Small Gold Investors Get the Boot
WSJ: Fleets of armored trucks piled with gold bars and coins have been streaming out of midtown Manhattan in one unexpected consequence of the gold craze. Amid gold’s rise — it has gained 32% this year and reached a record on Monday — investors have been loading up on bullion and coins. One big problem now is where to store it. The solution from HSBC, owner of one of the biggest vaults in the U.S.: somewhere else. HSBC has told retail clients to remove their small holdings from its fortress beneath its tower on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The bank has decided…

Super Cycle and Grand Super Cycle
Ian Gordon pointed out to me that at the bottom of major cycles, the lows are lower than the beginning of the stock market bull runs. In other words, the higher the rise, the harder the stocks fall. From 1921 to 1929 the bull market rose 500%. But from 1982 to 2000, the market rose 1,500%. If the next stock market bottom were to simply equal the bottom in 1982 it would have to fall to 729. Because these bottoms fall below their bull market starting point may perhaps provide the basis for Robert Prechter’s view that the market will fall…

Gold Is on a Tear. How Much Higher Will It Go?
Our special guest this week on Turning Hard Times Into Good Times  was Ian MacDonald, who has been in the gold bullion business for years with the likes of Commerzbank AG, Credit Suisse, and Billiton (UK). Recently he managed a gold asset management company for the government of Dubai. Ian brings his vision from inside the gold markets to explain why gold is on the rise, who it is that is buying, and how high it can rise in the future. He will also talk about his new firm’s efforts to secure gold bullion purchases for wealth investors who oddly enough have…

Pristine Balance Sheets for Year-End
This holiday week brought a lot of economic data that may not be getting the attention it deserves. As is often the case, the reports can be spun in either direction. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter, initially reported last month at a gain of 3.5%, was revised downward to 2.8%. Future revisions are likely to bring the number down further. Since much of the growth came from unsustainable stimulus items like cash-for-clunkers and the homebuyer tax credit, the case for recovery is not as strong as some may have thought. Today’s weekly unemployment report showed a drop in the number of initial jobless benefit claims as well as continuing claims, yet

Risk Appetite Recovers But Sovereign Debt Concerns Still Simmer
G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD GBP -0.18 JPY -0.32