Money Morning’s Keith Fitz-Gerald brings us a sobering look at investing in gold. If there is a moral to the story, it’s that nothing is what it seems anymore – not even gold.

Keith Fitz-Gerald (Money Morning): Millions of investors who bought gold in the last 12 months are undoubtedly very happy at the moment – considering that the yellow metal has risen 60% since last November to a recent close of $1,138.60 an ounce on Monday.

But chances are good that many won’t be smiling when they discover just what the taxman has planned for their gains.

Unbeknownst to most investors, gold is considered a collectible not a capital asset. In plain English, this means that despite the fact that many people believe they are investing in gold, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) believes that they are collecting it.

This is no small distinction and hurts investors

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The world’s second largest gold producer by market value, Goldcorp Inc (GG) is acquiring gold miner Canplats Resources Corp for about C$238 million ($229 million) to establish a network of satellite mines around its Penasquito gold project in Mexico. Each Canplats share would be exchanged for 0.074 of a common share of Goldcorp and an interest in a new exploration company. The offer values Canplats at about C$3.60 ($3.46) per share based upon the closing price of Goldcorp shares on Nov. 13. The offer represents a premium of about 41% over the C$2.55 million ($2.45 million) closing price of Canplats shares. The transaction is expected to close in January 2010. The Boards of Directors of both Goldcorp and Canplats have approved the deal. However, a two-thirds majority of Canplats outstanding shareholders are required to vote in favor of the offer for it to conclude. Canplats has ...

Are you sold on gold? The precious metal outperformed every major equity index in the world in 2008. The question is, can gold—and other precious metals—keep on flying? Or would buying today be buying high and selling low?

Precious metals have always been intriguing to investors because they tend to hold their value. In times of geopolitical crisis or currency devaluation, for example, the value of paper money might fluctuate, but a hard asset will always be worth something. As a result, historically, precious metals have been considered a “safe haven” in times of economic and financial instability.

That brings us to why gold is on a tear today. It declined in 2008 and early 2009 as panicked investors rushed into cash in an attempt to weather the financial crisis. But sometime in the middle on 2009, when investors began to move their money from the sidelines, gold started to rally.

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U.S. stocks surged Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average storming to its highest level in more than 13 months as finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations pledged to continue economic stimulus measures to help the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which was well supported by strength in its all but one component, rose 203 points, or 2.0%, to a 13-month high of 10,227.  The S&P500 climbed 2.2% for its sixth straight session gain to 1093 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 2.0% to close at 2154.  The market’s measure of volatility, the CBOE Vix, plunged 4.3% to 23.15.

All ten S&P500 industry groups ended in the green, led by gains in basic material shares (+3.5%) and financials (+3.5%).  Crude prices added $2.00 to close at $79.43 even as Hurricane Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm.  Gold prices went past the $1100 level, up

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Leading gold producer, Goldcorp’s (GG) adjusted net profit in the third quarter of 2009 more than doubled to 19 cents from last year’s 9 cents on higher gold prices and lower cash costs per ounce of gold. Reported earnings were also higher than the Zacks Consensus estimate of 15 cents.  However, on a GAAP basis, net earnings dropped 62% to 16 cents from 42 cents in the previous year due to a foreign exchange loss of $28.1 million. Revenues were up 25% to $691.9 million from $552.2 million in the previous year driven by a 12% rise in average realized prices to $968 per ounce from $865 per ounce in the year-ago quarter and a 9% increase in gold sales volumes to 601,500 ounces.  Gold production increased by 11% year over year to 621,100 ounces compared with 557,400 ounces in 2008 following higher production at the Red ...

Fuel Your Portfolio With BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP): The Best-Run Commodities Company In The World

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Some companies just stand out – both in their own sectors and in the larger market.

Australian firm BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is one of them.

As the largest and most diversified commodities producer in the world, BHP has leading positions in most key, low-cost, metal and mineral deposits in the world.

And as if that weren’t enough, it also has a solid position in oil, thanks to its petroleum division, which had operating profits of $4 billion last year.

Impressively, that total only made the petroleum division BHP’s third-best performer in 2008. Its iron ore segment scooped up $6.23 billion, while base metals enjoyed a $4.62 billion operating profit.

Crucially, that sets BHP’s oil division apart from its competitors. Not only

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I argued the bull case for gold in my posts over the past few months (see “Gold bullion - regaining its shine?“, “Gold bullion glitters bright” and “Gold bullion - challenging $1,000“. With the gold price scaling fresh peaks and closing in on $1,100, it would certainly seem as if renewed interest in the yellow metal is being stirred up, especially subsequent to the purchase by India’s central bank of 200 metric tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund.

As printing presses are running at full speed to produce ever-increasing quantities of fiat money as governments engineer the greatest asset price reflation in human history - and the US greenback is heading South - the longer-term fundamental case for the yellow metal is arguably positive.

“The gold bug has caught several big hedge fund managers this year including John Paulson of Paulson & Company, Kyle

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Indiarsquo;s deal to buy 200 metric tons (6.4 million troy ounces) of gold from the International Monetary Fund is a huge deal ndash; not just the fact that the New Delhi government is handing over $6.7 billion for the metal, but what it may mean for gold going forward. India is making a bullish call on gold. The supply of gold continues to decline ndash; the biggest supply is from governments selling their gold to pay for social programs. The IMF is a classic case of this. Whats particularly interesting in this case is that the buyer is a developing economy. I see this as another sign of the wealth shift away from the developed markets of North America and Western Europe toward the emerging world. China has also been a major buyer ndash; its gold reserves have nearly doubled since the start of 2003, when the price was about $345 an ounce. Another ...

Drivers on San Franciscorsquo;s Bay Bridge were greeted by 5,000 pounds of metal on Wednesday when a recently repaired eyebar snapped under pressure from high winds. Unlike the 2007 bridge collapse tragedy in Minneapolis, no one was killed and only one motorist suffered minor injuries. A lucky break since the accident happened during rush hour on a bridge that services 280,000 commuters every day. This isnrsquo;t the first newsworthy item in the Bay Bridgersquo;s history, as a 50-foot section of the upper level collapsed onto the bottom level during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The image was quickly beamed to millions of homes around the U.S. as they were tuning in for Game 2 of the World Series. Though a major disaster was averted this time, the clock is ticking unless measures are taken to rebuild, reinforce and restore Americarsquo;s crumbling infrastructure. One in four of Americarsquo;s bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally ...

The world’s largest gold producer, Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Barrick Australia Finance Pty Ltd., are planning to issue $1.25 billion in debt securities comprised of $400 million of 4.95% notes due 2020 and $850 million of 5.95% notes due 2039. The offering is expected to close on Oct 16. Barrick plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to further reduce the liability related to its floating spot price (fully participating) gold contracts. In September this year, Barrick had raised about $3 billion representing 81.2 million common shares at a price of $36.95 per share as a part of its plan to eliminate gold hedges. Barrick’s gold sales contracts -- which comprise gold hedges and floating contracts -- totaled 9.5 million ounces with a mark-to-market position of negative $5.6 billion. Barrick Gold intends to use $1.9 billion of the net proceeds to

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