Tag: Gold

Gold Approached $1,570 an Ounce!

Gold approached $1,570 an ounce, extending a rally to a record, on bets that the dollar will extend a slump, enhancing the allure of the metal as a store of value. Silver posted for the biggest monthly gain in 28 years.
“Silver’s run is related to the rise in gold,” said Michael Cuggino, who helps manage about $12 billion at Permanent Portfolio Funds in San Francisco. “There’s a lot of speculation in silver. Anytime you’ve had a run like silver, you’re going to get a correction.”

Gold has climbed 33 percent in the past year, and silver has more than doubled.

Start investing with just $100

Start investing with just $100!! I’ll let you in on a little secret about investing: Start investing: How new investors can begin with $100 © MedioImages/Corbis
Extra3/5/2010 4:00 PM ET
Start investing with just $100

Faced with a dizzying array of investment options, deciding where to put your money can be daunting. But starting small doesn’t mean it won’t pay off big.
It’s not nearly as hard as you think.
However, the fact that most people do it badly might lead a reasonable person to believe the opposite.

How badly? A study by Dalbar, a Boston investment research firm, found that from 1988 to 2008, when the S&P 500 Index ($INX) grew at an average annual rate of 11.8%, individual investors in equity mutual funds saw average returns of 4.5% a year, before taxes.

US Dollar Drops to 15 Month Low

Whenever there has been a world crisis, it has been typical for foreigners to seek the safety of the US dollar. A common means to accomplish that has been to buy US Treasury debt. The typical example over the past couple of years is that the demand for US Treasury debt has increased at the various peaks of crises among the European Union nations such as Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and the like.

As a result of these surges in demand, the US Dollar Index, which reflects the value of the dollar against other currencies, tends to increase.

How to Invest

The current bull market in U.S. stocks celebrated its second birthday on March 9.

With human beings, a 2-year-old is a lusty toddler with a lot more growing to do. For a bull-market-run in stocks, however – particularly a bull market as vigorous as this one has been – the two-year mark is a good time to start searching for some serious signs of aging.

Don’t get me wrong: The U.S. bull market could continue – indeed, it probably will continue for some time to come.

But we are almost certainly much closer to its end than we are to its March 9, 2009 day of birth.

And that reality means that we need to invest in a certain way.

Gold Will Continue to Shine

The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.5% in February from the month before, pushed higher by food and energy costs. The price index for all items climbed 2.1% over the past year.

But many think government-reported inflation numbers don’t present an accurate price picture. Some economists estimate the true rate of inflation is closer to 8% or 9%. And those numbers could rise higher as the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to pump billions of dollars into the financial system.

Inflation, coupled with political turmoil in the Middle East, has pushed many investors out of stocks and into commodities. Gold rose to a record $1,445.70 an ounce on March 7. Market uncertainty from the Japan disaster pushed the metal down to $1,380.70 on March 15, but it gained again this week to hover around $1,400 an ounce.