Let me start off with a morsel of clarification. I don’t hate gold. I own it, or more accurately, an interest in gold via gold mining shares.

And I believe a small allocation (5% to 7%) has a useful place in a well-diversified portfolio. Over the long haul, studies confirm it helps increase returns while minimizing risk. A benefit we can all agree is desirable.

But over the short-to-intermediate term - the next six to nine months - I think gold is a terrible investment. After breaching the $1,000 per ounce mark again, as I suggested would happen to my subscribers on February 2, it is overdue for a retracement back to roughly $700 per ounce.

Those of you who expected it to drop the day after I suggested shorting gold need to understand that “short term” doesn’t mean “this week.” Just because it moved higher doesn’t negate the point

Shorting Gold: 8 More Signs Gold is Overdue for a Correction

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist Senior Analyst, The Oxford Club

Two weeks ago I told you it was time to start shorting gold. And the recommendation, as I expected, ignited a brew-ha-ha on our Investment U message board.

That’s because there’s not much middle ground. Most investors are either fanatical or supremely skeptical. If you have any doubt, check out the comments - and all the wonderful names I got called - on our website.

But since I’m a glutton for punishment, and since gold moved in exactly the opposite direction I predicted, it’s time for an update and a little clarification.

A Morsel of Clarification on Shorting Gold

Let me start off with a morsel of clarification. I don’t hate gold. I own it, or more accurately, an interest in gold via gold mining shares. And I believe a

Friday FY08 Week 49: Quote of the week: Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still. – Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmi

Here are four thoughts to trip over as we round yet another sharp corner on the path to economic recovery.

1) The perfect world arrived last summer.

Deregulated US banking, housing and financial sectors led to a world of no credit.

This is the era for which a vocal financial publishing crowd has been begging. No regulations. No credit. No borrowing. No more extra debt.

So, how are you enjoying their world… is it the paradise as outlined in the millions of pages in books penned by our betters who sniffed because hoi pathetic polloi lived on credit?

Of course, you know we’re about to wreck this beautiful Eden with