying gold prices, he said. Gold futures attracted more buying once gold equity shares turned positive from negative midway through Tuesday morning.
The consolidatory pauses the gold market is taking between moves higher is the sign of a true bull market rally, and what sets this rally apart from the brief short covering pops followed by sharp breakdowns that characterized prior rallies, Meger noted.
An announcement by the chief executive officer of Australia's Newcrest Mining Ltd. projecting a potential tripling of the current 350,000 tons of production over the next five years was believed to have weighed on gold prices, according to analyst Zahia Chanan at MKS Finance SA in Geneva.
While Alaron's Meger agreed it didn't bode well for the market, he questioned how much attention the news had garnered.
Equally convinced of gold's ability to move higher based on consolidation was dealer Frank McGhee at Alliance Financial LLC in Chicago, but he said the underpinnings for a runaway rally were shaky with short-term lease rates
staying under 1%.
One reason gold lease rates remain depressed is the growing lack of appeal in selling gold short, which traders typically prepare for by borrowing gold, said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management in Evanston, Ill. This is a typical ploy to force prices lower so they can buy gold cheaper prices after selling short, he explained.
He anticipated lease rates to start rising soon, however, citing significant narrowing in the calendar spread - where traders hedge a long position in June 2002 gold with a short position in the June 2003 contract - last week when the one-year gold lease rates increased by 20%. If this continues, it would reinforce the bullish view of gold and provide more lucrative trading opportunities, he added.
Alaron's Meger pegged suport for April between $295 and $296, while McGhee at Alliance saw resistance starting from $304 an ounce.
March silver's 7-cent-higher close at $4.485 an ounce came with the help of late fund buying, said Chanan at MKS. Silver's moves have lately been dependent on gold, but it was seen trading more on its own initiative Tuesday, bouncing back from a $4.365 low and failing just below last week's high.
"Technically, it's set to penetrate the $4.50 level. If that happened, fund interest could definitely extend silver's next leg higher," Alaron's Meger predicted.
Representing a 50% retracement of the drop from the recent $4.775 high to the $4.21 low following the spike in lease rates last month, the $4.49 level is viewed as prime resistance.
Nymex platinum prices followed gold's early decline but couldn't recover off lows. Trading was quiet, however, with most of the selling done by commission houses on the opening, a floor trader said. The April contract ended $7.60 lower at $463.30 an ounce.
Not surprised by platinum's decline, given its weak tone before gold's runup, Alaron's Meger said he expected April platinum to test $457 but said he wouldn't rule out a return to $475 if the other precious metals gained more strength.
March palladium also succumbed to long liquidation by commission houses but was bought back up by local floor brokers, the trader noted. It settled higher but off its intraday highs.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 18:53:28 02/12/02 Tue

Gold: A Haven -- and More

The precious metal's improved fundamentals, as well as investors looking for a hedge, have S&P bullish on the gold-mining industry

Gold is traditionally seen as a safe harbor investment in times of turmoil. Like now. The price of the yellow metal -- and of shares in companies that mine and produce it -- have held up well since the September 11 terrorist attacks. (The industry is a recent addition to Standard & Poor's Relative Strength rankings.) And gold has again taken center stage since the Enron debacle.

However, jittery investors looking for a refuge aren't all that's powering the advance in gold. S&P metals analyst Leo Larkin points out that the metal's fundamentals have improved. That's why he has a positive investment outlook for the gold-mining industry.

His reasons are many. For one, a sharp decline in interest rates since January, 2001, has made short-selling -- an investing bet that its price will drop -- less profitable for both producers and speculators. Short-selling has been a major negative for gold prices the last several years, notes Larkin.

LESS COMPETITION. At the same time, other investments have lost their appeal, especially stocks. Double-digit rates of return for equities from 1995 through 1999 lured investors away from gold. Larkin says the current slump in stock prices means gold faces less competition for investment demand.

Macroeconomic trends are also working in the metal's favor. S&P sees higher prices for commodities such as gold in 2002, reflecting consolidation in commodity-producing industries and a recovery in global economic growth. A large increase in the U.S. money supply -- thanks to 11 interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve since January, 2001 -- should also help boost commodity prices, according to Larkin.

Supply and demand factors will help. Larkin points out that the deficit between production and consumption will widen in 2002 as output declines and physical demand for the metal increases. Low gold prices in recent years have led to sharply reduced exploration -- resulting in flat to lower production. And that will continue even if the price continues to climb, since it takes a long time to bring production capacity on line. An agreement by central banks -- the largest holders of the metal -- to limit gold sales through September, 2004, including sales by the Bank of Switzerland and the Bank of England, removes an uncertainty that plagued the market during the late 1990s.

Finally, Larkin notes that the industry is undergoing major consolidation. In 2001, Barrick Gold (ABX ) acquired Homestake Mining, and in late February, 2002, Newmont Mining (NEM ) will acquire Australia's Normandy Mining. Mergers will result in larger market capitalizations and more trading liquidity in the stocks, says Larkin, making the group more attractive to institutional investors.

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Chairman of the largest bank in Argentina complains he is being "demonized" -- Donald, 15:55:03 02/12/02 Tue

click here

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ALL THE GOLD -- Dave, 15:24:29 02/12/02 Tue

It seems that the money needed to buy.......
ALL THE GOLD ON THE PLANET was on the table last week... 142 times 15.8 billion is 2.2436 Trillion dollars, a lil more than the 1.3 Trillion needed to suck up all the gold.

While investors are dumping Japan's long term bonds, they are pig-piling into short notes. When the government auctioned 2.1 trillion yen ( $15.8 billion ) worth of six month Treasury bills last Tuesday, it received bids to by an astonishing 142 times the number it planned to sell. Ordinarily, such auctions are oversubscribed by two or three times.
To me, this looks like a panic, or a bank run in reverse: Long-term bonds are risky, cash is risky due to the perilous situation of banks, so there is huge demand for the short term notes. This is the manifestation of a beginning crisis in confidence.
http://www.depression2.tv/chronicles/chronicles1.html

Got gold?????

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AHEM! -- Dave, 13:54:54 02/12/02 Tue


While investors are dumping Japan's long term bonds, they are pig-piling into short notes. When the government auctioned 2.1 trillion yen ($15.8 billion) worth of six month Treasury bills last Tuesday, it received bids to by an astonishing 142 times the number it planned to sell. Ordinarily, such auctions are oversubscribed by two or three times.

http://www.depression2.tv/chronicles/chronicles1.html

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AHEM! -- Dave, 13:07:32 02/12/02 Tue


While investors are dumping Japan's long term bonds, they are pig-piling into short notes. When the government auctioned 2.1 trillion yen ($15.8 billion) worth of six month Treasury bills last Tuesday, it received bids to by an astonishing 142 times the number it planned to sell. Ordinarily, such auctions are oversubscribed by two or three times.

http://www.depression2.tv/chronicles/chronicles1.html

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hot spot? and cheap stock? -- Dave, 12:50:43 02/12/02 Tue


COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002--Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation CDE announced today that the Company has discovered additional high-grade gold and silver mineralization at its Cerro Bayo property in southern Chile.

During construction of the upper access ramp, Coeur intersected an 11.5 foot (3.5 meters) section of the Celia vein structure that averaged 1.08 gold equivalent ounces per ton. This high-grade zone was intersected approximately 245 feet (75 meters) below the surface.

Dennis E. Wheeler, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company said, "The Cerro Bayo development program remains on schedule for a May startup. Production in 2002 is forecasted to be 60,000 gold equivalent ounces at a cash cost less than $150 per ounce. The latest discovery confirms the promise of the Cerro Bayo district and our decision to develop the property for Coeur and its shareholders. The Celia vein can be explored efficiently and cost effectively from the surface and subsurface and has excellent potential to add additional high-grade gold and silver ounces to proven and probable reserves. Follow-up work on the Celia vein structure is already underway."

This latest discovery is very significant as the Celia vein structure is not exposed on surface in the area where it has been intersected by the ramp, and consequently, has never been drill tested. All of the major vein structures that Coeur has identified on the property (including the Lucero and Luz Eliana) remain open along strike and at depth. Furthermore, only a very small portion of the Cerro Bayo property package has been explored to date.

The Celia vein structure runs roughly parallel to the Luz Eliana and Lucero vein structures that are located approximately 525 feet (160 meters) to the east and ranges up to 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) in total width. Coeur has now drifted approximately 25 feet (8 meters) southward along the Celia vein and encountered consistent and continuous high-grade mineralization. A drill station is being cut and a diamond drill program will commence shortly. The total strike length of this new zone could be in excess of 2,000 feet (600 meters) before it reaches the Cerro Bayo dome as shown in the illustration on the Company's website (www.coeur.com).

http://www.coeur.com/pages/releases.asp

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Analyst has a target of 7,500 for the Nikkei -- Donald, 11:28:22 02/12/02 Tue

Sees the Nikkei returning to the point of the 1982 upside breakout before a meaningful bottom is in place

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Enron case shows it is easy to falsify profits on derivatives -- Donald, 11:15:02 02/12/02 Tue

Traders say the practice in common throughout the industry

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SWC follow up -- Cyclist, 07:31:08 02/12/02 Tue

Stillwater coiling for a run to 20 with a down side to
14.5.Best risk reward and cycles being friendly.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 05:57:20 02/12/02 Tue

Cyanide Poisons Birds, Animals Near Australian Gold Mine

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Gold Fields -- Sharefin, 05:54:01 02/12/02 Tue

S Africa Gold Fields Merger Talks With Ashanti End

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Goldcorp -- Sharefin, 05:49:30 02/12/02 Tue

2001 Year End Gold Reserve & Resource Estimates

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Lease rates tightening? -- Sharefin, 05:44:58 02/12/02 Tue



Mitsubishi has the one year rate at 2.26/2.41

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London morning gold news -- Donald, 04:50:54 02/12/02 Tue

click here

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Gold -- Sharefin, 21:13:55 02/11/02 Mon

Enron, AngloGold Developments To Keep Gold Above $300

A disgraced energy giant and a reformed hedger could serve as the catalysts that will keep gold prices well above the key $300 an ounce mark for the next few months, said a precious metals analyst with one of Japan's largest commodities houses.

Last week, the price of gold surged past the $300 mark for the first time in two years and many have attributed this sudden interest in bullion to a "flight from risk" mentality following the Enron Corp. (ENRNQ) debacle.

"The Enron affair is definitely playing a big role on the gold market right now," said this Tokyo-based analyst. "The scandal has called into question the accounting procedures employed by U.S. corporations, and so it isn't surprising that people are switching from paper assets to hard assets like gold."

This analyst went on to say that the gold price also is benefiting from tightening supply as some of the biggest players in the mining industry have begun scaling back their hedge books.

The price of gold has risen more than 7% since South Africa's AngloGold Ltd. said in late January that it would slash its hedge book to 10 million ounces from 16 million ounces over the next year. The move was warmly welcomed by the market as AngloGold has long been seen as an unabashed hedger, selling off chunks of future production as a hedge against falling prices. This practice has been decried by many as limiting upward price mobility for gold and has polarized the mining industry into two camps - those that hedge and those that don't.

This is why the recent takeover of Australia's Normandy Mining Ltd. by Newmont Mining Corp. a member of the non-hedging camp, is expected to further tighten supply.

"Normandy has been known for regularly taking big hedging positions. But I think the management from Newmont will keep in place its policies against hedging and so the merged company won't be eager to hedge at all," said the Japanese analyst. "This will serve as another bullish factor for the market."

Normandy is believed to have a hedged position of around 9.9 million ounces.

This analyst added that gold should consolidate in a new range between $300 and $320 a troy ounce over the next few months.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 21:09:58 02/11/02 Mon

Buy signals flash for gold shares

Gold has always tended to benefit when investors get into a panic over a financial or political threat to their wealth. It's an asset that can't be "printed" like currencies, isn't highly geared to prosperity like equities, isn't someone else's liability like bonds and bank accounts, and is universally acceptable as money.

Yet it's been out of fashion for two decades because investors preferred assets delivering good returns, and discovered that the simplest and most cost-effective way to tranquillize their fears at times of crisis is to buy the currency or securities of America, the world's greatest economy. They abandoned bullion for bucks.

A new bull market has begun

That isn't about to change radically or rapidly. But the recent buoyancy in the gold price suggests that the markets are beginning to recognize that the long bear market in the yellow metal has ended and a new bull market has begun.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 21:00:26 02/11/02 Mon

Profit-Taking In Gold, $300 Holds

- Gold holds $300 despite profit-taking and trade pressure
- Low gold lease rates not seen important, as spot market, not forwards, is focus
- Silver capped at $4.49 for technical reasons, still following gold

New York, Feb. 11 (OsterDowJones) Precious metals futures settled lower Monday amid a loss of upward momentum in gold due, at least in part, to holidays in Asia, which deprived the market of liquidity.
"Some profit-taking brought the market down here today in the absence of any fresh news out there," said Ian MacDonald, manager of precious metals trading at Commerzbank in New York. "It certainly looks like we've set a new trading range with $308 at the top end and $295-$296 at the bottom end. So let it do some work."
He expected the bullish influences that helped gold break above the enduringly mythic $300 level last week to continue to provide a firmer tone to the metal.

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Rick Ackerman -- Sharefin, 20:02:25 02/11/02 Mon

Gold is "Weak"

Gold quotes took a nasty spill Monday, but bulls have good reason to tread fearlessly, buttressed by the presumption that last week's sharp move higher was merely the beginning of a much bigger rally.

Granted, it has been many years since bullion prices rose discernibly due to the stimulus of global news or geopolitical crisis. But the possibilities are far too menacing right now to believe that current events will continue to have no effect on precious-metal quotes. This would be true even in the absence of credible and persistent reports that investors from Japan, Saudi Arabia, China and elsewhere have stepped up the pace of their gold buying.

Their evident fear that the dollar's long reign is about to end is understandable, given the Fed's epic credit blowout, the spreading weakness of the U.S. economy, and Congress's born-again desire to shift the fiscal engine into wartime gear. For the moment, however, the potential effect of all of these factors on the price of gold pales in comparison to the mounting threat of war in the Middle East.

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Erik Gebhard -- Sharefin, 19:59:51 02/11/02 Mon

GOLD & SILVER REVIEW

The COT report from Friday revealed that long speculative positions increased by over 24,000. New investors seem to be surfacing and they aren't scared to buy rallies. It appears that many gold bugs now feel, more than ever, that the fundamentals are on their side. To make their bullish case they point to the recent instability in US equities and current economic recession, weak Japanese and European markets, and the decrease in forward selling by producers. When you also add bullish technicals and a rally into the formula, you end up with many reasons to favor the long side of this market.

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Steve Saville -- Sharefin, 19:55:31 02/11/02 Mon

Gold, the COT and Paper Money

What do the Commitments of Traders (COT) Reports tell us?

A common misconception is that the commercial traders in the futures markets (typically, those who use the futures markets to hedge their dealings in the cash markets) are usually right and, therefore, that the speculators are usually wrong. This misconception leads to the incorrect conclusion that the traders' commitments are bullish for a commodity when the commercials are net-long and bearish when the commercials are net-short.

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Lenny's Daily Commentary -- Sharefin, 19:53:27 02/11/02 Mon

Prospector Asset Management

The precious metals were all lower today as the market took advantage of the fact that the Japanese markets were closed for holiday. Much of the recent buying of gold has emanated from the Far East so today the markets took the opportunity to test the downside of the metals. And not much downside was evident as excellent commercial demand rallied gold $2 off the early lows of the day. Silver and gold both went to support levels and rallied nicely. Platinum and palladium were a bit lower, but not a lot. The precious metals seemed to totally disregard the weaker USD today; although I would strongly believe that will not be the case on any further weakness in this currency. I remain very friendly to the upside in gold and silver.

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Gold -- Sharefin, 19:50:27 02/11/02 Mon

Ballooning world prices halt India’s gold imports

From 5,000 bars per day, imports are down to zero

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11: Gold imports into India, the world’s largest bullion market, have come to a complete halt due to volatile global prices and traders expect activity to pick up only after prices stabilise. Thanks to the bull run in the bullion market, gold has outperformed both BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty stock indices in the new year. It has gained 7.83 per cent since January 1, 2002 while the Sensex moved up 7.1 per cent and the broad-based Nifty advanced 6.11 per cent.

With buyers keeping away, gold imports in the city have stopped from about 4,000-5,000 bars (of 116.64 grams) per day nearly 10 days ago, traders said. India imported 359.3 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2001, up from 267.2 tonnes in the same period of the previous year, the industry-funded World Gold Council said.

Traders said they were looking for some price stability as nobody was taking any risk in a fluctuating market. “But we can’t wait for more than a week,” said Rajiv Popley, director of Popley Gold, a gold trading and exporting firm. “In our business, people buy and sell continuously,” he said, adding traders would start buying even at higher prices after some time, but not the normal volumes.

International gold prices, which rose to two-year highs in the past week mainly on the back of aggressive buying by Japanese investors, are expected to remain firm in the next two weeks, traders said. Standard gold which touched a five-year high of Rs 4960 gained Rs 150 to Rs 4900 per 10 grams in Mumbai last week. In Chennai and Delhi, prices even crossed Rs 5,000 mark. Spot gold opened in Europe at $303.25/304.25 a troy ounce, slightly down from Friday’s New York close at $303.50/304.50 an ounce. Gold was traded at about $285/286 an ounce some 10 days ago.

Historically, the yellow metal has been seen as a safe haven in times of economic and political uncertainty. Prices reached all-time highs in 1980 when Russia invaded Afghanistan. Recently, gold has been in demand due to the prospect of reduced gold hedging (selling gold forward) by producers and nervous investors in Japan and US. US has been rocked by the feared fallout from the collapse of energy giant Enron combined with low interest rates and a falling currency while Japanese investors are turning to gold as its government prepares to cap guarantee on bank deposits. Gold demand has drastically fallen with a surge in the prices, traders said. “We are witnessing only compulsory gold buying. Casual consumers are keeping themselves away from the market,” said a dealer. Firm prices have lowered local demand by about 70 to 80 per cent, a trader said. Soaring prices have also prompted people to sell their jewellry and old gold stocks, traders said.

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Terrorism -- Sharefin, 19:46:25 02/11/02 Mon

FBI Issues New Terror Warning

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Market Confidence -- Sharefin, 19:33:54 02/11/02 Mon

A Story That Will Be Told And Retold

There are no last words on Enron, a story that will be told and retold for decades, including in the courts we must suppose. We have said countless times that in a mania, virtually anything is possible. Enron, like the many prior instances we have cited, is perfect proof. Although we covered the Enron debacle in the December 3rd and December 17th 2001 issues of HD Brous & Co., Inc.'s Crosscurrents and again in our January 10, 2002 mania update on this website, we feel constrained to offer a few more words of choice concerning how sheer ignorance pervades not only the corporate culture that allows such a fiasco, but suffuses financial professionals, placing them in the worst possible light. In short, trust has not just taken a big hit, trust has been ruined for years to come. But don't take our word for it. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, recently said, "It is not merely the accounting firm that was to blame for this [Enron] tragedy. It was the Board of Directors that was seduced. It was the security analysts that simply weren't doing their job and had their own levels of conflict. It was the rating agencies, which dropped the ball. It was the investment bankers that cooked up this scheme to hide the losses in the subsidiary companies. It was the standard setters, who were too slow to establish standar ds to prevent this kind of occurrence....I think this is a question of culture. And American companies have drifted close to the edge of the envelope, in terms of using devices to color earnings in ways which deceive the public."

Yes, something very big hit the fan on October 16th as Enron revealed all the shells in the shell game were empty. In the process, the professional analyst community suffered one of its worst tests of courage and subsequently, failed miserably. As Enron dove beyond the day's $33.84 close and into penny status, the various Wall Street downgrades and amazingly, upgrades, spoke only to the possibility of nominal pressures and had nothing to do with reality. Of 15 changes in rating listed on Yahoo from October 16th, 13 were designed to keep each financial firm's clients in Enron shares as they imploded. Beginning with the Merrill Lynch upgrade from Near Term Neutral to Near Term Accumulate, we believe irreparable damage has now been done to how larger firm research will be viewed in future years. Of the 15 changes listed on Yahoo, only two were outright sells from Prudential and AG Edwards. However, Prudential's change from Hold to Sell on October 24th was itself changed and upgraded to a Hold on November 12th, with Enron's shares then fetching $9.24! While Pru's clients "held," Enron fell a further 93% until delisted by the NYSE last week. Perhaps the most laughable change was Goldman Sach's downgrade from the Recommended list to Market Performer on November 21st, with Enron trading at $5.01. Market performer? A further decline of 87% would seem to contradict Goldman's views.

As for corporate culture, Enron has proved conclusively that plain vanilla employees are not as important to corporations as their own executives. The $55 million in bonuses paid to 500 key execs and numerous insider sales before the announcement of bankruptcy clearly attests to a different set of standards for the latter group. And as it now turns out, the first emails to employees concerning their 401(k)s were delivered on September 27th, with the shares still trading at $25.25. A later email was delivered on October 25th, changing the timeframe in which they were not able to make changes in their accounts. Despite the suppsed four-week lapse from one administrator to another, Enron employees actually suffered a 48-day lapse between the times they were able to make changes in their 401(k)s! And on November 14th, when they were told they could again make changes, their Enron shares had already fallen 60.4% to $10!

That the venerable J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. could also be taken in by Enron (and Argentina) to the the extent that Standard & Poor's would have to cut the bank's credit-rating outlook from "stable" to "negative" speaks volumes about how ignorance can pervade in a mania. Nothing like having a major credit-rating agency citing "mounting" credit problems for the largest bank in the country to instill confidence in investors. Yes, we're being sarcastic!

The implosion of Enron is matched in significance by the revelations about the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen, the recommendations of financial professionals and the exposures suffered by the banks that provided them with the sustenance to play their ugly games.

In its entirety, this is a watershed event.

Trust on many levels has been irreparably shattered and will remain an elusive target for years to come. A mania cannot end unless trust is ruined and a secular bear market cannot commence unless investors are left with no reasons to invest in stocks.

Wall Street's promise of guardianship of the small investor was a lie.

The implications are enormous. We expect them to reverberate for years to come.

Alan M. Newman, Editor
HD Brous & Co., Inc.'s Crosscurrents



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Finally, to end our rant with at least the semblance of a smile, we offer the following lesson that was offered recently and anonomously on the internet.
How to Explain Enron to Your Children:

Feudalism - You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
Fascism - You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Communism - You have two cows. Your neighbors help take care of them and you share the milk.
Totalitarianism - You have two cows. The government takes them both and denies they ever existed and drafts you into the army. Milk is banned.
Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
Enron Venture Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

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