Any experts on precious metals out there?

[Go Blue]

Ok, so here's the thing. For a while now, I'm been considering investing in metals, most likely gold. The reason I'm posting here is that most people I know seem to be clueless to this. In any event, here is my conflict: I am hearing that gold is a great buy now. Of course, a lot of this info is from companies that trade metals so their information is likely biased. What they say is that gold does well at "times of uncertainty" and when the dollar is weak. While I don't doubt this at all (since gold is always good for something and can never truly lose most of its value, and it's been doing very well after 9/11), what I do doubt is whether or not this is the time for it to be doing well. The way I look at it now, is that the economy is doing a lot better and I think that the USD will start to regain its value soon. Hence, more money will go into stocks and the USD, and thus gold (and silver?) will lose value. So...any advice for me out there? Thanks in advance.

[Ray Zee]

gold will go up when india and china has prosperous people. they like to own gold. the rest of the world doesnt. forget the hype.

the metals you may want to own are the ones used to make things which as the world wants more goods it needs manufactured metal.

none of this is short term stuff. short term thinkers have short term riches.

[Go Blue]

Well....gold WAS a short term thing in the past few years. I mean look at the charts. In retrospect, I am an idiot for not investing in it after 9/11. Why I didn't? I don't know.

[AceHigh]

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In retrospect, I am an idiot for not investing in it after 9/11.

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Gold is a good investment when everything is going bad, that's why it looks good if you look from 9/11 onward. A weekening dollar also helps gold, so that has boosted gold this last year.

Anything can look good in retrospect. Gold is complicated, depending on the strength of the dollar and the US economy. Generally it is good when things are bad, I think the economy will be pretty good this year.

[GeorgeF]

Why would gold do better than lead or bismuth, or grain?

[Go Blue]

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Why would gold do better than lead or bismuth, or grain?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Gold is complicated, depending on the strength of the dollar and the US economy. Generally it is good when things are bad, I think the economy will be pretty good this year.

[/ QUOTE ]


Well generally if the economy or the USD is weak, gold is where most of the money is going to go, more than any other metal/commodity. The question is whether or not the USD will continue to be weak or will it rebound.

This is an interesting issue because I think that it will almost definitely rebound as the US economy continues to grow. In addition, as the economy grows, more money should go into stocks and away from other areas, such as metals.

What is interesting is that I was recently speaking to someone from a company that deals bullion. He was telling me how all the researchers and analysts are now very bullish on gold and that it should hit around $2500/oz. in a couple of years. (I think that's BS.) Being that it's his job to actually get me to do business with them, I'm sure he'll tell me anything, so I asked him why it is that he says that the USD will continue to be weak. He said that it's because Bush's plan to cut the deficit involves devaluing the dollar. I don't know anything about his plan. Is this true?

[GuitarMarc]

Over the long term, gold (and silver) will go up and the dollar will continue going down. The easiest way to play this is to buy a few precious metals stocks and hold.

[Maddog121]

I agree the dollar has some fundamental problems. Current account deficit is huge, and the European Community has it going on. Any growth in the US economy will have to be compared to the growth in the European Union. Personally, I am also extremely pessimistic about the ability of the Federal Government to do anything about the debt. Gold is not the best choice for a hedge, but it can do a little of that job. The best approach is through gold stocks. When the company profits, so can you. You can benefit from increased efficiencies in the company and aren't just solely tied to the pricing of gold. The best hedge against the dollar going is investment in European companies, IMHO. Look for ADR's trading on the US exchanges.