Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Murphy who wrote (3123)	1/19/1999 10:58:00 PM
From: Robert Dirks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81869

Bill, this is just more evidence in our hands that this AU market is Fixed / Rigged / Manipulated , whatever you want to call it. Anyone that has followed news items for a while, related to Gold, should be able to pick up on this. We are repeatedly fed such cryptic, ambiguous statements, mainly from the european financial wizards. Is there any other commodity out there that is so overmanipulated? I doubt it. Something has to give, and soon........

To: Bill Murphy who wrote (3123)	1/19/1999 11:12:00 PM
From: Robert Dirks	Respond to of 81869

And speaking of the Biased Press.......... January 18, 1999 Mint cashes in on millennium But gold coins may be bad investment Paula Aven Business Journal Staff Reporter Investors scrambling to prepare for the Year 2000 are snapping up gold coins and gold bars as a hedge against the potential disaster they believe could occur on the first of the year. That's good news for Colorado's coin dealers. But some financial planners believe that stocking up on gold and other precious metals such as silver and platinum is a bad idea. People are "buying coins because they believe the market is going to crash and they are hedging their positions in case of an emergency," said Michele Stell, executive director of the Denver Gold Group, a gold mining association. "A lot of people are preparing for the worst," she added. If the Y2K disaster occurs as some soothsayers believe it will, they "want something they can spend. They don't have confidence in the dollar." Computers across the globe are being checked to ensure they will keep working after Dec. 31, 1999. Some computers only read the last two digits of a date, so could become confused and think 2000 is actually 1900. That could cause computers to fail or spit out inaccurate information. The Federal Reserve is increasing its printing of dollars in anticipation of people wanting cash in hand instead of in the bank where their account balances possibly could be lost. And collectible coin brokers have noticed an increase in business during the past couple of months that they expect to continue at a more frenzied pace the closer it gets to the millennium. "People are buying a variety of gold, silver and platinum coins because of Y2K concerns," said Margaret Olsen, president of Westminster Coin & Jewelry Ltd. Because all metals prices have hit rock bottom, it's a good time to buy, she added. "People want insurance, something available if banks have computer problems," Olsen said. Also hot are silver dimes, quarters and 50-cent pieces that were minted prior to 1964. People are buying old silver coins in quantity as a way "of hedging against possible inflation down the road and hedging against a problem with paper items," Olsen said. The Y2K phenomenon also has driven investors' interest in the U.S. Mint's American Eagle Bullion Coin programs. "These are what we call legal tender coins, meaning they have a dollar amount to them," Olsen said. "That does not mean you find them in change. They are what I call noncirculating legal tender. In order to be classified as a coin, it needs to have a legal tender to it. If it didn't, it would just be metal," she said. American Eagles are minted at West Point and are distributed to coin dealers around the country. The millenium bug "could cause a slowdown in economic growth or a recession," said Peter Tedstrom, a certified financial planner with Brown & Tedstrom, Inc. in Denver. But, he added, in that type of scenario "I don't think gold is attractive to own because a recession is not an environment where gold performs. It typically loses money in a low interest rate environment." That hasn't stopped consumer demand. "It's a frenzy," said Michael Kosares, owner of Centennial Precious Metals. The Mint's American Eagle Gold Bullion program, which was founded in 1986, broke all-time sales records in 1998. For the first time ever, the Mint sold more than 1 million ounces of gold in less than 12 months. According to the Mint, its gold American Eagle sales average between 300,000 to 350,000 ounces per year. But in 1998, demand for the coins began to pick up considerably when the price of gold fell below $300 an ounce. The Mint also sold 114,250 ounces of platinum in the first nine months of 1998 and silver American Eagle Bullion Coins reached 2.86 million ounces sold in 1998. Along with the Y2K problem, a "large number of people are worried about the stock market being way over-valued. Another group is worried about the introduction of the euro and some are concerned about all three," said Kosares. Centennial Precious Metals has a waiting list of people wanting to buy American Eagles and the Austrian and Canadian equivalents of the American Eagle. "In a worst-case scenario, a complete breakdown, people could barter these straight across for what they want to buy," Kosares said. Tedstrom agreed that investing in gold as part of an overall investment portfolio is "not a bad choice as long as someone doesn't expect it to do something different than it normally would in these economic times. It's a piece of mind investment." But he reminded investors that gold, which soared to the $800 an ounce range in the hyperinflation of the late 1970s and which traded at $400 an ounce a few years ago, has been trading at $288 per ounce recently. Many people who dreamed of wealth from gold found instead they owned a wasting asset -- which paid no dividends and could be tough to store safely and sell. "Gold has been a terrible investment because it has lost money relative to inflation," said Tedstrom.