Regarding Clinton and gold...
He sure had an effect on the gold market, though. One
of my buddies got a call from his (full service) broker the
other day. $8000 in the account, the guy asks him if he
wants to buy a mutual fund or something. He says, "No,
but I'd like to buy something solid". After considering
silver and platinum, he ends up buying a 100-oz gold
future at $380 per ounce. Since this can lead to a
loss as great as $38,000.00 the broker picks him up an
out of the money put to limit the loss to $20,000.00
All this time the broker is trying to talk him out of it.
I'm sure the broker had to confess selling a futures
contract to a neophyte, to his priest the next Sunday.
My friend (an MIS) is so green that he doesn't even
know what month contract he bought or where the
put is struck at. But lo and behold, Clinton can't
keep it zipped, and the guy is $20 an ounce ahead
two weeks later. Amazing. The broker is, of course,
stunned. He's not a dummy, but I take this as a sign
that the herd is turning.
-- Carl |
