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Key Players Buying More Gold Now

February 20, 2012 Comments off

wealthcycles.com

Investor appetite for gold is heating up, in part because of signals from hedge fund guru John Paulson, the guy who saw the real estate meltdown coming in 2007 and became a billionaire as a result.

The Paulson & Co. founder “told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending,” Bloomberg reported today.

“By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold,” New-York based Paulson said in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson, declined to comment.

Bloomberg reported that 12 of 22 companies surveyed had a buy on gold, with five surveyed neutral.

Paulson & Co., the largest owner of the SPDR Gold Trust Exchange Traded Fund, which trades in gold futures, cut its position in 2011, Bloomberg reported earlier, probably to cover losses in securities.

Paulson held 17.3 million shares in the exchange-traded fund as of Dec. 31, 15 percent less than the 20.3 million on Sept. 30, Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed. His holdings fell 45 percent from end-June, the first reduction in more than two years. He is still the biggest stakeholder.

A Feb. 14 SEC filing showed Paulson & Co. with $2.9 billion worth of SPDR shares, according to Bloomberg’s latest report.

Meanwhile, central banks—even as they act to inflate Read more…

Categories: GOLD Tags: , , , ,

Iran cuts oil exports to France, Britain

February 20, 2012 Comments off

thenelsondaily.com

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . . fights back with oil embargo

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . . fights back with oil embargo

The Huffington Post

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports.

The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country’s central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to “hostile” European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

However, the Iranian action was not likely to have any significant direct impact on European supplies because both Britain and France had already moved last year to sharply curtail Read more…

Categories: Britain, France, Iran Tags: , , , , ,