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Not even a month into 2008 and Gold is stealing all headlines again. The ancient
metal of kings has hit an all time nominal high while many other markets have
struggled since August. Can gold go higher from here? Is this a top? Below
is a long-term weekly chart of the aforementioned metal.

The various black trendlines all have the same slope and therefore form important
channels. Gold has just hit long-term channel resistance. The Bollinger band
width is very high, also implying a top could be at hand. The arrows show trendline
support. The current risk outweighs the reward.
Most curious has been the underperformance of gold stocks and specifically
the juniors in the face of $900 gold. The HUI/GOLD ratio peaked when Gold was
trading around $420/oz. Gold has more than doubled since then yet the miners
have underperformed.
We can't give away the specifics here, as that would be unfair to those who
bought our 2008 Market Outlook. However, we do think we have found several
answers and in the outlook we show the charts that help us understand why gold
stocks have underperformed. Moreover, we analyze the current state of these
charts and what it means for gold stocks going forward. It is a 43-page report
that also analyzes many more markets other than gold. It can be purchased by
visiting our website.
Shameless promotions aside, how do we see things now? We don't see the big
crash and Depression that some expect in 2008. At least not yet. Having studied
economics and markets for a long time, we find that things often take more
time to play out than anticipated. While there is great turmoil in the markets
now we feel things will improve by the end of the year. The US is too important
to the global economy to be neglected. Someday soon that will change, but not
in 2008. We continue to like the precious metals and expect gold to finish
the year higher than it started. Its path will be interesting and volatile
but ultimately up. We have a different view on the energy sector in 2008 than
most. Most important, 2008 should be a great year for traders but not for most
buy and hold investors.
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