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SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD)

gold

Gold prices climbed to a three-week high this week, showing why a gold ETF like the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD) is a strong investment now.

The price of gold surged $15.60, or 1.41%, to $1,123.20 an ounce on Wednesday. Concerns of a currency war, a rout in global equities markets, and a slipping U.S. dollar all drove investors to the safe-haven money alterative.

Here's why we see gold prices and the SPDR Gold Trust climbing higher from here...

How to Know When Gold's Bearish Slide Is Over

price of gold today

Gold's hard-and-fast tumble below $1,100 an ounce last week means some investors may be tuning out the yellow metal, or suffering from gold "burnout."

But ignoring it is a huge mistake. It has been and always will be one of the best stores of value, and it's a crucial hedge against economic upheaval. It's a must-have holding.

Last Monday's "bear raid" in Shanghai brought gold down to 13-year lows before settling at five-and-a-half year lows, and it's absolutely vital that we know when this downward pressure will stop so that we don't "call a bottom" too quickly.

You see, we can buy gold all the way down, but these charts will help us see when it will resume its upward march...

Seize This Golden Opportunity

price of gold

The turmoil in Europe over whether Greece will be forced out of the Eurozone has been a growing concern for investors as the crisis has worsened in recent weeks.

Sure, politicians and Greece's creditors might find a short-term solution any day now, but we all know what happens when you "kick the can" of debt down the road... the problem usually gets worse.

And if Greece does implode, the trade will be even more profitable...

Profit and Protect Your Portfolio with This One Pick

Add More Dividend Yield to Your Portfolio with These 30 Stocks

"If you don't own gold, you don't know history..."

Those words were uttered recently by Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the single-largest hedge fund on the planet, with a whopping $170 billion in assets.

Dalio has produced almost 15% annually for over two decades, and now he's warning anyone paying attention that it's time to own some gold. He believes there's just too much risk in not owning gold today.

Let's take that concern for risk and turn it into our profit. Here's how...

Will Gold be Paulson's Next "Greatest Trade Ever"?


When famed hedge-fund manager John Paulson speaks, people listen.

And it's no wonder.

Paulson made his way into the financial history books thanks to what many now call the "greatest trade ever".

Paulson & Co. shorted the subprime mortgage market before the collapse banking a $15 billion gain.

So when Paulson went big again by buying gold in 2009 and 2010, investors took notice.

At the time he said, "As an investor, I became very concerned about having my assets denominated in U.S. dollars," Paulson told his audience. "So I looked for another currency in which to denominate my assets in. I feel that gold is the best currency."

In fact, Paulson's holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) make his firm the biggest stakeholder in this ETF, with a position currently valued at $2.9 billion.

So that begs the question....

Is Paulson still a gold bull?

In a recent letter to investors he wrote, "By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold."

And he's not alone.

Recent filings showed that another legendary hedge-fund investor, George Soros, has nearly doubled his stake in GLD to 85,450 shares.

But "Bond King" Bill Gross's latest words and actions may well be the most significant of all.

To continue reading, please click here....

Could the Government Seize Your Gold? Rules to Consider, Steps to Take

Could the government seize your gold?

It's a question that's being asked with increasing frequency these days. The United States is struggling with a post-financial-crisis economy that can't seem to get healthy, which has led to a ballooning budget deficit and a staggering national debt.

And don't expect any structural improvements to the country's finances. Near-term stock-market bulls are awaiting an all-but-guaranteed round of "quantitative easing" (known as "QE2") - which will inject money into the U.S. financial system, though it will only add to shortfall even as it weakens the U.S. dollar.

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Despite Record Gold Prices, Your Holdings May be Worth Less Than You Think

Record gold prices are becoming an almost-daily headline, with the "yellow metal" making a run at $1,400 an ounce. And while this is great for the investors who are along for the ride, there is an important caveat - your gold may not be worth as much as you think it is.

Moreover, because of the tax consequences of ownership, chances are it'll never add up to what those guys hawking gold coins on late night TV lead you to believe.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't invest. With an estimated $202 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities and the global public debt clock ticking higher, I believe gold and other precious metals should be a part of every investor's portfolio.

To find out why your gold may not be worth as much as you think, read on...

With Prices Soaring Gold Bullion is Suddenly in High Demand

The world's wealthiest people are moving their money out of stocks and into gold bullion, sucking the yellow metal up by the ton in some instances.

Fears that the dollar will continue to lose value in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing have boosted the appetite for physical bullion as well as for mining company shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) executive Josef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.

"They don't only buy ETFs or futures; they buy physical gold," said Stadler, who runs the Swiss bank's services for clients with assets of at least $50 million to invest. "We had a clear example of a couple buying over a ton of gold ... and carrying it to another place," Stadler said.

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Special Report: How to Buy Gold

As an analyst and editor who specializes in the natural-resources sector, I spend a lot of time writing about gold, gold mining, and gold investing. Those are popular - and even emotional - topics with investors, which means that the columns, essays and advisories I write tend to generate a lot of comments and questions.

I think that's great. After all, an engaged investor tends to be a successful investor.

Not surprisingly, one question dominates. And that's the question we're addressing in this special report.

The question: "How do I buy gold?"

As a service to the Money Morning readers who have asked that question, or who've had that same thought, I've put together this overview - or primer - that addresses the basic ins and outs of buying gold. In this feature, I address some of the more-common and more-timely questions that I've been getting.



To find out how to buy gold, please read on...

As Washington Turns on Wall Street, Investors Should Expect a Rough Stretch for Financial Stocks

Here in the United States, investors have been startled by the realization that Washington no longer appears to be acting as a benefactor to Wall Street, the financial markets, and the economy. Ever since the collapse of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ) back in 2008, a Faustian deal was forged between Wall Street executives and the politicos in Washington: Ideologies would be thrown by the wayside to prevent a meltdown of the American financial system and the precipitous collapse of the economy.

First, the Bush administration swallowed its free-market credentials to take over Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), while handing the largest banks and the Detroit automakers big piles of taxpayer cash to keep them afloat. Then, the Obama administration resisted populist pressure to punish the bankers getting rich thanks to rising financial markets while unemployment continued to climb.

But that's changing now, and the attack dogs have been unleashed. Policy is moving from supportive (crisis management) to restrictive (crisis prevention and the scoring of political points) at a faster pace and to a much-more-severe degree than many imagined.

It started with extra taxes on bank liabilities to fund a reserve for financial crises, then moved to include a congressional commission to review the causes of the financial crisis, and then to more onerous regulatory oversight. But now it's growing into something more. And that's one big reason stocks in general and the financial sector in particular sold off so severely.

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My Confrontation With Ben Bernanke: The One Question He Refused to Answer

The Secret Service agents watched me warily as I approached U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

I didn't waste any time. After introducing myself, I showed him a copy of the talk he gave at the American Economic Association (AEA) meetings in January 2007. I circled all the times he used the words "panic," "crisis," and "stress" in his speech, entitled "Central Banking and Bank Supervision of the United States."

A total of 36 occasions.

I asked him point-blank: "Did you know in advance that a financial crisis was headed our way?"

He looked nervous. I could tell he was uncomfortable with my question. He looked at me stoically and smiled.

And he refused to answer.

But there was no doubt in my mind what the correct answer was. I think he was worried about his job if he said, "Yes."

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The Five Reasons Gold Will Hit $5,000

Let me get right to the point. Gold's going to $5,000 an ounce.

I know that sounds preposterous to most people. In fact, some of you probably think I'm crazy.

But for a whole host of reasons, $5,000 may well end up being a conservative estimate.

So before you start posting comments that I've gone bonkers, hear me out...



For more on gold’s looming "superspike," read on...