Waiting for the Shoe to Drop
Kitco
Trading excruciatingly far away from the moving averages on Friday, the Gold had every reason to spring back toward them a bit. The high today of 1074.3 was almost exactly where its weekly pivot was, and came within 10 cents of its former low last week of 1074.4. Former support lows that are broken are supposed to become resistance when re-tested. After the bounce from 1074.3, the Gold generally trailed off (down) suggesting the market is sticking to some technical “rules.” One technical “rule” is that markets like to go back to their moving averages, which suggests up. Another technical “demi-rule” is that markets like to seek out stops, and the nice cluster below the market in the 1044.5 – 1029.0 area is just beggin’ for the business….. Which suggests a possible move down.
[ Read Full Article]

Schmidt’s Gold Thoughts
Kitco
Gold has served us well in recent years, returning far more than the paper equities so popular with some. We should recognize that the high return on Gold was due to special factors that may not be repeated exactly in all periods of time. That reality does not mean we should shed our Gold, for the evil brought on by Keynesian economists will again threaten us some time in the future. The enemy has not been vanquished, but remains lurking in the halls of government everywhere.
[ Read Full Article]

Weakening Dollars Spurs Demand for Precious Metals
Bloomberg
Gold prices climbed for a second day as a declining dollar increased demand for bullion as an alternative asset. Silver, platinum and palladium also rose. The dollar fell as much as 0.9 percent against a basket of six major currencies on speculation that European nations will help Greece fix budget problems. Concerns that Greece’s deficit may lead to debt defaults drove the dollar to an eight-month high against the euro last week, while gold slid to a three- month low. Gold usually drops when the greenback advances.
[ Read Full Article]

Long Term Gold Fundamentals Remain Promising
Nichols on Gold
Regardless of the near-term prospects for gold, the long-term fundamentals promise substantial appreciation later this year and beyond. We remain firm in our conviction that gold prices will touch or surpass $1,500 in 2010 – and continue to move higher in subsequent years.
[ Read Full Article]

Potential Gold Rush in Scotland
World Gold Council
A potential gold rush could be about to take place at the foot of the Ben Lui mountain in the southern highlands of Scotland, according to reports. Outdoor activity website Grough has stated that an Australian gold mining company has submitted an application to mine for the precious metal at the Cononish site, when has stood empty for the past ten years. The mine is currently owned by Scotgold Resources, which has estimated that there is somewhere in the region of 154,000 ounces of gold at the site.
[ Read Full Article]

Anglo Platinum Seeks to Raise $1.6 Billion
Wall Street Journal Europe
Anglo Platinum Ltd., the world’s largest producer of the metal, said Monday it will tap its shareholders for $1.6 billion to help cut debt that ballooned last year amid a slump in demand. The Johannesburg-based company said it intends to issue equity worth 12.5 billion rand ($1.61 billion) through a rights offer in order to achieve a more balanced capital structure after net debt widened to 19.3 billion rand at the end of December from 13.5 billion rand a year earlier. The rights offer will cut debt to about 6.8 billion rand, it said.
[ Read Full Article]