Gold Fever, Gold Bubble, Gold Mania, Gold Frenzy etc

from NYT

Now that we have one asset class, gold, that is selling for all-time high prices, I’m not surprised to see it in the center of controversy.  Gold has been hotly debated on and off Wall Street and by individual investors since at least mid-2008 when it first kissed $1000 an ounce.  Now that it’s soaring versus every currency and currently trading at $1100 USD, the debate is reaching a boiling point.

The New York Times gives us a look at how the gold market is reacting to higher prices around the world…

From the New York Times:

HERE, in a corner of Switzerland where Italian is spoken and roughly one-third of the world’s gold is refined into bars and ingots, business is booming. Every day, bangles, bracelets and necklaces arrive in plastic bags — from souks in the Middle East, from pawn shops in Asia and from corner jewelers in Europe and North America.

“It could be your grandmother’s gold or the gift of an ex-boyfriend,” said Erhard Oberli, the chief executive of Argor-Heraeus, a major refiner here that processes roughly 400 tons of gold a year. “Gold doesn’t disappear.”

Amid a global frenzy fed by multibillion-dollar hedge funds, wealthy speculators and governments all rushing to stock up on the precious yellow metal, the price of gold briefly surpassed $1,100 an ounce on Friday, a record high.

Read the rest:

Inside the Global Gold Frenzy (NYT)
by NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Published: November 7, 2009

Read Also:

Main Street USA: We’re All 49ers Now (TRB)

// //