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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (8203)	3/10/1998 7:20:00 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 116811

BOBBY: Down here in Palm Beach auto and homeowner's insurance rates are climbing rapidly as are some food prices. Gasoline is way down though as are electronic devices imported from Asia. So a mixed bag re: inflation today. But with the stock market now at record valuations relative to the economy, a big rise in CPI inflation is just a matter of time unless the market comes down hard. People are going to start spending their ill gotten gains. Many higher level professionals will be retiring early as I did. Labor shortages will intensify for higher-end workers. The last time the market was this high relative to the economy was the late 1960s. And we all know what happened in the 1970s to gold, the CPI, and the dollar. The timing is uncertain, but inflation and POG will be headed much higher in the years to come.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (8203)	3/10/1998 8:04:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116811

News Alert from Dow Jones Online News via Quote.com Topic: (NYSE:PDG) Placer Dome Inc, (TSE:PDG) Placer Dome Inc., Quote.com News Item #5702069 Headline: (UPDATE) Placer Dome Says It's Not Part Of Bullion Buying Arrangement ====================================================================== VANCOUVER -(Dow Jones)- Placer Dome Inc. (PDG) said it is not part of any plan or arrangement with other gold producing companies to buy bullion from central banks or other market participants to influence the gold market or gold prices. In a news release, Placer Dome said it has confidence in the long-term future of gold and that central banks will retain gold as a significant percentage of their reserves. Placer Dome said the international gold bullion market has about 1,200 metric tons a day trading over the London Bullion Market Association, representing about 50% of annual mined production. Due to the size and liquidity of this market, it said individual buyers and sellers are generally unable to exert significant influence on pricing. Placer Dome said it is estimated that about 35,000 tons or about 25% of above-ground stocks are held by central banks as official reserves. It said the level of central bank sales hasn't been significant relative to their overall holdings and to the size of the bullion market. However, it said that, during 1997, increased levels of speculative selling and producer forward sales, combined with central bank net sales, couldn't be absorbed without depressing the price, despite an estimated increase in demand of 14%. Placer Dome is a mining company. Placer Dome Inc. (PDG) issued its news release in response to a report first appearing in Barron's that executives from Placer, Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) and Anglo American Gold Investment Co. (AAGIY) formed a plan over Christmas to buy gold from central banks in order to prop up the sagging gold price. The Barron's story quoted John Willson, Placer's chief executive, as confirming the plan's existence. However, Placer spokesman Hugh Leggatt said Barron's "misunderstood" Willson's comments. He said Willson was hypothetically discussing what gold producers could do to help support gold prices. Legatt stressed that the plan referred to in the Barron's report doesn't exist. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (8203)	3/10/1998 9:16:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116811

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Alcoa's (NYSE:AA) stunning move to snap up rival Alumax Inc (NYSE:AMX) will generate takeover speculation in base metal stocks to boost the sector's share prices, analysts said on Monday. The $3.8 billion stock-and-cash merger sends a message to shareholders that base metals companies are significantly undervalued, which should trigger some merger speculation, said Dan Roling, a metals equity analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co (NYSE:MER). This spillover into the rest of the base metals sector was partly why copper giant Phelps Dodge Corp (NYSE:PD) gained 2-1/4 a share on Monday to close at 67-3/8 in New York Stock Exchange trading, despite copper prices being down on the day, Roling said. Roling said Alcoa has grabbed a bargain by paying only 12.5 times estimated 1998 earnings for Alumax, while the broader market is trading at 22 times earnings. Alcoa closed off 3/16 Monday at 71-7/16 in trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Alumax gained 10-5/16 to end Monday at 47 on the NYSE. Another copper producer, ASARCO Inc (NYSE:AR), gained 9/16 to close Monday at 24-3/8 in trade on the NYSE. In constrast, on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader market closed lower. The DJIA ended down 2.25 at 8567.14. The Nasdaq, heavily weighted in technology stocks, fell 28.33 points, or 1.62 percent, to settle Monday at 1725.16. And the S&P500 index ended off 3.39 points at 1052.30. After Alcoa's move to grab Alumax, one of the big U.S. aluminum producers, others in the sector may now be more vulnerable to takeover attempts, other analysts said. "Reynolds is ripe for takeover," said Jim Southwood, an analyst at Commodity Metal Management. "They have been shedding their assets, and they are a nothing company at the moment." Reynolds Metals closed up 7/16 at 63 on Monday in NYSE trade. Another leading U.S. aluminum producer, Kaiser Aluminum (NYSE:KLU) gained 5/8 to end at 9-7/8 on the NYSE. A Prudential Securities analyst said the merger of two of the lowest-cost producers will put pressure on other players in the aluminum market. A takeover of any of the remaining U.S. aluminum players probably would come from an outside company, the Prudential analyst said. Wall Street welcomed the merger. "It's 'win-win.' It's good for you guys, and it's good for the industry," Bear Stearns' non-ferrous metals analyst Anthony Rizzuto told Alcoa officials during a teleconference Monday. Southwood, of Commodity Metals Management, said the merger will strengthen Alcoa's position in extrusions and the foundry sector, but will have little impact on the bigger picture. "It's a smart thing, but as far as having any effect on the global industry, I don't think it has any effect at all," Southwood said. "Capacity is capacity, and I don't see this as anti-consumer." Paul O'Neill, Alcoa's chief executive officer, was quick to dismiss any suggestions that an enlarged company would be able to bump up aluminum prices. Once the two companies have merged, their total production capacity would represent less than 10 percent of global capacity, when Russia and China are included, O'Neill told analysts on Monday. O'Neill also told analysts earlier Monday he was confident the U.S. Justice Department would allow the merger to go forward. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (8203)	3/10/1998 9:39:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116811

Russia and Japan discuss oil and gas off Kuriles 11:09 a.m. Mar 10, 1998 Eastern By Mike Collett-White MOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) - Russian Fuel and Energy Minister Sergei Kiriyenko informally discussed potential oil and gas reserves off the disputed Kurile islands during his recent visit to Japan, a ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Officials stress that little is known about what resource wealth lies on and around the islands, the subject of half a century of territorial rows preventing the signature of a post-war treaty between Russia and Japan. But any sizeable oil and gas discovery, and the billions of dollars it could bring to the owner, would raise the stakes in talks between Moscow and Tokyo on the islands' sovereignty. ''The question of the possibility of oil and gas deposits off the Kurile islands came up during Kiriyenko's visit to Japan,'' said energy ministry spokesman Sergei Slesaryev. Kiriyenko was in Japan earlier this month. ''But detailed talks on these resources did not take place. Yes, there are explored reserves there, but what these reserves are has not been confirmed,'' Slesaryev told Reuters. Oil and gas analysts familiar with exploration activity off Russia's far eastern coast said little was known about the potential for the Kurile islands to become an important new source of energy and urged caution. ''The presence of commercially exploitable oil and gas there is theoretically possible,'' said Professor Yevgeny Khartukov, general director of the International Centre of Petroleum Business Studies in Moscow. ''But this talk seems to be spurred more by political wishful thinking than by any practical possibilities.'' Attempts to discuss the issue coincide with an improved atmosphere over the disputed territory and signs that economic reality is slowly superseding political posturing. Russia and Japan hailed a ''breakthrough'' treaty last month giving Japanese fishermen access to waters around the islands, seized by Soviet troops in the dying days of World War Two. And Russian President Boris Yeltsin is expected to visit Japan in April, the latest sign of the gradual thaw in ties. The dispute over the islands has held up economic cooperation and major Japanese investment in post-Soviet Russia. Kiriyenko was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying that any discovery in the Kurile region could stimulate further cooperation between Japan and Russia in the energy sector. Analysts said assumptions of the Kuriles' hydrocarbon potential was based mainly on their proximity to Russia's Sakhalin island, where several major international consortia are already drilling and exploring. Vladimir Kudelkin, chief geologist at Dalmorneftegeofizika, an oil and gas exploration outfit based in the Far East, told Tass last week that no ''meaningful'' exploration had been carried out on or off the shores of the Kurile islands. They were likely to be richer in gas than in oil, and unlikely to match Sakhalin for energy wealth, he added. The two most advanced Sakhalin projects, called Sakhalin I and Sakhalin II, could be producing oil as early as 1999 or 2000. Japanese companies have major stakes in both groups. Another three projects are at the exploration or licensing stage, as Sakhalin promises to become a major new source of oil and gas for Asian customers. The consortia are based on internationally-recognised production sharing agreements, which allow foreign participants to operate on favourable terms. Moscow parliamentarians have been slow to pass legislation allowing such agreements to operate on mainland Russia, but political pressure is pushing the Sakhalin deals forward. ''They are being stimulated by local and federal officials who want to see them work as soon as possible,'' Khartukov said. Kiriyenko welcomed Japanese firms' involvement in Russia's key energy sector, adding that they should guard against complacency, as competition intensified among foreign companies. Russia is hoping that international projects like Sakhalin I and II, as well as major strategic alliances signed last year between British and domestic oil and gas majors, will lead to the rejuvenation of its ailing oil and gas sector. Output is roughly half the peak levels of the late 1980s, stabilising at around 6.1 million barrels a day last year.