The GOLD scream room

[barrett]

It was sold out the back door to keep the gold price from going up even more than it did during the 1970's. That's the reason why the last auction they ran in those days consisted of coin melt (90% fineness) rather than good delivery bars, even though coin melt isn't as valuable due to the extra refining cost.

Tech,

What US government interest does this serve? Not arguing with you, just trying to understand what motivation they would have to manipulate the price of gold. Thanks.

[Libertarian666]

It was sold out the back door to keep the gold price from going up even more than it did during the 1970's. That's the reason why the last auction they ran in those days consisted of coin melt (90% fineness) rather than good delivery bars, even though coin melt isn't as valuable due to the extra refining cost.

Tech,

What US government interest does this serve? Not arguing with you, just trying to understand what motivation they would have to manipulate the price of gold. Thanks.

Gold is the anti-dollar. In other words, when the gold price goes up, it makes the dollar look weak, and the US government HATES that.

For a LOT more information on this, read Harry Browne's books, especially "How you can profit from the coming devaluation", but he talks about this whenever he discusses gold.

[barrett]

Thanks, Tech. I have a copy of 'coming devaluation' and a train ride tonight on which I can brush up.

[Libertarian666]

Sure thing.

By the way, my "tax reduction withdrawal strategy" fell through; my buyer finked out. 

[buddtholomew]

Thanks, Tech. I have a copy of 'coming devaluation' and a train ride tonight on which I can brush up.

Downloaded the PDF and spent the afternoon reading the book. Almost done.

[Libertarian666]

Sure thing.

By the way, my "tax reduction withdrawal strategy" fell through; my buyer finked out. 

It turns out that the spread that my dealer quotes is small enough that it's almost irrelevant whether I sell to my friend or the dealer, so I'll just go with the dealer.

[dualstow]

By the way, my "tax reduction withdrawal strategy" fell through; my buyer finked out. 

It turns out that the spread that my dealer quotes is small enough that it's almost irrelevant whether I sell to my friend or the dealer, so I'll just go with the dealer.

And it's simpler than mixing business and friendship.

[Libertarian666]

By the way, my "tax reduction withdrawal strategy" fell through; my buyer finked out. 

It turns out that the spread that my dealer quotes is small enough that it's almost irrelevant whether I sell to my friend or the dealer, so I'll just go with the dealer.

And it's simpler than mixing business and friendship.

Yes, that too.

[portart]

The latest is that gold bearishness dropped when the price of gold went down meaning that more downside awaits. Who buys all that stuff?

[Libertarian666]

The latest is that gold bearishness dropped when the price of gold went down meaning that more downside awaits. Who buys all that stuff?

What are they supposed to say, "I have no idea why the price changed or what it will do tomorrow"? How many newspapers would that sell?

[dualstow]

Not long ago, we were seeing many headlines about gold going to 2,000, and a few to 10,000.
Now, the headlines are gold to 800, gold to 630...

[Libertarian666]

Not long ago, we were seeing many headlines about gold going to 2,000, and a few to 10,000.
Now, the headlines are gold to 800, gold to 630...

I'm waiting for it to go back to $35. Then I'll back up the truck! 

[dragoncar]

Not long ago, we were seeing many headlines about gold going to 2,000, and a few to 10,000.
Now, the headlines are gold to 800, gold to 630...

I'm waiting for it to go back to $35. Then I'll back up the truck! 

BEEP BEEP!

Seriously, though if it goes back to $35 doesn't that imply that:

a) we're found a way to cheaply synthesize it
b) the dollar has been revalued
c) an asteroid crashed with a bunch of gold on it

in any case I wouldn't actually buy more.  edit: well, maybe b

[Libertarian666]

Not long ago, we were seeing many headlines about gold going to 2,000, and a few to 10,000.
Now, the headlines are gold to 800, gold to 630...

I'm waiting for it to go back to $35. Then I'll back up the truck! 

BEEP BEEP!

Seriously, though if it goes back to $35 doesn't that imply that:

a) we're found a way to cheaply synthesize it
b) the dollar has been revalued
c) an asteroid crashed with a bunch of gold on it

in any case I wouldn't actually buy more.  edit: well, maybe b

I was actually being facetious. I think the only one of those that is likely is b, in which case I would probably be in pretty good shape with my current holding anyway.

At least if it hadn't been for that darned rowboat accident!

[Libertarian666]

As ALWAYS, I got hosed on my sale and repurchase. 

[barrett]

As ALWAYS, I got hosed on my sale and repurchase. 

Tech,

Please keep us abreast of your future intentions so that we can all cash in on your bad timing. 

Seriously, this HAS to be a perception thing, right? PS had a recent post where he observed that an asset always goes down right after he has committed new money to it.

When I still followed sports, my favorite teams would always do better if I turned the TV off and went outside.

[Libertarian666]

As ALWAYS, I got hosed on my sale and repurchase. 

Tech,

Please keep us abreast of your future intentions so that we can all cash in on your bad timing. 

Seriously, this HAS to be a perception thing, right? PS had a recent post where he observed that an asset always goes down right after he has committed new money to it.

When I still followed sports, my favorite teams would always do better if I turned the TV off and went outside.

Nope, it's not just perception. Every time I sell and re-buy I get hosed.
This time I thought it was different, because the price went down yesterday, the day after I sold.
Unfortunately I couldn't re-buy until today because Fidelity couldn't transfer the money until today, at which point the gold price had gone up $10 or so from when I sold on Monday.

[barrett]

Tech,

$10 an ounce is pennies in the grand scheme of things. Chin up.

I often wonder why Fidelity is so damn slow though. Are other places (Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, etc.) any quicker in settling trades?

That being said, I think there are a couple of different ways to see what cash is available to trade in Fidelity accounts. There is the main view you get when you sign which may show an amount pending that is actually available for use. They've changed everything around on their site in the last week or so. I have to re-learn how to navigate it properly. Those old tabs that were labeled "buy, sell, add more, etc." are gone.

[Libertarian666]

Tech,

$10 an ounce is pennies in the grand scheme of things. Chin up.

I often wonder why Fidelity is so damn slow though. Are other places (Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, etc.) any quicker in settling trades?

That being said, I think there are a couple of different ways to see what cash is available to trade in Fidelity accounts. There is the main view you get when you sign which may show an amount pending that is actually available for use. They've changed everything around on their site in the last week or so. I have to re-learn how to navigate it properly. Those old tabs that were labeled "buy, sell, add more, etc." are gone.

Yes, $10 is pennies, 1000 pennies to be exact.
And I know it's not important, but it does piss me off!

As for the speed, in this case it wasn't a trade settlement, but a withdrawal from a profit sharing plan to an IRA, both at Fidelity. If it had been done overnight as they said, I would have been able to buy this morning. And even when it did go through, it still wasn't correct, in that it showed the money was there but when I tried to move it I couldn't. I had to call them to get it done.

[dualstow]

Damn, why didn't I buy gold at 1190? I was so close to picking up the phone and I did not follow through. 

[Libertarian666]

You're not the only one. My friend who was planning to buy from me also backed out on the day it hit 1190. He said that Goldman Sachs said it was going down.

I asked him if he knew that doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what GS tells its customers has an excellent track record.  Apparently not.

[dualstow]

So you didn't get hosed after all. Nice!

[Libertarian666]

So you didn't get hosed after all. Nice!

No, it actually turned out okay because the price went up less the day after I sold than the day I would have sold if he had gone through with it.

I have to pay a little more tax on the withdrawal but the price improvement (or rather lessened adverse price change) more than makes up for that.

And it looks like I just about nailed the top of the 15% bracket too, which I was just estimating.

So win-win all the way around. Other than my friend's not getting in near the (recent) bottom, of course. 

[Libertarian666]

I see we have a totally absurd absolutely understandable plunge today on news of tremendous money printing from Japan. Nice work, boys!

[iwealth]

Why is the move absurd in terms of USD? Dollar is gaining strength against just about every currency. Bank of Japan stimulus would theoretically be bullish for gold in terms of yen, right?