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Pastimes : All Clowns Must Be Destroyed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: re3 who wrote (27543)	4/19/2000 7:19:00 AM
From: yard_man	Respond to of 42523

Man is he cynical ... I'm no fool. I'll be bracing for today's opening <VBG>

To: re3 who wrote (27543)	4/19/2000 8:29:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42523

ho ho btw- got gold? today could be interesting for goldshares, imo...

To: re3 who wrote (27543)	4/19/2000 8:44:00 AM
From: SBerglowe	Respond to of 42523

Ferdinand Lips has served commentary at The Dos Passos Table entitled, "Swiss National Bank Results and some Thoughts on Gold." "The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has strongly increased its gold lending activities in 1999 316 tons vs. 187 tons in 1998. Gold loans with a market value of Fr.4,7 billion were outstanding. The remaining gold in the balance sheet, 2275 tons is down from 2590 tons in 1997, before the bank started its lending activities. The profit from this newly found "profit center? is a meager Fr.57,8 million or only Fr.15 million more than in the previous year. The annual report and the results of the SNB are nothing to write home about. A closer look at the profit & loss statement shows that the total profit of the SNB, before allocation to reserves, of Fr.4,4 billion is almost entirely due to a higher value of their U.S. dollar holdings. Net profit from currency fluctuations in 1999 amounted to Fr.4,1 billion against a loss of Fr. 871 billion in 1998. "For many years, the SNB has been under strong pressure, mainly by socialist politicians, economists and left wing media to manage its assets more profitably. It now seems that this goal will never be achieved because even central banks can?t work miracles. "First of all the SNB has loaned out gold in increasing quantities. Why does the SNB have to increase Gold lending, when it has been clear since the near-bankruptcy of LTCM Long Term Capital Management, when the UBS lost around Fr. 1 billion, lending is a very stupid and risky business producing only small profits. The SNB seems to have forgotten that the historic role of a central banks has always been to protect the integrity of the currency and nothing else. Putting the patrimony of its country at risk by lending it out to investment banks who in turn are lenders to the hedge fund industry is obviously not a business central banks should be in." Ferdinand Lips is a former Managing Director of the Rothschilds Bank, Zurich as well as Bank Lips, Zurich. Ferdinand was the co-founder of the Swiss Society of Securities Analysts and has written two books on investments, including one on monetary systems. In addition, he is a Director of Durban Roodepoort Deep and Randgold Resources. Wonderful commentary that should be distributed all over Switzerland.