Londoners queue up to buy gold bullion, Kate Moss in gold
Posted on 03 October 2008 with no comments from readers
British model Kate Moss has been immortalized in a gold statue unveiled yesterday while Londoners are queuing up to buy gold in the streets, The Daily Telegraph reports:
London’s two leading bullion dealers, ATS Bullion and Baird & Co, have reported a rush of interest from savers, many of whom have hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of savings they want to convert into the precious metal.
At least two customers have invested the entire proceeds from selling their houses into gold, each buying up more than £500,000-worth of gold bars, according to one dealer. Savers have been queuing in the street at ATS Bullion, whose offices are just off the Strand in London’s west end.
Sandra Conway, the company’s managing director, said: “We’ve had to turn people away. The queues have been right out of the door and it’s been really hectic at times.
“Ever since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the phones have been going off the hook.”
Traditionally, gold has been one of the safest investments during times of financial turmoil. In 1973 gold cost just $60 an ounce and hit $650 in 1981.
However, since the summer the price of gold has fallen as the dollar has strengthened – the two are linked quite closely.
But the fact that gold has not performed well in recent months has not deterred thousands of investors.
“They don’t think of gold as a way of making money. They think of it as a safeguard in these turbulent times. You can move gold quickly, in a way that you can not with shares or cash in a bank account,” Ms Conway said.
The average investor is buying up between £10,000 and £50,000 in bars on each visit, but it is possible to buy as little as a half sovereign coin, which costs about £70.
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However, since the summer the price of gold has fallen as the dollar has strengthened – the two are linked quite closely.
This linkage will fail, it has no logical reason, beyond the antics of the manipulators.
The dollar has been deliberately strengthened by overseas central bank actions, there is now no reason for any strength, it will fall, there will be a T-Bill strike by foreign holders/purchasers. THAT is the time of PM lift-off.
All in my opinion.
3.56pm by,
I agree. The unprecedented currency market interventions, and the manipulation of both gold and silver have one aim in mind: hold back the otc derivatives tsunami until after the U.S. election on Nov 4. The $700bn ‘rescue’ plan agreed in the U.S. is pure political theatre, aimed at appeasing the masses with some showy claim that the powers that be can control this tsunami of otc derivatives.
King Canute had more sense, and honesty, showing that he could not hold back the physical sea; he and they must accept forces bigger than themselves. Modern people lack such a wise leader, it seems.
The ocean of economics is unstoppable, and all the little boats of finance (including temporary intervention and manipulation) are at the mercy of an unstoppable tsunami powered by derivatives.
Just an opinion.