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Business Week sounds bullish about gold
10p ET Sunday, February 10, 2002
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
I have arrived in Washington a day early to work the
phones tomorrow regarding GATA's luncheon at the
National Press Club on Tuesday. We might as well
go all-out, especially after the wonderful article about
GATA in Insight Magazine by Kelly O'Meara. As
Insight is part of the Washington Times organization,
the GATA story will be all over Washington next
week.
It is still not too late to put the heat on members of the
press around the world to be represented in at the
GATA luncheon in Washington. Please send to any
journalists you know a copy of the Insight article to
wake them up. To attend the luncheon, they must
RSVP to LePatron@LeMetropoleCafe.com
Regarding the gold market....
Japan is closed for a holiday, which will give the
Gold Cartel a chance to take gold down. Maybe they
will, maybe the won't. No matter; they are fighting a
losing battle.
Look for hedge buy-back programs to pick up. Barrick
was off visiting Morgan last week, so I am told. They
are going to look like Humpty Dumpty if they do nothing
when gold flies. What about Newcrest and Sons of
Gwalia in Australia? They are hedged years out. Let
us not forget Ashanti.
Hedging at these price levels is going the way of
cigarette smoking -- most unfashionable. The mining
company CEOs who do not cover forward sales just
might not be around in next year.
The short covering to come will terrorize the cabal.
Remember months back when AngloGold changed
its tune publicly and seemed to have a kinder, gentler
attitude toward GATA and GATA supporters who
chatted with AngloGold CEO Bobby Godsell by email.
Check the record. I said something was up, something
was changing. Morgan/Chase's Frank Arisman is on
the Board of Anglo. Bobby G's change in tone came
about the time Enron was going quot;tapioca.quot; Two plus
two!
Morgan has to know what this will lead to in the gold
market, especially with Reg Howe and GATA breathing
down their necks. So does BG.
More on that later.
Meanwhile, this came in today from Nick Ferris of
J-Pacific Gold about Japanese gold buying and one
of his company's largest shareholders, Jipangu:
* * *
Dear Bill:
During a conversation with one of my colleagues at
Jipangu this past week, I asked about the recent news
regarding the Japanese public's rush to gold.
He replied that it was for real and that some of the
stories are truly astounding. He mentioned that
one story making the media rounds is of an elderly
couple who showed up at the Tanaka Precious
Metals outlet in Tokyo's Ginza district with a large
burlap sack filled with small yen notes totalling
US$300,000. Apparently, the couple purchased
gold bars, thus transferring their life savings from
yen to gold bullion.
I have been associated with the Jipangu group
now for four years. Given the recent news from
Japan, I truly marvel at the incredible foresight of
Jipangu's founder and president, Tamisuke
Matsufuji. For years Matsufuji has been predicting
a crisis of confidence in the Japanese financial
system. He maintained that once the crisis became
acute, the average Japanese consumer would seek
gold as the refuge for their savings. Matsufuji knows
the Japanese psyche, and he believed that once the
move to gold commenced, it would hit the market like
a tsunami, and the stampede would last for years.
This is no small matter considering that the
Japanese are the world's greatest savers.
Perhaps there is an even greater dynamic now
brewing.
Japan is the cultural icon of east Asia. As much
as America dominates many global cultural trends,
all things Japanese are the focus of the growing
middle class in the cities of China, Korea,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other
nations of the Far East. They love Japanese
consumer goods, literature, animation, TV, movies,
fashion, food, etc. The latest fads from Japan
quickly spread to cities throughout this vast and
populous part of the world.
Without a doubt, the accelerating stampede of the
Japanese public into gold will not go unnoticed
by the people of east Asia.
Regards,
Nick Ferris
* * *
Without a doubt, Nick.
Jipangu is one of GATA's most significant financial
supporters.
To wrap up: The legendary Jim Sinclair says two
closes for gold above $305 and away we go. He
could not be more right.