Of late, I have read a number of analysts, Jim Rogers even, who have expressed the view that gold could dip to the mid- to low $600 level.  Could happen, but I think not. Already, buyers of physical gold are finding anything near $700 to be cheap and so are helping to build a floor under the monetary metal.

On that topic, a friend sent this item along last week…

(Gulf News Nov 12) Riyadh: There has been an unprecedented demand for gold in the Saudi market recently, with over 13 billion Saudi riyals (Dh12.75 billion) being spent on the yellow metal during the last two weeks.Demand is expected to rise still higher as more investors turn to gold as a safe haven in the midst of the global financial crisis, according to market sources.

Sami Al Mohna, an expert on the gold market, said the trend had resulted in a

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In a recent interview with Financial Times, mega-investor Jim Rogers had some interesting comments about the fate of the US Dollar.

He sure doesnt mince words.

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Insight: The dollar is a flawed currency

By Jim Rogers

Published: November 17 2008 16:05 | Last updated: November 17 2008 16:05

The following are excerpts from this week’s View from the Markets online interview

FT: It’s a year since we last interviewed you. You were aggressively bearish about the dollar, but you thought there would probably be a rebound and you would take that as an opportunity to further get out of the dollar. Have you made a further exit from the dollar?

JR: Not yet, no. And the reason I haven’t is because we’re in a period of forced liquidation of everything. We’ve only had eight or nine periods like this in the past 150 years, where everybody has to reverse their positions on everything. There is a gigantic

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By Senior Writer Eoin Gleeson Nov 19, 2008 Eoin Gleeson Jim Rogers

Rogers: buy commodities and China

If there’s one man who hasn’t been swept off his feet by the prospect of Barack Obama in the White House, it’s Jim Rogers. “Barack Obama has two policies to speak of,” he told attendants at the World Money Show in Westminster. First, he wants to tax capital, just when capital is at its weakest. And second, he wants to protect American jobs. Both ideas are absolutely disastrous, reckons Rogers.

You only have to look at the experience of Japan. The Japanese were determined to protect and prop up their faltering businesses in the nineties, but all it did was leave them with a load of zombie banks. All that happens when you tax capital to prop up failing businesses is that you take money from the competent and give it to the incompetent, says Rogers.

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Historically, these periods of panic selling have proven to be excellent times to buy stocks. Right now we are not only seeing panic selling, which actually took place mostly last month, but forced selling. I think its more forced selling right now. Hedge funds and mutual funds are seeing massive redemptions, and many margin calls for individuals. During these periods the fundamentals get largely ignored. I heard Jim Rogers talking about this being a big factor in the commodities sell-off, and why this is a nice time to buy. He said commodities typically bottom first, and do well during periods of economic weakness as there is low supply. I can agree with that.I'm still not touching bank stocks. Like I've said before, these companies have eroded any competitive advantages they may have had, and this will impact their earnings for ...

The gold price straddled the $740 mark throughout most of trading in the Far East on Monday, although a smallish rally began at 3:00 a.m. New York Time. That tiny rally ended shortly after London opened and began a gentle decline right into the Comex…where both gold and silver had the rug pulled out from underneath them. About 9:00 a.m. Eastern, the selling pressure disappeared and another rally began which got capped just under $750. As of this writing, $12 has been carved from the peak price of the day…and 22 cents for silver. Volume was extremely light…even lower than Friday…so it wasn’t hard to push the price around. Having said that, the US$ was down 95 basis points, but the powers that be wouldn’t let the precious metals prices reflect that. One wonders how much gold and silver would have declined if the US$ had actually risen on the

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The $585 billion (RMB4 trillion) stimulus package that China announced Sunday may or may not help China’s economy. But with investments in low-income housing, water and energy projects, airports, disaster relief – and $100 billion for new railroads – over the next two years, this financial package provides oodles of opportunities for investors. There is no doubt China needs infrastructure. Now the world’s fourth-largest economy, China has grown so rapidly that many of its services are stretched beyond belief. Equally, it is not so certain that the government knows what infrastructure to build, or that it can be built, without hopeless corruption. For instance, the Three Gorges Dam became a global watchword for waste and environmental destruction, while the fancy toll roads built between major cities are still very underutilized, because the tolls are too high for all but the ...

M3 Money Supply Chart

M3 Money supply represents the amount of money added to the money supply. The Federal Reserve stopped reporting this (gee I wonder why) but it is still tracked by private firms.

I have watched this closely over the last few months, as I wanted to see if we were going to see a contraction, or expansion of the money supply.

As you can see, money supply has expanded substantially, going from roughly 13.5 Trillion $USD in August to approximately $14.5 Trillion in November. Annual rate of change (increase) is approximately 17%.

Any expansion of the money supply is bullish for gold.

Baltic Dry Index Chart

The Baltic Dry Index shows us how much surface tonnage is being shipped, which also gives us a feel for how much international trade is being conducted.

As you can see, it has basically fallen off

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Banking bailouts are nothing new. Starting with the “panic of 1792″, there have been many examples of government financial rescues. Keith Fitz-Gerald says the success of these past bailouts is mixed. And they nearly always cost far more than originally thought…

This from Money Morning:

Although the ongoing financial crisis has introduced a new word – bailout – into the lexicon of most investors, a quick tour of history shows us that these big-ticket financial rescue plans are actually nothing new.

And that raises the question: Do they work?

A look back at history shows us that – like most government initiatives – the answer is “it depends.” While some investors might find that reassuring, history also suggests that the final tab for a financial-crisis bailout will be well in excess of what it should cost to fix the problems the crisis actually caused.

A Look Back at Bailouts

Take for instance the very

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Banking bailouts are nothing new. Starting with the “panic of 1792″, there have been many examples of government financial rescues. Keith Fitz-Gerald says the success of these past bailouts is mixed. And they nearly always cost far more than originally thought…

This from Money Morning:

Although the ongoing financial crisis has introduced a new word – bailout – into the lexicon of most investors, a quick tour of history shows us that these big-ticket financial rescue plans are actually nothing new.

And that raises the question: Do they work?

A look back at history shows us that – like most government initiatives – the answer is “it depends.” While some investors might find that reassuring, history also suggests that the final tab for a financial-crisis bailout will be well in excess of what it should cost to fix the problems the crisis actually caused.

A Look Back at Bailouts

Take for instance the very

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