Gold
“I expect gold to double. At least to double,” says Adam Gold, a Brooklyn filmmaker, who’s at the East Village bar Arlo and Esme, mingling at a meet up event with fellow supporters of Texas congressman Ron Paul. Paul is a big fan of gold and believes ever since the U.S. went off the gold standard in the 1970s, the government has been able to print money “out of thin air,” eroding the value of the dollar. Adam Gold invests in the yellow metal through a broker, who holds it on the filmmaker’s behalf in vaults around the country. “I’m not yet to the point, although I may well get there, where I actually physically hold the gold in a safe in my apartment,” Gold says. Cris Rodriguez, on the other hand, does keep his gold nearby, at an undisclosed location. The 29-year-old NYU graduate, who works in music production, says every three months he scrapes together enough money to buy coins directly from gold dealers in Manhattan. “I don’t have a tremendous amount of money to invest but I’d rather start off as a base owning the physical gold,” Rodriguez says. [WNYC via DI]
The Journal reports today that John Paulson’s gold fund, which launched Jan. 1, is failing to attract investors. We’re told it’ ain’t so. While the fund did lose “about 10%” since it launched, JP is confident and “believes in this play.”
John Paulson and Stanley Fink are dying to take your money and pour it into gold. Clive Capital is somewhat less enthusiastic.
The London-based hedge fund is certainly bullish on the shiny stuff, predicting that its value will continue to rise and even increasing its bet on it. But it doesn’t want your money, not anymore. Those looking to invest in commodities won’t have the world’s largest commodity hedge fund to kick around anymore.
At least, not until its “focus and scrutiny of market liquidity and portfolio diversity” make it change its mind.
Somewhere in the financial journalism rulebook there is a clause that forbids a disaster story to be written unless canned goods in the form of Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) and Gold are both spiking to back-up the “panic theory.” But despite the devastation of Swine Flu (you couldn’t come up with a more nefarious sounding plague except, perhaps, if you resorted to “The Black Death,” or somesuch- I mean seriously, who is going to be scared by “bird flu” or “avian flu.” Who cares if Big Bird is running a fever anyhow?) and now a 6.0 magnitude earthquake 19 miles south-southeast of Tixtla, Guerrero (strong enough to shake the capital) and the tragedy of vicious gang warfare along the border, Gold and Campbell Soup Co. aren’t doing anything at all exciting. Even Olin (OLN), fine purveyor of quality ammunition, is languishing today. It’s like “it’s different this time” or something.
Gold Futures Pull Back in New York [TheStreet.com]
Mexico hit by 6.0 magnitude earthquake: USGS [Reuters]
