Masa Depan Logam Bernilai Terjamin

Now that the economy is slowly but surely recovering – Bernanke said so! – many investors are beginning to wonder if gold may have passed its all time high too. With Bernanke’s dulcet assurances still echoing in our ears, investors went back to their errors. They bought more stocks – pushing the Dow up 93 points. They bought more gold too. The yellow metal rose $13. One thing they didn’t buy was the dollar. The greenback is at an all-time low against the Swiss franc. Against the euro, it seems to be returning to its all-time low and against gold, of course, it passed its all time low many months ago, says Bill Bonner

Here’s the AP report for those that still believe Mr. Ben Bernanke is showing growth in our economic recovery:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The US economy and job creation have strengthened enough for the Federal Reserve to end on schedule a program of buying Treasury bonds to help the economy, the Fed said Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at a news conference after the meeting. It was the first time in the Fed’s 98-year history that a chairman has begun holding regular sessions with reporters.
Bernanke said that as long as the Fed continues to say rates will remain at historic lows for “an extended period,” rates won’t rise until the Fed has met at least twice more. The Fed board meets about every six weeks.

Bernanke said he expects the economy to continue growing through next year and 2013.

He acknowledged that higher gasoline prices are creating a financial hardship for many Americans. But he said the Fed doesn’t think gas prices will continue to rise at their recent pace.

While yesterday’s speech was an acknowledgement of the continuing of the strategy by the Fed and Washington, to monetize our debt, and basically to devalue the dollar, said Robert Lutts, chief investment officer of Cabot Money Assets, “the metal markets are recognizing this and it is being priced in. What monetization means is that, down the road, we will have more inflation,” he said.

Not to mention Bernanke’s statement that essentially gave the market a “green light” to keep selling the dollar and trading now may become “more two way” at least in the near term, says the BNP Paribas forex team. The Fed signaled continued accommodative monetary policy. “The broad case for USD weakness remains intact,” BNP says. Still, “In the short term, valuations and positioning in many currencies are looking extremely stretched, and options markets are signaling some discomfort…,” BNP says. “Indeed, investors are unlikely to be blindly chasing currencies through levels such as 1.50 on EURUSD and 1.10 on AUDUSD — particularly with holidays in the U.K. and in many centers on Monday.” But beyond the weekend, there is scope for further USD weakness for as long as the reserve manager bid remains solid.” Metals traders are closely monitoring the forex market since movements in the dollar often affect the base- and precious-metals complexes alike.

In the meantime, gold is “on course for further gains as it is difficult to find a reason to sell it,” says Credit Agricole CIB. “Against a background of inflation concerns (higher oil prices), sovereign-debt issues/restructuring fears and lax monetary policy (currency debasement), the dips in gold should be well supported as an upside chart target of USD1,550/oz becomes the next objective,” says a report from the bank. A weaker U.S. dollar and ample liquidity have fanned worries over inflation, with gold being seen as a hedge and/or insurance in the absence of a sustained global economic recovery, Credit Agricole CIB says.

Barclays Capital looks does not look for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates until the summer of 2012 and says the loose monetary policy in the meantime should remain supportive for gold.

Also, MF Global is hiking its upside objective for gold this year to $1,650 an ounce after Wednesday’s indication from the Federal Reserve that interest rates will remain low for a while yet. In its 2011 outlook several months ago, MF Global looked for a $1,250-$1,550 range, with a peak around midyear. “After the disappointing spending cuts of the Congressional FY11 budget deal secured on Apr 11th, we noted that we were considering raising our forecast upper range based on a lack of spending-cutting credibility by both the President and House Republicans,” says a report from analyst Tom Pawlicki. “We didn’t make an increase because we thought that the end of QE2 (quantitative easing) could still lead to incremental tightening and thus price pressure. However, yesterday’s indication from Fed Chairman (Ben) Bernanke regarding the maintenance of accommodative monetary policy at least through Sep is more than we can accept and still argue for a potential $1,550 peak. Therefore, we’re incrementally raising our upside objective to $1,650 and pushing back our time target for a peak from mid-year to around Sep.”

In essence, we cannot see the future, of course we can’t, but we can hear what Bernanke says about his future intentions in pursuing inflationary policies, while also dismissing the inflation he has already created as the “transitory” result of “robust global demand.” In other words, the inflation problem isn’t a problem. “The longer he spoke, the more the financial markets seemed to realize he wasn’t kidding about inflation”, said President Ron Fricke of Regal Assets.

The US stock market – remember, it’s an inflation trade – rebounded from early morning lows to end the day at a new three-year high. Meanwhile, the classic inflation trades, gold and silver, rocketed from early morning losses to post huge gains. Silver jumped $2.36 an ounce to a new 31-year high of $47.84. (As we write, silver is flirting with $50 an ounce). gold gained $21 an ounce to a new all-time high of $1527.35.