Planned Economy or Planned Destruction?

This cartoon was in the Chicago Tribune in 1934.  Look carefully at the plan of action and remember the old adage, “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

New Forces Mean Gold Stocks Could Explode to the Upside

The financial crisis is now a year behind us and so far with very little inflation (which won’t last long) it is unusual for gold to be acting so robustly. Usually when one sees a stock or a commodity going up when most of the usual reasons for its normal price behavior are absent, it signifies new, powerful and unknown force(s) have entered the marketplace.

There are four new forces that were not present in past cycles:

1&2) Central Bank and Sovereign Wealth Funds buying bullion discreetly and in an orderly fashion. With the recent Indian purchase of 200 tonnes of IMF gold this force is now out in the open. The fact this was not done covertly and undercover is very unusual. It is also very bullish, as it implies that other central banks are going to be doing the same thing.

3) Financial Institutions and money managers who have never invested in gold are buying gold as a small percent of their portfolio as pure monetary insurance. These three buying forces should be long term and steady investors. They will not be price sensitive buyers. They will look at gold for the long term in a way that quarter to quarter performance conscious money managers or traders do not. They will buy gold as insurance against the follies of governments including their own. They are also the deepest of pockets and could easily accumulate as much gold each year as is annually mined or disinvested by traders and scared retail sellers.

4) The last force is a hybrid of the old standby “gold bug” crowd and represents a new retail crowd outside of and distinct from the old line street wise buyer in India and China or hard money person. I call this force the nickel and dime force. It means that all over the world (in a hundred or more countries) small amounts of gold are being bought by people because of the unnerving events of the last 18 months. The buyers of this gold are people from the highest to lowest income tiers. Collectively they could swamp even the institutions with buying power.

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Lung Cancer Foundation of America Commentary on Recent Biomoda Patent

Biomoda`s Patent Portfolio Continues to Expand ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.–(Business Wire)– Biomoda, Inc. (OTCBB: BMOD), an Albuquerque-based cancer diagnostics company, announces that it has received notice of allowance for a U.S. Patent protecting the proprietary formula for the composition that binds to cancer cells which is utilized in Biomoda`s screening assay for the early detection of cancer. The U.S. Patent entitled “Method for Making 5, 10, 15, 20-Tetrakis (Carboxyphenyl) Porphine (TCPP) Solution and Composition Comprising TCPP,” describes the new formulation of the Biomoda assay trademarked under the name CyPath. “This patent basically gives Biomoda a lock on the `recipe` for the TCPP Labeling Solution,” said Biomoda President John Cousins. “Our formulation moves beyond the original work done on TCPP at Los Alamos National Laboratory and incorporates the cutting-edge science we are doing in our own lab.” TCPP is the foundation for several Biomoda product lines and medical diagnostics. The company`s first product, an in-vitro test for the detection of early-stage lung cancer, is currently in Phase II clinical trials. Study volunteers provide deep-lung sputum samples to be screened for cancer cells with the CyPath assay in the Biomoda lab. Results are compared to CT scans and Pap stains read by independent radiologists and cytopathologists, respectively, to confirm accuracy. Biomoda is seeking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its cytology-based screening technology as a Class III medical device. Multi-site Phase III trials, the final step before FDA approval, are scheduled to begin in early 2010.

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Can gold hit $1,500?

The price of gold is flirting with $1,100 per ounce. Many other precious metals continue to surge. How much higher can gold go – and what’s it all mean?

By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large

Last Updated: November 4, 2009: 1:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Gold investors are partying like it’s 1849.

The price of the yellow precious metal hit yet another all-time high Wednesday. At nearly $1,100 an ounce, you have to wonder just how much higher gold can go in the next few months. Is it $1200? $1300? Heck, is $1500 out of the question?

The Gold Rush of 2009 has been stunning to watch. Unlike some prior gold price spikes, the “good” news about gold’s recent rise is that it does not appear to be due to worries about an imminent meltdown of the financial system. Gold rallied in early 2008, for example, just as Bear Stearns was about to collapse.

Instead, gold has rallied recently as the dollar has weakened. Gold, along with other metals, such as silver and copper, and commodities, like oil, are benefiting from inflation fears.

Investors around the world have fled the dollar due to worries that the massive amounts of money pumped into the U.S. economy by Congress, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will eventually lead to inflation.

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Andrew Hoffman Discusses Gold Market During Korelin Economics Report Interview

Andrew Hoffman, CFA and former Salomon Brothers analyst, sat down with Al Korelin of the mainstay online group Korelin Economics Report yesterday to discuss gold and some of the recent activity affecting the precious metal which has been making big headlines over the last month or so as it marches higher in price.

During this brief but insightful interview, Andy discusses several recent transactions, including the announcement just yesterday whereby the Government of India purchased 200 tonnes of gold in the open market – and the ramifications of these and other events on gold price dynamics as well as how these events effect the overall market.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series and we highly recommend this interview to anyone interested in what’s going to happen next in the precious metals marketplace (and/or the US Dollar). 

To listen just click here

Current Silver:Gold Ratio Suggests Silver Very Undervalued

This article suggests that silver is undervalued compared to gold by anywhere from 10% to 50% based on historical gold to silver price relationships.

With primary secular bull or bear trends easily running from 10 to 20 years of the average investor’s 40 year investing lifespan it is crucial to identify optimal accumulation points within these primary trends to avoid prolonged periods of under-performance and potentially negative returns and to avoid dramatically reducing the number of productive years in which to build one’s fortune.

Within these trends are zigs and zags, up and down, and we can ride these medium term and short term waves to profits by either buying what is going up and/or shorting what is going down. As such, it is critical to step away from all the noise and clutter that passes for knowledge and take the time to gain perspective on where the market is in terms of the ‘big picture’ and to  determine which investments are in a powerful unfolding trend so that an informed investment strategy can be developed and implemented.

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No Rush for Asian Central Banks to Follow India into the Gold Buying Big Leagues

Asian central banks appear to be in little rush to follow India’s lead and make big purchases of gold given its high market price and the availability of cheaper domestically-produced gold.

The relative illiquidity of gold, the small size of the gold market and difficulty buying in large quantities may also deter central banks from emulating the Reserve Bank of India, which last month bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund at an average price of $1,045 an ounce.

India’s deal, revealed this week, suprised markets, sent gold XAU= to record highs, and prompted speculation that other central banks would buy gold to diversify reserves in the face of a declining dollar, with China cited as an obvious buyer given its vast dollar holdings.

The IMF is selling another 200 tonnes of gold.

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Northcore Converts Debt and Improves Balance Sheet; Schedules Earnings Call

In a press release today, Northcore Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: NTLNF; TSX: NTI) announced the conversion of C$1.02 million in debentures which matured December 30, 2009.  Under the terms of the debt conversion, Northcore issued 8.5 million shares of common stock.  Conversion of these outstanding debentures is a great step in really cleaning up the Company’s balance sheet.  With less debt on the Company’s books, Northcore will be in a much better position, to the extent necessary, for additional funding opportunities in 2010.

Northcore also announced today that it has scheduled to release its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009 on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 following the close of the markets.  The Company will hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, November 12, 2009 to discuss its financial results and review operational activities.  Investors and followers of Northcore are invited to listen to the call live over the Internet on the Company’s website at www.northcore.com/events.html.

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Silver Set To Soar As It Did In The 1970s

By Mark O’Byrne – Goldcore

Silver remains very undervalued on a historical basis and is undervalued even against gold. While gold has begun to receive some interest from a small minority of retail investors, silver remains the preserve of relatively few contrarian investors and the media and financial press rarely, if ever, covers silver. And yet silver is quite likely in the intermediate stage of a bull market that will rival or surpass that of the 1970s.

Silver is currently worth less than $17.00 per ounce. It rose to a recent nominal high $20.88/oz in March 2008. After an 18 month period of correction and consolidation, silver looks set to challenge that high in the coming months. We continue to be bullish on gold and particularly silver and believe that silver will likely surpass its non inflation adjusted high of $48.70 per ounce and its inflation adjusted high of some $130 per ounce in the coming years.

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Juniors Poised for Historic Bull Run

By Eric Hommelberg
November 05, 2009

On October 07 The Gold Report conducted an interview with me just after gold broke out to new news above $1030. During that interview I made the case for $1300 gold by spring next year and advocated to be invested in high quality juniors which are poised for a multi year bull run that could even surprise the staunchest junior investors. This piece is an update on that interview and shines a light on how to approach investing in junior gold mining shares.

Gold poised for correction? Not now!

On October 07 with gold prices just above $1030 The Gold Report asked me if I had one more final thought for the reader. I said:

Excerpt TGR Interview October 07, 2009

TGR: Any final thoughts you’d like to give our readers?

EH: Yes, most likely you’ll be hearing bearish gold tunes in coming months from the traditional gold institutions, saying that gold’s rise is not justified by its fundamentals and therefore bound to fall. They did so in 2003, they did so in 2005 and now they are at it again.

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