What does the Nikkei have to do with the price of gold and silver? The decline of the Nikkei and Yen did exactly what for the price and value of precious metals? The gold buggers have been predicting skyrocketing gold prices due to the decline of the Yen and Nikkei for more than 10 years.
Nothing, because like the U.S. they were off the gold standard and printing fiat money like no tomorrow. And now the Yen and Nikkei are in the toilet. Wanna know one thing that's helping move gold now? China. They've decided not to go the route of the U.S. and Japan with their adventures in fiat money and are determined to peg to gold, so they've been busy little bees accumulating gold. Given the current course of events, like it or not China will this century become a greater superpower than the U.S.
Perhaps it will become one. However, I doubt that will happen without greater freedoms being given to their citizens first.
FIRST: the gold buggers: what has been the relative performance of the 2 assets classes over past 10 years? i do not know - maybe you do? SECOND: as to your question - why dont you answer it - you introduced the nikkei to the discussion? THIRD: im not gonna argue. too many threads evaporate as a result of inquisitions of posters. FOURTH: am i the only person that is staggered by those mortgage banker #s? are you kidding me? with interest rates being as low as they are? thats mind-boggling! FINALLY: i am not a gold bugger, or a bugger of anything! LOL! im just stating that it would not be unreasonable to see an increase in demand for gold and silver due to credit quality implosion, as well as the other factors listed by BABAK. i have done business in mexico in the past and i can tell you that currency inflation and credit quality are no laughing matters - and i am not saying that USD is a 3rd world currency, but i am not ignoring that other currencies are pegged to USD exchange rates. also, i do not have a PHD in international finance, money and banking, commodities or anything of the like, but i try to think and i invest MY dough accordingly. those mortgage banker's figures scare the crap out of me.
I am forced to admit that you are much too reasonable to be a gold bugger. Anyway, perhaps it is a semantics issue. Do I think owning some form of metals as a hedge is wise? Sure. I believe in hedging. But hedging is to "protect" other investments. Unlike land, which we can know with certainty the limitations of (there are only so many square acres of land surface) do we know with certainty that a huge motherload of gold won't be found, thus having a dramatic effect on the supply demand equation? Do we know that some country might dump their gold in order to raise money for another need? Do people invest in a gold mine because of increasing productivity, new technology, new market share, etc., in the same way that they invested in other companies? Do these gold bugs really look deeply at the financials? There is more scum in gold mines and the like, and that will only increase as the bubble increases in the general public's awareness. Gold is on a short term verticle run...how long will that last once the war issue is settled? If that was the case, I believe we would have seen Buffett buying gold mines long ago. But, there is nothing new about gold. No new use that has created demand. No new techniques for increasing profitability for those who mine it. No new techniques for reclaiming gold out of old mines that is cost effective. No, the miners are boom and bust enterprises. They will always be speculative, that is their nature. So, looking at them as a business, is like looking at the oil business.... Do you remember when oil first spiked to 40 bucks a barrel back in the 70s'/80's? Everyone and their brother were buying oil leases and oil services companies to get rich on "black gold." What happened to that situation? Past performance is no guarantee of future results, is it? Things don't have to pan out the way the majority of the people think, do they? If people want to trade gold and the companies, go ahead. If they want to buy and hold with the thought they will necessarily double, triple, quadruple their money, I think they are foolish. Wouldn't it be smarter for an investor to buy and hold a company that had made money consistently over time? That is what Buffett does. He stays away from the speculative stuff, ergo his avoiding the bubble and burst of tech.
Why gold stocks and not just Gold futures? A lot of these stocks haven't moved in line with Gold, getting and understanding the information about the companies hedging programs seems difficult, the low priced stocks are probably very illiquid. There is a Gold mini that trades on A/C/E, the tick is 10 cents per ounce or $3.32 (33.2 ounce per contract) it's a small contract and could be an excellent vehicule for position trading, only about 200 contracts traded last Friday though. Anyone has experience with it ? The low risk entry was in late November now it's too late but maybe in a few weeks there will be a new entry. That said I am a bit surprised that it took off like that we have been hearing about Gold about to move up for more than a year, it's hardly a surprise I know nothing about the fundamentals but if everybody is already on board it won't go back to $800.
Gold futures are a good choice, so are commodity options on gold futures. Understand though, if we go vertical, and you are convinced that gold goes higher---and you dont' hedge in any way, and the market gaps down on a limit basis, there is no way out, except to overpay for put options to hedge the futures long contracts. Look back to how fast gold fell from its peak, and how many were killed on the limit down moves. For the most part, the commercials were short to hedge, but the speculators were long on the down side for the most part. It is the nature of bubbles for the professionals to suck in the longs as the panic increases in the futures markets on the way up, and execute them on the way down.