Welcome to The Age of Four-Digit Gold
by David Bradshaw, Editor, Real Money Perspectives
(From 2011 edition RMP, released Dec. 2010)
"We'll all be surprised at what gold can do when the jig is up for paper money…We'll see days when gold is up $100, and then down $100. We should start thinking three digits in terms of intra-day moves on the gold price."
-John Hathaway, Tocqueville Gold Fund, 12.1.10 - King World News
Triple-digit gold price moves used to take a year or more, but in the coming years we should not be surprised to see dramatic daily price swings, according to the best and most accurate gold forecasters. Since decisively crossing the $1,000/oz. threshold on Sept. 30, 2009, gold began a journey into uncharted four-digit territory.
In the early stage of this 21st Century bull market cycle, gold prices systematically grew by three digits ($100/oz.) per year. The price of the shiny yellow metal averaged $300 in '03, $400 in '04, $500 in '05, $600 in '06, $700 in '07 and $800 in '08.
In 2009 gold prices blasted past $900, $1,000 and $1,100 to top $1,200/oz., marking the beginning of the next stage of this bull market supercycle (15-23 year) in commodities, precious metals and numismatic coins.
In 2010, a typical healthy correction sent gold prices dipping below $1,100 before rushing back near $1,400. Today scores of experts are forecasting $1,500-$1,700 gold in 2011 on the way north of $2,000/oz. For over a decade we’ve been right on the money and so have our readers.
* We said 2007 would be a "Year of Opportunity." We found 30 economic experts who agreed gold would top $2,200/oz. We warned that the days of a "stealth" bull market were numbered.
* We said 2008 would be a "Year of Surprises." Craig Smith announced the beginning of gold's "public era" and that government economic stimulus was a very bad idea and would not work.
* We said 2009 would be a "Year of Change." We warned of the coming great inflation, bond market risks and explained why bailouts could not stop the natural course of market cycles.
* We said 2010 would be a "Year of Challenge." We said the "recovery" was just a rest stop on the road to economic ruin and explained why a falling dollar would soon crush the middle class.
2011 will be a "Year of Volatility." As political worldviews clash, so will markets and currencies buckle under the weight of unsustainable spending and debt. The economic confidence game will be exposed by the brightest financial light in the world, Gold.
The bullion and coin markets will not escape the coming volatility. 2011 will be a year to hold on tightly to your family, friends, faith and tangible assets. I envision millions of Americans adding to their physical gold and silver holdings as the truth about real money goes mainstream.
Speaking of real money, twenty-something years ago Craig Smith and I asked a simple question at every "Economic Solutions" seminar nationwide. It’s also the opening question on our "Rare Opportunity" 30-minute DVD. I leave you with the same question: "Would you invest your life savings in a company (or currency) with a 95-year track record like this?"
The culmination of thirty years of economic and market research concerning the future of the U.S. Dollar can be found in Mr. Smith's newest book Crashing the Dollar: How to Survive a Global Currency Collapse. It is a word fitly spoken during America's greatest time of need.
David Bradshaw has served as editor of Real Money Perspectives since 1987 updated daily at swissamerica.com. He also published Rediscovering Gold in the 21st Century (2001), Crashing the Dollar: How to Survive a Currency Collapse (2010), and The Inflation Deception: Six Ways Government Tricks Us...And Seven Ways to Stop It(2011).
