Key Players Buying More Gold Now

Investor appetite for gold is heating up, in part because of signals from hedge fund guru John Paulson, the guy who saw the real estate meltdown coming in 2007 and became a billionaire as a result.

The Paulson & Co. founder “told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending,” Bloomberg reported today.

“By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold,” New-York based Paulson said in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson, declined to comment.
Bloomberg reported that 12 of 22 companies surveyed had a buy on gold, with five surveyed neutral.

Paulson & Co., the largest owner of the SPDR Gold Trust Exchange Traded Fund, which trades in gold futures, cut its position in 2011, Bloomberg reported earlier, probably to cover losses in securities.

Paulson held 17.3 million shares in the exchange-traded fund as of Dec. 31, 15 percent less than the 20.3 million on Sept. 30, Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed. His holdings fell 45 percent from end-June, the first reduction in more than two years. He is still the biggest stakeholder.

A Feb. 14 SEC filing showed Paulson & Co. with $2.9 billion worth of SPDR shares, according to Bloomberg’s latest report.

Meanwhile, central banks—even as they act to inflate the currency supply, thus fueling the run toward gold—also are stocking up, Bloomberg reported.

Central banks are also expanding their bullion reserves, adding 439.7 tons last year, the most in almost five decades. They may buy a similar amount in 2012, the London-based World Gold Council said yesterday….

“By initiating further rounds of quantitative easing, central banks should be one of the supporting factors for commodity prices,” said Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.
Most analysts predict the appetite for gold will continue at least until concerns about the euro and European debt are allayed. But even if Europe were somehow able to get its debt ducks in a row, the really Big Kahuna of currency inflators—the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve—shows no signs of slowing down the printing presses. In the WealthCycles.com article, we cited investor Jim Rogers and others who believes the U.S. is in far worse shape than Europe, and that the unsustainable debt loads are setting the world up for a financial crisis far worse than that of 2008.

All of which is bullish for gold. As cited by Bloomberg, Jeffrey Sica of SICA Wealth Management opined: “The fear trade is pulling people back to gold. We will see gold prices rise to a record this year.”

Commercials Increase Net Silver Shorts by 83% in Last 4 Weeks!

睇來有動作.......可能又有機會入平貨啦

http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com

Last Friday's COT report revealed that the commercials had increased their net short position to 34,650.
Not surprisingly, the commercials increased their net short position an additional 2,660 contracts (13.3 million ounces) in the week ending 2/14, bringing their net shorts to 37,310 contracts, or 186,550,000 ounces!
In the last 4 weeks, the commercials have increased their net shorts by 83% from 101.91 million ounces to 186.55 million ounces!
This means that the large commercials traders (allegedly mainly JP Morgan) have NEARLY DOUBLED THEIR NAKED SHORT SILVER POSITION IN THE LAST 4 WEEKS!

Silver COT Report - Futures
Large Speculators			Commercial		Total
Long	Short	Spreading	Long	Short	Long	Short
32,860	7,192	19,371	31,427	68,737	83,658	95,300
621	-1,460	-648	-368	2,292	-395	184
Traders
70	30	41	32	45	125	96
	Small Speculators
	Long	Short	Open Interest
	21,214	9,572	104,872
	-741	-1,320	-1,136
	non reportable positions		Change from the previous reporting period

Silver COT Report - Futures & Options Combined
Large Speculators			Commercial		Total
Long	Short	Spreading	Long	Short	Long	Short
33,468	5,188	45,534	46,325	87,243	125,327	137,965
347	-1,283	-1,928	-753	1,313	-2,334	-1,898
Traders
79	35	64	36	47	143	121
	Small Speculators
	Long	Short	Open Interest
	24,394	11,757	149,722
	-1,171	-1,607	-3,505
	non reportable positions		Change from the previous reporting period
COT Silver Report - Positions as of				Tuesday, February 14, 2012