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To: Dealer who wrote (52848)	6/6/2002 11:51:54 PM
From: Cactus Jack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Dealer, I can't speak much about gold jewelry, and am fortunate that my better half prefers the look of silver. <VBG> My take on gold is based more on other factors; I don't think JW is completely off base in his views of precious metals (though I'm not prepared to assume a major depression). Fact is gold is relatively cheap still, and many around the world look to gold as the safest currency. Japan is an easy example. Now if we can just keep our daughters from becoming gold (jewelry) bugs . . . -G- jpgill

To: Dealer who wrote (52848)	6/7/2002 9:38:34 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

You're only looking at one country,darlin' Gold is universal; look at all the jewelry in India; it gets accumulated and passed from generation to generation. You have to think differently with this stuff than you are used to,because it is a worldwide, fear driven commodity. If I'm Japanese, and I lose my FDIC coverage on my bank accounts, I'm gonna buy gold, which is what they are doing. Rat

To: Dealer who wrote (52848)	6/7/2002 1:53:07 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

A Golden article from overseas... Financial Times; Jun 06, 2002 Gold bugs are finally being rewarded for their patience, as the price of the precious metal rises to four-and-a-half year highs, underpinning a rally in gold companies' shares and healthy returns for gold mutual funds. Gold or precious metals funds, including Gabelli Gold Fund, American Century, Oppenheimer Gold and Vanguard Precious Metals, have returned 72.1 per cent in the five months to May, a handsome reward for anyone who invested at the start of the year. The returns - up 19.6 per cent in May alone, the highest one-month return for any fund category since February 2000, according to fund tracker Lipper - has sparked a gold investment rush. Investment in gold funds, which do not hold the actual metal but do hold stocks, surged 5 per cent in April alone. However, fund managers and analysts have warned that gold's rally may not last and that the poor investing environment elsewhere is causing an excess of enthusiasm for gold and gold funds. A spokesman for Vanguard, the US's second largest mutual fund company, said one client caught up in the gold rush wanted to take his investment in gold-oriented funds to 100 per cent. "It was alarming," he said. Vanguard, which holds $700m in gold stocks, increased its exposure to gold from 0.1 per cent of total assets 18 months ago to its current holding of just less than 0.5 per cent. Graham French, a fund manager at Vanguard, said investors were turning to gold as a safe haven "to avoid corporate excesses in the equity markets like Tyco, WorldCom and Enron". "Gold is a good diversification tool but history would suggest it is not the best return in asset class," he said. Kamal Naqvi, an analyst at Macquarie, the Australian investment bank, said gold prices may stay higher in the next two months after futures rocketed above $330 an ounce this week. "There may be upside, to $340 to $350 an ounce levels but we are not super-bullish." Gold's rally is being driven by several factors. Producers are unwinding their hedges and gold companies are being rewarded with higher share prices. Geopolitical risk after the September 11 attacks and broader economic uncertainty, including a weakening US dollar and lacklustre equities, have also helped the precious metal.