Barros Conti Quotations

The other thing is the redemption going on mutual and hedge funds due to declining stock valuations. We've seen a good level of liquidation recently where some of these funds that have been holding gold stocks are selling them to lock in profits. This kind of activity is still going to take a couple of days to unravel.

Also, with uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy, and a weaker dollar, that actually fares well for gold. A lower dollar makes it less expensive for traders overseas to exchange gold.

The commodity was down earlier today because we are seeing a bit of profit-taking on stocks. The market looks like it is stabilizing a little bit. With everything that has happened, people are going to continue looking at different asset classes ? from bonds, to gold, to health care ? largely defensive plays as investors look for safe havens.

Gold has shown a knee-jerk reaction to the events over the last two days. It closed up to the better side. The commodity had been under some pressure lately, especially with a strong dollar. People tend to look at other hedges in times of inflation. Unfortunately, gold usually reacts to these kinds of crises.

Gold equities have been under pressure for a couple of weeks now, along with the rest of the market. There's a couple of reasons for that. Gold has had a great run for the first six months of this year. Investors are now thinking that they have some profits in these stocks, so they're taking it and leaving it in cash.

There's been a wave of consolidation in the sector over the last year. The world's gold producers have been functioning in survival mode for a few years. They've had to deal with the same issues as other base metal companies -- shaky demand, falling prices for commodities and criticism for being a waste of capital and destroying shareholder value. That's changing.

Many exploration projects require a gold price of $350 or higher to be profitable, and I believe that larger companies will look to grow through acquisitions of other smaller companies which are making money, have mines, and ongoing projects. The trend will continue.