It doesn’t happen often but every once in a while I’ll get an email or a comment asking me to quit fear mongering. Now I understand completely why someone may think that’s what I’m doing, or think that I’m talking about these topics to try to scare you into buying gold or precious metals. I can understand that thinking because most of what I talk about is about a coming collapse. I give you statistics that I find that speak to our unemployment rate. Last Thursday I talked a little about a few cities that have just come unglued to do being basically bankrupt. These topics are scary.
Believe me when I say that these things keep me awake at night. The reason I do this podcast is not to make sales. Again I’m not a sales person for SilverTowne, I don’t make a commission or anything like that. I am just someone who is really concerned about what’s going on and I happen to think that owning precious metals is a way to try and hedge against the failing fiat currency.
I say all of this just because I want to be clear about my motivation. I also really enjoy doing the research and finding reports and information about gold and silver. I think precious metals are very interesting and such a big part of human history and I also want to encourage people to own some. Not for any personal gain but just because I feel like it could really help you in the future to protect your wealth.
Now, I also don’t want this show to be completely about the doomsday of the dollar or the economy. Just so happens that’s a real possibility. If you have other topics you would like to hear about then I am totally onboard for that as well. Someone mentioned talking about mining reports and some other topics around precious metals and I am looking into that and plan to incorporate more topics into the Silvertowne Vault Cast. I really appreciate the feedback, because I want this show to be something you enjoy listening to and something that informs you. So thank you to those of you who do leave feedback and please don’t be afraid to email me ideas. If you happen to know of a good site to get some of these kind of reports or some other topics related to gold and silver that you would like me to cover then let me know. You can do that by emailing me at vaultcast@silvertowne.com.
I’ve also been considering doing a history video once a month on a certain coin, like the silver American eagle or presidential coins and things of that nature. If that is something you would like to see than let me know.
Now my question to you today, is would you rather own silver or gold? Tell you my you would rather own one over the other in the comments section on YouTube or on Facebook and I will read off those comments in the next episode of the vault cast!
Now lets go ahead and get into today's precious metals pricing!
Gold - $1712.28 Up $8.61
Silver - $33.31 Up $.28
Platinum - $1614.00 Up $10.00
Palladium - $691.00 Up $2.01
Financial News:
Gold inches down; physical buyers pick bargains
Gold edged down on Thursday, holding near a one-month low hit in the previous session, pressured by a slightly stronger dollar as investors await a policy meeting of the European Central Bank for fresh clues to its stance.
The decline in gold prices has attracted some physical buyers in Asia, underpinning market sentiment. Stalemated negotiations in Washington between Democrats and Republicans to resolve the "fiscal cliff" are still the focus of the market. Neither offered any new compromise in public.
The slow progress in the budget talks has provided little impetus for gold, contrary to what many traders had expected. Spot gold has fallen for seven of nine sessions. But investors continued to flock to gold-backed exchange-traded funds, holdings of which hit a record high of 76.074 million ounces on Dec. 5, up 1.4 percent from the end of October. This compares with a drop of 1.6 percent in spot gold prices during the period. "ETF holdings keep hitting record highs, despite stagnant gold prices, which means that funds are still optimistic on gold's outlook," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures. Li expected gold to revisit the $1,800-level in the first half of 2013, and to ease in the rest of the year, as an improving global economy may allow central banks to exit their accommodative monetary policies -- a key propeller of gold's 8-percent gain this year. Read More...
'I’d rather buy silver than gold'
Jim Rogers, famed investor and founder of Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI), recently spoke with a business publication and explained that although he owns both gold and silver bullion, he would prefer to buy silver than gold.
For the past 12 years, gold has gone up and has had only one drop in the market by 30 percent. Gold climbed above the $1,700 mark in the early morning trading session Wednesday and many still seek gold to hit unprecedented records, such as $5,000 an ounce in the next few years.
Meanwhile, silver bullion has had quite a run as well over the past few years. It is still trading above $30 an ounce and it has been the precious metal to invest in, considering that it dropped 40 percent and is well below its all-time high of nearly $50.
At the present time, Rogers would prefer to purchase silver than gold because it’s cheaper than gold and is far from the $50 mark, but he reiterated that he isn’t buying either at the moment.
“So I guess I’d rather buy silver than gold. I’m buying neither at the moment. But if I had to, I’d probably buy silver today rather than gold. But again, I’m not buying or selling either,” added Rogers.
Since the year 2000, gold has gone from $200 to $1,700 an ounce. Meanwhile, in the same time period, silver has risen from $4.95 to more than $30 per ounce. Read More...
Central Bank Gold Purchases to Top 500 Tons This Year
Gold buying by the global central banks will hit a new high this year of more than 500 tons up from 465 tons in 2011, according to data compiled by the World Gold Council. Only Tuesday the Bank of Korea announced that its gold reserves rose by 14 metric tons, a 20% jump in total holdings to 84 tons.
Central bank gold buying has become a pillar of the gold market today. Only a few years ago the central banks were net sellers of gold under a long-standing inter-bank agreement. But lately they have been among the biggest buyers to protect against weaker currencies and the potential for faster inflation.
Gold Standard
In truth this is a gradual return to a de facto gold standard with gold assuming a bigger and bigger role in the currency system again. That is after all the main function of the central banks, and to preserve the value of money in troubled markets they are turning back to gold.
It is more than a little ironic that the central banks themselves are arguably the biggest cause of this instability. If they were not printing money like a house on fire then the danger of devaluation and inflation would not be present.
Still the banks are great jugglers of finance and do whatever they can to avert the worst side-effects of their own rotten medicine. Individual investors and financial institutions could do a lot worse than follow their example and hoard precious metals as a hedge against currency devaluation and inflation.
This has worked very well for the past five years, with gold prices doubling against little upside to most asset classes in that period. Indeed, gold was only outperformed by silver and a couple of agricultural commodities in that timeframe. Read More...
Thanks for listening to the Silvertowne vault cast. You can find our show on YouTube and I would love it if you would subscribe and as always our show can also be found in the iTunes store.
If you looking for a great Christmas gift idea, then you may want to visit Silvertowne.com and check out our custom Christmas pieces. I can’t think of a better gift to give someone right now then something that actually holds long-term value. We also have a 12 days of Christmas special going on at the Silvertowne website right now. Each day for 12 days there will be a new special so you might want to check that out!
For the best source for acquiring gold and silver please contact Silvertowne at 1-877-477- coin, that’s 1-877-477-2646 or you can visit us at www.silvertowne.com. Silvertowne has been a trusted precious metals and numismatics dealer since 1949.
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[Disclaimer] Shawn Ozbun is not a licensed financial adviser, there is risk associated with all investment including gold and silver. You should seek advise from a licensed financial expert before making a purchase.
