Gold hits $1000, Retail Sales Decline-Paulson says a Strong Dollar is very much in the US interest-yea right !!
Well it happened even quicker than I thought but Gold hit the $1000 mark earlier today although it has since backed off slightly, Retail sales numbers disappointed again ,dropping 0.6% versus expectations of a rise of 0.2-0.3%.This has had an impact on the major Indices with the DJI down 185 points at the moment just off the days lows.
Hank Paulson is currently speaking and saying the same old mantra of how a Strong Dollar is in the US interests, only a couple of days after "helicopter Ben" scatted another $200 Billion dollars in to the markets like confetti, not quite sure how that will help a strong dollar.but hey how would I know. It looks like the engine of US growth the consumer may be finally drawing in its horns amongst the pressures form the Credit Crunch and Housing.If they continue to spend less and less this will really start to create big problems. With oil hovering around $110 and gas prices going through the roof, who can blame folks for not getting in their car and driving to the mall to send more ?
I am staying long and strong Precious Metals and Commodities, my position in PHPM (Precious Metals ETF) is up 51% on an annualised basis, DBA (Agriculture ETF) is up 186.9% annualised and the cotton ETF is up 235% annualised. Now is not the time to be buying stocks especially in Retail, or Financial's.
Best Wishes
Alan
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