Another Good Month for Gold

2009-MAR-01

The results are in for February. Based on the month-end London price, gold rose in February 3.7% in US dollars, 4.9% in British pounds, 4.6% in Euros and 4.2% in Swiss francs. New record high prices were achieved during the month against the British pound and Euro.

The monetary and banking problems driving gold higher for months have not disappeared. They will remain for the foreseeable future because the imprudent lending by banks will take years to unravel, highlighting the essential need for a safe haven for one's money.

Gold is the safest of safe havens because it does not have counterparty risk. Gold also preserves purchasing power, which is an attribute that will become increasingly important in the months ahead as all the new money being printed by central banks around the world takes its inflationary toll.

Gold has not yet made a new record high in US dollars, but I expect one soon. The following chart looks very powerful to me.

Gold looks poised to make a new record high. The outcome when it happens will be I expect similar to the Dow Jones Industrials closing above 1000 for the first time in 1982. Once that level was breached, the Dow never looked back. So too with gold.