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To: long-gone who wrote (14912)	7/25/1998 9:46:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116762

Richard no doubt we got a bottom..it is of interest to no one to drive the Gold down...Fundamentals were good for a while now...

To: long-gone who wrote (14912)	7/26/1998 12:16:00 AM
From: Enigma	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116762

Richard - while I'd like to think you're right, why do you think we've seen a bottom here? Friday's drop was quite sharp - I haven't seen any reasons given for same, but haven't looked either. E.

To: long-gone who wrote (14912)	7/26/1998 8:38:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116762

Japan's Obuchi vows to help Asia 04:31 a.m. Jul 26, 1998 Eastern MANILA, July 26 (Reuters) - Prime Minister-designate Keizo Obuchi said on Sunday he planned to pledge to quickly revive Japan's moribund economy and help Asia's financial recovery when he met Western and Asian leaders here later in the day. ''I plan to convey my strong determination to revitalise Japan's economy to contribute to Asia's recovery,'' Obuchi told Japanese reporters who flew with him to Manila on a lightning 12-hour trip. Obuchi, 61, foreign minister since last September, said he would explain to world leaders the economic measures he planned to take in the coming months to get Japan out of its worst recession since World War Two. ''Many countries in Asia and elsewhere have great expectations of Japan,'' he said. Obuchi is in Manila to attend an annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting. He was also scheduled to meet U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan who are also attending the meeting. The Manila meeting brings together the nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam -- plus Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Obuchi was effectively chosen last Friday by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to be prime minister at a time of economic malaise in Japan that has brought urgent global demands for swift action. Obuchi has pledged six trillion yen ($42.5 billion) in corporate and income tax cuts and a 10 trillion yen ($71.4 billion) extra budget to pull Japan out of its financial morass. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

To: long-gone who wrote (14912)	7/26/1998 9:01:00 AM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116762

We may get a bit of a bounce next week, but I don't think we have bottomed yet. A papa bear like this probably will not be over until we get a final selling climax on huge volume. I think we will see this pretty soon. My downside targets are gold $275 or so and XAU 55-60.But the key is huge volume and panic selling -- not any particular number.

To: long-gone who wrote (14912)	7/26/1998 11:05:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

inflation?... U.S. Bond Investors Dust Off Money-Supply Figures on Greenspan New York, July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Money supply is back in vogue in the bond market. This long-out-of-fashion measure of money in the economy is back on the list of economic indicators to watch after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggested this week that central bankers are paying closer attention to its growth. What's caught the attention of Greenspan and others on the Fed's policy-making board is the 7.2 percent annual increase in one of the most closely watched measures of money supply. That's above the maximum target of 5 percent that Fed officials set for growth of so-called M2. ''Money supply is something to be concerned about,'' said Edgar Peters, who helps oversee $16 billion in assets at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston. ''Historically, its always been a leading indicator of inflation.'' Concern about a pickup in inflation, which erodes the value of bonds' payments, hasn't been a problem of late. The benchmark 30-year U.S. Treasury gained about $10 per $1,000 bond this week, to yield 5.68 percent -- just above the record low of 5.56 percent reached July 7. The bond returned 6.7 percent so far this year, when price gains and coupon payments are included. Yet in his semi-annual congressional testimony about the health of the economy, Greenspan said this week that the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee ''recognizes that monetary growth does appear to provide some information about trends in the economy and inflation.'' Voicing the loudest concern are Jerry Jordan and William Poole, presidents of the Federal Reserve banks in Cleveland and St. Louis, who want to quell any signs of inflation by raising interest rates to slow money growth. They hope that it will slow the economy and lead to a reduction in bank lending -- one of the ways money is created. Hawks Jordan and Poole cast the dissenting votes in the FOMC's 10- 2 decision on May 19 to hold the overnight bank lending rate steady at 5.5 percent, FOMC minutes showed. ''You've got two inflation hawks that lean toward monetary theory on the FOMC, so Greenspan has to acknowledge it,'' said David Kotok, who manages about $400 million in assets for Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, New Jersey. That said, few expect the attention on money supply will sway the Fed to raise interest rates anytime soon. Poole and Jordan ''may have attached more importance to it, but they're really the only ones,'' said Charles Lieberman, managing partner at Strategic Investors Management, a New York-based hedge fund. Focusing on money supply has been out of favor for most of this decade, as money growth expanded rapidly through the current seven-year economic expansion and inflation remained subdued. That wasn't always the case. The Fed's weekly money supply figures became the preeminent indicator to watch after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker said in late 1979 that he would try to control money growth to quash inflation. ''It was hysterical; nothing went on in the bond market from Thursday afternoon until everyone saw the numbers on Friday,'' said Michael Hirsch, who helps run $5.6 billion in assets at Freedom Capital Management in Boston. Hirsch was then chief investment officer for Republic National Bank in New York. Still Little Inflation If money growth was above the Fed's target, the central bank would look to counter that by raising borrowing rates. The amount of money in circulation influences economic activity and interest rates. There are three official measures of the money supply released by the Fed. M1 includes all currency held by consumers and companies for spending, money held in checking accounts and travelers checks. M2, the most widely followed measure, adds savings and private holdings in money market mutual funds. M3 includes M1 and M2 in addition to jumbo certificates of deposit and other large time deposits in excess of $100,000. Even though these money aggregates are climbing, there hasn't been a marked rise in inflation. As measured by the consumer price index, inflation increased 1.7 percent in the 12 months through June. That's down from a 2.3 percent rate in the same period a year earlier. Demand for Dollars Declining commodity prices, rising productivity levels and the disinflationary effect of Asia's economic turmoil are keeping inflation in check, analysts said. That has most investors concluding that the growth in money isn't going to rekindle an increase in inflation any time soon. ''We view (growing money supply) more as a consequence of what's going on in the economy, not a catalyst,'' said Susan Hickok, chief economist at Prudential Insurance Company of America, which manages $370 billion in assets. Plunging currencies in Asia and Russia increased the demand for dollar-denominated assets worldwide, quickening the growth of money supply, she said. Greenspan even indicated in his congressional testimony that it's difficult to justify changes in interest rates because of the growth in money supply. The velocity of money, or the number of times a dollar is actually spent to purchase goods and services in any defined period of time, is ''difficult to predict,'' Greenspan said. Yet investors see the renewed emphasis on money supply as a sign that Fed officials are worried about a possible acceleration of inflation. Long-term bond yields near historic lows, a robust employment market and strong domestic demand are prompting a debate among Fed officials as to whether the consequence of Asia's recession will be enough to keep the U.S. economy from overheating. At the least, the attention on money supply is giving investors some comfort that Fed officials are being vigilant about inflation as they too try to determine whether the economy's recent slowdown is just a pause. ''Greenspan is an information machine; he looks at anything he can to gain some insight,'' said Strategic Investors' Lieberman. bloomberg.com@@FRGXYAYAzN3w9B6g/news2.cgi?T=news2_ft_topww.ht&s=561659172