Friday Lite

If this is some kind of sick joke being played on gold lovers around the world, and the rug is about to be pulled out from under all of us, please, just get it over with so we can all go on with our normal lives again. This isn't funny anymore.

It took the better part of two years to go from $300 to $400 an ounce, but from December of last year until last month, gold spent only 90 days trading between $500 and $600.

The move from $600 to $700?

Sixteen days.

Don't Cross the Streams

It's pretty unusual to see three consecutive days of gold trading where no price level crosses any other price level as shown in this chart from Kitco. Of course when the move is from a low of $675 to a high of $725, from Tuesday through yesterday afternoon, $5 and $10 swings don't look like much.
Yes, Ghostbusters, final scene, Sigourney Weaver atop a New York high rise awaiting the arrival of that big Sta-Puff marshmallow man.

It just popped into my head.

Wall Street Journal: Gold Seems Headed Higher Still

The Wall Street Journal has finally included a quote from GATA in one of their reports and Bill Murphy is downright giddy.

Investing pros have begun pondering the possibility that gold will hit a record over $800 a troy ounce soon. This means that the gold bugs -- that patchwork of sometimes offbeat investors who love the shiny stuff -- are happier, and louder, than ever.
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"We all said what was going to happen and why," says Bill Murphy, an ex-professional football player and trader who heads up a group that goes by the name Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, or GATA.
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The investment audience for the precious metal is broadening as hedge funds and others seek alternatives to stocks and bonds. Because the gold market is relatively small, in terms of physical metal available and the number of investors who have traditionally participated, even a small increase in mass appetite for the metal can result in more price increases.

Pick your reason. Gold seems headed higher still.

Wow! The Wall Street Journal hops on the gold bandwagon. Remember, when Larry Kudlow says it's a buy, that's your cue to sell. Of course, that may never happen, but that would be OK too.

One Step Back - Yahoo! Confounds

As you'll recall from previous Friday editions, in an attempt to accomplish something meaningful here, sights have been set on garnering the #1 ranking for the phrase "Friday Lite" on all the major search engines.

Two weeks ago, this blog was #1 on both Google and MSN Search and #7 at Yahoo!

This week there has been no change at Google or MSN Search (still #1), but we are now absent from the first page of results at Yahoo! showing up about halfway down the second page.

Patience.

Blame it on Blaine

What is it with this guy and why do people watch him? Why is this picture appearing here today? In the CNN video, you can watch the divers jump in and rescue him after he concluded his weeklong submersion in a salt-water tank by holding his breath for eight minutes.
Not too long ago he was suspended a hundred feet off the ground in a plexiglass box near the Tower of London for a week and the locals were throwing rocks at him.

What do his relatives say when asked to explain, "Well, what kind of performance artist is David?"

Rogers on Buffet

In this response to Warren Buffet's comments last weekend about what some are calling a commodities bubble, Jim Rogers talked with Eric Janszen of iTulip.com.

Janszen: I bought your book Hot Commodities at the book store versus online because I wanted to see what book stores are putting on their shelves in the personal investing section. That’s a good indicator of what the bookstore thinks consumers want. The shelves are full of books about mutual funds, stock index funds and getting out of debt. There seem to be fewer get rich quick in real estate books, and of course the New Era DOW 36,000 books are gathering dust at the back of Buck-a-Book stores. The only book I could find on commodities investing was yours. Why so little interest in commodities if we’re in a bull market?

Rogers: We’re in the early stages of a commodities bull market. Until 2001, commodities had been declining in price for decades while stocks went up. Over that period of time, an entire industry has developed to create, market and sell stock related products. Not surprisingly, the bookstores are appealing to the same consumers targeted by the companies that sell stocks related products, such as mutual funds and index funds, for decades. The market for these products has developed to the point where there are now 70,000 stock mutual funds and ten – count them, ten! -- commodities funds. That means an entire industry, from the traders to the book authors, has yet to develop to create, market and sell commodity products.

The entire interview is a good read, particularly the comments about oil and gold in the 1970s leading up to the price declines for both in the early 1980s. The short version? Markets brought down the oil price, Paul Volcker brought down the gold price.

Shhh...

The new Iacono Research investment website will officially launch on Monday. Between now and then, readers who have taken the time to read this far into today's post are hereby granted a free weekend pass into the subscribers area - username: tmtgm, password: blog.

Shhh...

House Down Payments May Rise Steeply

No, not here silly. This is the beginning of the China segment for the week, and according to this report from China Daily, they have a completely different take on the relationship between down payments and home values.

The central bank may raise housing mortgage down payments dramatically in a bid to cool down the red-hot property market.

People's Bank of China is mulling over a new mortgage policy to curb housing price hikes; and could raise the amount from the current "20 per cent to 40 or 50 per cent," reported 21st Century Business Herald yesterday, quoting "a well-informed" source.

The newspaper did not make it clear if the top rate would apply only to such sectors as luxury housing or second properties; or whether low-price housing would fall in its ambit.
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Analysts and economists agree that the central bank might take further measures to rein in the property prices but expressed scepticism over such a hefty rise in down payments.
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The Chinese-language International Financial News reported yesterday that in its recently-issued 2006 credit guidance for Shanghai, the central bank's Shanghai office recommended that real estate-related credit supply continue to be heavily regulated.

Wow! From down payments of 20 percent all the way up to 40 or 50 percent. The central bank taking measures to "rein in property prices".

While the Chinese are becoming good capitalists, they won't be great at it until they let their asset prices seek their own wildly overpriced levels, like nearly all the English-speaking countries of the world. Because, after all, that is the whole point of capitalism - to make asset prices go up.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin - A Fast Learner

This picture was taken when Chinese President Jiang Zemin first met President Bush.
This picture was taken when they met for the second time.
The Most Irritating Aspect of Office Life?

The survey results from this story are at odds with what many in this country would probably rate as the most irritating aspect of office life - not enough time to surf the internet. With all the new blogs, alternative viewpoints, and fun and games available today, forty hours per week is just not enough time.

A poll conducted by Tickbox.net of over 2,700 European office workers from the UK, France and Germany found that workplace dissatisfaction increased significantly with the age of computer equipment.

British and French respondents said working on outdated computers was the most irritating aspect of office life.
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Results also showed that women in all three countries were consistently more likely to be using outdated equipment. In the UK, where more workers have up-to-date computers than in the other countries surveyed, the number of women using old equipment was double that of men.

It's not clear what to think about more out-dated equipment being used by women. A lot of women around here have nice flat panel displays while many of us men are stuck with clunky old CRTs.

The Da Vinci Code - In Churches Everywhere

A brief conversation a few years ago with another good citizen who was also doing his duty in the service of our court system will not soon be forgotten. Having recently finished this fine tome shortly before receiving a jury duty notice, and having observed that a fellow prospective juror was about a third of the way through, he was asked for his thoughts so far.

With a very serious and somewhat disconcerting look, the fellow juror candidate replied, " This shakes your whole belief system".

This story from the LA Times describes how churches are dealing with all the shaking about to commence when the film opens next weekend

Evangelical churches across the nation are launching an aggressive effort to save souls by talking about a fictional murder mystery that many regard as blasphemous.

Pastors are setting out doughnuts and sandwiches and inviting non-Christians to come discuss "The Da Vinci Code" bestseller. They're creating hip marketing campaigns to draw nonbelievers to sermons about the thriller. They're even giving away free iPods loaded with their commentary on the novel.

The goal is to instill trust in the Bible and faith in Jesus' divinity — principles that many Christian leaders believe are threatened by "The Da Vinci Code," which opens in movie theaters May 19 as a film starring Tom Hanks.
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Though angry, Christian leaders say they have nothing to gain by organizing pickets outside movie theaters. That would make them look closed-minded and defensive, when what they really need to counter the power of the film is "a very positive, wholesome, winsome" response, said Josh McDowell, a Christian writer and evangelist in Richardson, Texas.

Besides, "it's probably going to be an awesome movie," said Garry Poole, a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.

While some may have reservations about iPod giveaways countering what at least one pastor is saying will surely be an "awesome" movie, there is one issue surrounding the release of this movie that is more disconcerting than any other - Tom Hanks' hair.

Don't Forget the Purple Primer

You can learn a lot at the Mises site. For example, some of Murray Rothbard's books are available online at no cost and there is lots of great commentary. However, there are a fair number of items like this:

I suspected as much! What the lady at Home Depot called the "sprinkler repair cult" is an emerging guild seeking privileges and regulations from the government. That means a supply restriction, high prices, or another do-it-yourself project. But there is a way around it.

I first began to smell a rat when the automatic irrigation system on my front yard needed work, but had unusual struggles in trying to find a repair guy.

The first place I called informed me that they could accept no more clients. Clients? I just wanted a new sprinkler thing, for goodness sake. I don't want to be a client; I want to be a customer. Is there no one who can put on a new sprayer or stick a screwdriver in there or whatever it needs?

It's about time somebody noticed the Sprinkler Guild.