We stand by the assertion that a quarter percent better fed funds rate will NOT make the critical difference to medium-term and/or long-term gold investors.
We were definitely overdue for a correction and we are almost repeating last week's dip pattern.
Buoyed by the Nigerian oil sabotage news and a weaker U.S. dollar, gold has reasserted its safe-haven attributes since last Friday.
Gold would like to go somewhat lower to follow long-established seasonal patterns as well as to complete the corrective phase it was in, after a swift race to nearly $600 per ounce.
Gold is as much a mirror of current human events as it is a barometer of future asset values.
Gold closed out the week on a firmer yet inconclusive note as traders squared logbooks ahead of the weekend.
Gold burst decisively through the $560 mark...even as many participants are out for the U.S. holiday.
Gold as well as silver continues to benefit from a robust global growth pattern and consumption of all types of commodities.
Gold appears to be reflecting the lack of fresh bad news ... rather than true profit-taking.
Surely, corrections will come; but when and if they do they will continue to be regarded as buying opportunities for the long-run, not the beginning of the end.
The precious metals markets have all the ingredients necessary to repeat the performance they were once famous for.
Unfortunately, the district doesn't share that interpretation. They're pushing ahead with a decision right now.
Traders were watching a sinking dollar and the apparent diversion of petro-dollar profits into bullion (a repeat of the pattern that was last visible in the gold run of 1980).
We saw little evidence yesterday that the Godzilla-size footprints of funds bailing out of gold was present. We did see evidence overnight that millions of tiny (individual-investor) footprints make for an equal-size impact on gold -- in the opposite direction.
When you ignore the U.N., you ignore all the nations of the world at once. This, as we have learned, is suicidal.
Expect volatility to go higher and trading ranges to expand.
While there still remains some room for a couple of visits on the lower end of the trading range, the market appears to digest geopolitical and economic realities with the same, predictable outcome: higher prices.
Aside from the amalgam of worrisome news items coming from many corners of the globe ... the investment community is also looking with apprehension at economic news and has nothing to smile about.
Diversifying away from dollars has become desirable -- retail investors returned to the precious metals arena in droves this week.
A number of respectable institutions raised their current year and 2007 forecasts for gold and more of them are no longer afraid of mentioning the word 'record' when it comes to future gold prices.
It will take either a sharp sequence of rate increases ... or a significant reversal of rate hikes ... to move the gold market in a meaningful way at this point.
They did buy the rumor and sell (or not buy further) on the fact.
That's a pretty big impact on the drivers.
Increases in oil inventories and a firmer dollar put a dent into gold prices early Tuesday. Gold fell about 1% before recovering slightly and stabilizing.
In a world where news stories continue to make ominous ripples, gold is acting like the thermometer of collective global anxiety.
In the gold trading pits, economic uncertainties are taking a back seat to uncertainties of a different nature these days.
The trigger fingers hovering over all of the instability-sensitive commodity 'buy' buttons (gold, oil, etc.) are as jittery as ever.
The huge pool of global liquidity out there has not found a better place to rush into, and is enchanted with gold and its prospects.
The hikes are not as much an attempt to stave off inflation as they are designed to attract investment into the dollar by would-be debt holders (China, Japan, etc.) of the U.S. currency.
Although gold remains vulnerable to at least another bout of selling as we head into next week, the fact that it erased Thursday's losses demonstrates (for the time being) the fact that this bull is alive and kicking.
A global scramble for the asset is now unfolding, as the fund-driven price action is snowballing and attracting investors from all walks of life.
The gold price is now flirting with critical support levels ($532-$535), and it faces a possible short- to medium-term trough -- one that could even breach the $500 level.
The dollar took enough of a hit to convince traders that gold was a safer place to park funds in for the next few sessions.