Markets

[bagerap]

Last week I decided to put my money where my mouth is and bought a 10 oz bar @ just over £8,500 inc. brokerage/delivery.

In eight days it has risen approx £100 nett but if I were to buy it off the shelf today it would be around £9050. No increase in bank charges, although they want to increase my ceiling if I buy any more bullion. It was actually difficult to get it to the bank, Mrs. B was fascinated by it and wouldn't let go.

[Mynki]

Well I made massive mistake in regards to Glencore. I too put my money where my mouth was after buying HSBA I dived in with GLEN after seeing some movement as I didn't want to get caught out. The first mistake was only buying 50% of what I thought about and second even bigger mistake was not hiding the contract note from my mrs!

They've flown in recent days and are now at £118.40 as I type. Not sure whether to sell or not at present. HSBC's results are out on the 22nd so will be watching those with interest. 

[Prax]

On 19/02/2016 at 5:19 PM, Mynki said:

Well I made massive mistake in regards to Glencore. I too put my money where my mouth was after buying HSBA I dived in with GLEN after seeing some movement as I didn't want to get caught out. The first mistake was only buying 50% of what I thought about and second even bigger mistake was not hiding the contract note from my mrs!

They've flown in recent days and are now at £118.40 as I type. Not sure whether to sell or not at present. HSBC's results are out on the 22nd so will be watching those with interest. 

 

I hear banks are being hammered and that bullion is key at the mo. So am I right in assuming that you are shorting HSBC and going long on Energy/Mining stocks?

In the last week or so I have been looking to source pre 1920 silver taking into account the silver to gold ratio is widening considerably. I have done it in the past, when the ratio hits over 1:70, and will do so this time too.

Happy hunting and a nice Sunday eve.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Prax

[bagerap]

Today, the bar was at +/- £9200. Mrs B is very interested as I'm using money set aside for her new car, post March 1st. If this carries on, as I believe it will, for the next 8-10 days then I could cash out at around £10K.

Not that I'd see any of that. Car expectations are being seriously ramped up.

[jaggy]

On February 21, 2016 at 10:06 AM, Prax said:

 

I hear banks are being hammered and that bullion is key at the mo. So am I right in assuming that you are shorting HSBC and going long on Energy/Mining stocks?

In the last week or so I have been looking to source pre 1920 silver taking into account the silver to gold ratio is widening considerably. I have done it in the past, when the ratio hits over 1:70, and will do so this time too.

Happy hunting and a nice Sunday eve.

Yep, banks are being hammered .... which is why I bought Citibank at $38 .... banks will not be hammered forever and especially when they are valued in the market at 60% of book. 

The guys who manage my retirement money did extremely well for me between 2010 and 2015. So I am still well ahead of the game. Right now they are moving me into high quality bonds and stocks which (like the banks) are looking cheap right now. Corrections never last forever and this one will run its course. One step back and three steps forward is the way it works.

[Mynki]

On 2/21/2016 at 5:06 PM, Prax said:

 

I hear banks are being hammered and that bullion is key at the mo. So am I right in assuming that you are shorting HSBC and going long on Energy/Mining stocks?

In the last week or so I have been looking to source pre 1920 silver taking into account the silver to gold ratio is widening considerably. I have done it in the past, when the ratio hits over 1:70, and will do so this time too.

Happy hunting and a nice Sunday eve.

Shorting HSBC. The shares go ex div very soon so will be making some decisions very soon.

Bullion has rocketed recently, so looks less attractive as we've already seen big gains.

[Prax]

On 28/02/2016 at 3:08 PM, Mynki said:

Shorting HSBC. The shares go ex div very soon so will be making some decisions very soon.

Bullion has rocketed recently, so looks less attractive as we've already seen big gains.

During my trading days my motto was to never short the falling dagger. Would be worth mentioning I was crap at the markets but I have been good with physical bullion. I am stocking on physical bullion again though the prices have rocketed. I see Briexit, US elections, negative interest rates and an overheated property market among other things as enough inspiration to take a plunge into physical bullion.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Prax

[Mynki]

2 hours ago, Prax said:

During my trading days my motto was to never short the falling dagger. Would be worth mentioning I was crap at the markets but I have been good with physical bullion. I am stocking on physical bullion again though the prices have rocketed. I see Briexit, US elections, negative interest rates and an overheated property market among other things as enough inspiration to take a plunge into physical bullion.

Physical bullion? Or a service such as the previously mentioned www.bullionvault.com? 

[Nonmortuus]

Surely Physical Bullion would be better? Have not a fair few of these paper gold dealers gone bump in the States over the last couple of years? Also in the event of the Zombie apocalypse I would like to be able to get to any bullion I had relatively easily so I can pay for me food, weapons etc with a precious metal rather than some 'other' form of payment

[Mynki]

On ‎01‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 3:29 PM, Nonmortuus said:

Surely Physical Bullion would be better? Have not a fair few of these paper gold dealers gone bump in the States over the last couple of years? Also in the event of the Zombie apocalypse I would like to be able to get to any bullion I had relatively easily so I can pay for me food, weapons etc with a precious metal rather than some 'other' form of payment

Sorry Non, I've not explained myself very well. Bullionvault (Bear in mind I'm no expert) holds physical gold in vaults which you pay for. The premiums you pay over spot are much lower than buying coins and bars etc. You pay the same premium if buying one gram or one kilo!

You also don't have the security issues you may have storing large amounts of bullion at home etc, and you can liquidate your stock immediately 24 / 7 / 365 as people place orders to buy constantly.

Hope that makes sense?

 

[Nonmortuus]

Thanks Mynki I understand the principal but is it not though, for all intents and purposes, still paper gold? You dont physically have it in hand do you or can you buy off them and have it shipped to you for you to decide where and how you store it?

[Nordle11]

From what I was reading on their site the other day, they are able to ship it to you but you start to incur charges depending on how much you want to take out.

[Mynki]

@ Non, you can have it delivered to you.

 

@ Nordle. This is correct. Though bear in mind, if you were buying coins or bars from somewhere like Bullionbypost.com the delivery and insurance charges are still factored into the cost of the bullion, despite being advertised as 'free delivery'.

[Prax]

On 01/03/2016 at 11:27 AM, Mynki said:

Physical bullion? Or a service such as the previously mentioned www.bullionvault.com? 

Physical bullion. 

[bagerap]

My experiment with the bar is working out OK so far, but not as quickly as anticipated. Heavy selling in New York nearly every day would seem to indicate the price will not be permitted to rise significantly in the short term. Looks like a constant battle between the speculators and the central banks.

[Prax]

On 08/03/2016 at 4:05 PM, bagerap said:

My experiment with the bar is working out OK so far, but not as quickly as anticipated. Heavy selling in New York nearly every day would seem to indicate the price will not be permitted to rise significantly in the short term. Looks like a constant battle between the speculators and the central banks.

Happens all the time.

[Prax]

On 08/03/2016 at 4:05 PM, bagerap said:

My experiment with the bar is working out OK so far, but not as quickly as anticipated. Heavy selling in New York nearly every day would seem to indicate the price will not be permitted to rise significantly in the short term. Looks like a constant battle between the speculators and the central banks.

Was reading the Wikileaks cable on Gold price manipulation, some food for thought that.

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BEIJING1134_a.html

People who try market manipulation need to be taught about risk (because manipulation will not work forever). A good starting point -------> http://video.mit.edu/watch/warning-physics-envy-may-be-hazardous-to-your-wealth-9573/

Edited March 21, 2016 by Prax

[Prax]

You are on holiday and pick up a local newspaper to find Canada has sold all its gold??? Really??? Surely this is Soviet propaganda or is it??? Where is BBC? Obviously nothing to report on the matter I presume.

 

Edited April 9, 2016 by Prax

[bagerap]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-03/its-official-moment-canada-has-no-gold-reserves-left

 

It's an interesting trend. Central banks have been artificially suppressing the market price of gold for over four years. A step away from gold by sovereign states would allow the market to float free, and almost certainly rise. Cui bono?

[Prax]

 

On 09/04/2016 at 0:03 PM, bagerap said:

Central banks have been artificially suppressing

But is it not the Central Banks (of Russia, China, Turkey ...) that are actually buying?

[bagerap]

First depress the price, then buy big.

 

[Prax]

That's a good video. I would also recommend that everyone watch The Big Short to get a feel for how a handful of people dictate how the rest of the world lives its lives. More importantly there's an undercurrent that is shaking the fundamentals of financial institutions and it's time the average Joe understands it's possible for anyone to benefit from bankers' greed. And Markets is the mother of bankers' greed!

Ideally governments will have to pass a law, allowing citizens to take the bankers to court, wherever it is proven that someone has been impacted because of market manipulation (just as is the case with PPI misspelling) but then we are not in Iceland (where the government has balls to stand up to bankers) are we? In Iceland anyone who had a mortgage would have had automatic refunds once the LIBOR scandal was exposed.But did that happen elsewhere?

The (million dollar) question is 'should the real extent of market manipulation be exposed will there be anything in it for the average Mr Joe Bloggs'? Will it just be a fine on the banks and the prince and princess lived ..... story or will the people who bought silver at $45 or gold at  $1900  an ounce be suitably compensated? My guess is probably not (because a PPI style framework is still not in place) but what's your take?

Edited April 17, 2016 by Prax

[jaggy]

On February 28, 2016 at 10:06 PM, jaggy said:

Yep, banks are being hammered .... which is why I bought Citibank at $38 .... banks will not be hammered forever and especially when they are valued in the market at 60% of book. 

The guys who manage my retirement money did extremely well for me between 2010 and 2015. So I am still well ahead of the game. Right now they are moving me into high quality bonds and stocks which (like the banks) are looking cheap right now. Corrections never last forever and this one will run its course. One step back and three steps forward is the way it works.

Citibank now trading at $43.11. So that is a 13% appreciation in just a couple of months. UBS have a $53 target for end of year. I will take $50.

[Mynki]

Well HSBC are annoying me. They went from £4.30 to £4.75 quite quickly and are now down to around £4.30 again. Taking into consideration their dividend they look under priced to me but just won't shift upwards.

I've been using bullion vault a little bit but I don't know how much more gold will climb. I keep thinking about buying dollars too a taking a punt on Brexit etc.

I'm off to South Africa very soon. A couple of friends own private hunting reserves out there. They got involved in game ranching, one of them in a very big way and started breeding line bred antelope for the game hunting industry and the price of their stock rocketed. I had the opportunity to invest in the most random of alternative investments there but it all resembles tulip mania a bit too much to me. It will be interesting to see how his black impala and golden wildebeest are doing these days. We also looked at buying a holiday home on the coast there. Glad we pulled out of that one though as the RSA government changed legislation making it possible for them to reposes property owned by Johnny Foreigner.

[Prax]

I am told banks are going to get hammered after the doom and gloom surrounding Deutsche Bank. I don't do shares but even if I did I'd not go within a mile of banking stocks during an election year. Election years bring about some of worst recessions so would want to see what the economy does during Nov.