What's happening with precious metal prices?

[Goldstrike]

This subject has a direct connection with metal detecting and most of us are interested in this subject. The topic has been very popular in the past and I wanted to bring the topic up again with the intent of wanting all of us to share our collective thoughts.
Although there are only a few that are purely or solely in it just for money, this question is for those detectorists that have an interest in hunting for gold and silver articles with the intentions of selling them for a profit (chances are it's almost all profit after gasoline and expenses are deducted after you detected it, right)!!!!

NOW...the big question for everyone.... WHY ARE, AND HAVE BEEN FOR AWHILE, PRECIOUS METAL PRICES SO STAGNANT?
Gold has been steady at a low $1200-$1260 an ounce and silver also low at $19.50 to $20 an ounce. What a difference to when gold was close to $2000 an ounce and silver $40-$45 an ounce sometime ago!!!!
We know China was buying gold and silver big time awhile back and so the prices climbed very high and fast. Is it because of election year?global recession?markets being manipulated?by who?lack of confidence in the government?now the question of whether there is any gold or any of the foreign country's gold supposedly held in trust there in Fort Knox?or all of the 'above'?
I, for one will be very interested in your thoughts on this topic. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dancer]

I think you know more about it than me but. It seems that the price goes in reverse of the stock market. (Economy) Stocks crash, people buy gold, their scared. Prices go up, that's when guys like us sell. Buy low sell high. Now the stocks have been between 15900-16500 (the Dow Jones) for awhile. The market will eventually break down or up. So its anyone's guess. So if you think gold is too cheap to sell, than buy some for speculation. Or just hold what you got till you like the price. Myself, I try to sell rings to people who like gold (lot better price than scrap) If that doesn't work, I sell for scrap once a year for what ever. Remember no one can predict the markets. You can only get lucky. My thoughts.

 

[Water wizard]

Great topic, I have noticed the slump on precious metals, I'm waiting to sell my finds, at least until I can't wait any longer. I think some countries that were struggling sold lots of their gold reserves, which flooded the market, and brought prices down globally. I think that prices will creep back up, if gold is cheaper then perhaps more people will buy gold jewellery, which means we might find more of it and less cheap stainless steel and other 'cheap jewellery'?.

 

[Nauti]

I've been looking at gold prices too and although low at the moment there are experts who believe prices will get back to the highs we saw before the global economy crash.If you look at a ten year gold graph there are always high and low points but the general trend is still upward......look at the graph and you will see that although it has dropped it is still a lot higher than ten years ago.I will hold on to the gold I find as I find it hard to part with(scrooge comes to mind),but i'm sure that the price of gold will go up again in the future and when it does I may offload a bit.
I believe that the world demand for jewelry is also at it's highest ever at the moment and this too will have the effect of helping to push up prices in the near future.My advice would be to keep hold of any you have at the moment and keep watching the markets daily,you will always do well with gold if you keep an eye on whats happening.

 

[Cupajo]

One short term effect is during India's "wedding season" when gold usually hit its high for the year.

There are huge dealers in the world market that can manipulate gold prices to take profits too so I've been told.

Toss unstable world economies, conflicts and disasters into the mix and you have gold prices that can be very unstable too.

 

[mudpuppy]

Theres a big battle going on in the Global Financial world regarding the USD being the Worlds reserve currency...oil for instance, is traded in dollars (petrodollar)
The big hitters that control policy consider gold competition. The Fed, doesnt consider it a form of currency...(barbarous relic)
Nixon took us off the Gold Standard back in the early 70's so that the FED could print as many USD as they wanted WITHOUT having to back them with gold.

China's a big buyer, big strategic thinkers! Which upsets the Globalist bankers, if all of a sudden, China had the stones, theoretically they could become the Worlds reserve currency since they have the GOLD to back their money with, and we dont anymore. All it would take is for OPEC to tell us to get lost with our dollar, and start trading OIL for GOLD or gold backed notes like the yuan. What does this mean? Well, War for one...why do you think we dont want Iran packing big heat? Our MIC is under the control of the FED and big Petro, and we use it to keep everybody playing nice in the sandbox and our (petrodollar) the worlds currency.

For us as detectorists, all of this could be considered "good" AU should be going up and could hit 3k/oz by this Aug or sooner according to some mathmeticians that follow this interesting dilemma...some are calling for 5k gold, and some even higher than that, depending upon the ensuing level of panic...they attribute the present fluctuations in AU price to the FED intervening to keep gold down...

Its very hard to get any correct understanding as to why and who, so a fellow has to try to find data and info that makes a bit of sense without going all tin hat on anybody....so what I wrote above could be sheer crapola..it is just how I understand it though....conversely, theres others that say AU is headed for 700/oz...so believe what you want I guess. .
Mud.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yep..right on time...gold takes its morning dump. -21 right now...should crawl its way back up throughout the day. Very complex situation, even for folks that have followed these events for years...no fundamental structure to the stock market, but with the FED pumping 85b into it constantly, it keeps going up, money for nothing!...Wonder why the US govt. is fighting the Keystone pipeline as well as fighting drilling oil here so much? Hmm, reckon OPEC wants us to keep buying from them? And if we dont, they will sell more of their product to China, but of course we protect OPEC with our MIC...all sorts of levers in the World we dont get to see or understand...most information regarding PM's is skewed from the writers perspective...each side has a dog in the fight..if you can control the supply, you can control the price...

I suppose some of the best street view info can be gotten down at your local coin shop, just walk in and talk about gold a little...are their sales up or down? whats delivery like? Are there lots of folks walking in to SELL gold at this price? Then at least you have some real world street level idea of if you should sell or wait, or buy...
Mud

 

[Dancer]

Everything has an expiration date that includes us. We all know of hoarders who went to the grave leaving Treasure for someone they didn't know or even like. Example estate sales or things like we find. Like an above post, gold is high compared to 10 years ago. Having a lot of gold can get you whacked, just look at history. I sold what little I had last year and bought a Compadre and that led to more finds. So enjoy it while you can.

 

[Harold in NC]

[size=large][/size]Boy I can remember yeard back when gold was a lot lower in the 30 dollar mark and then you thought you were making a lot of money when you sold your stash, remember it could be worst, it's just a great hobby and I go with that everything you find is a plus, HH

 

[Goldstrike]

Excellent posts....thank you all and this is what I hoped for. C.J. I had never considered the Indian wedding season!!. You all have some great viewpoints and we can learn so much from each other!!
I owned 4 antique stores in the late 60's and early '70's so I had lot's of gold and silver items items through my hands. That time seems so very long ago and prices were so very low at that time.
The principle remains the same. Hold on to what you get until you HAVE to sell it. I knew people that hoarded precious metals for years and when they finally sold it, made out like bandits! I remember selling 100 oz silver ingot bars for dirt prices. The mantra....."If only I had" comes to mind now!!!
Just as a side note, I buried some 'metal' some years ago, in the ground on some property I own in a different state. The property is a few hundred miles away and I have found that this trick has helped me to resist the temptation to have to travel to it and to dig it up and buy this, that or the other or even pay off bills!!! It's deep enough to avoid metal detectors by the way! You may consider doing what I have done to hold on to what you have i.e.precious metals until you really, really, really need the cash.
I hope others will continue to post their ideas on this topic.

 

[KinTN]

Watch the central banks and the other large banking outfits re gold futures. Plenty of mainstream articles out there on the manipulation by these guys. LIBOR is just a blip on the radar.

 

[Nauti]

I look at it like this,every piece of gold I find is free,so I can afford to hang on to it to see how the markets are performing.Even if I sell it when prices are lw i've still made a healthy profit.

 

[John(Tx)]

you will still come out way ahead when you find a piece of gold....HH

 

[fongu]

I've had intentions of getting my gold & silver to ARA for about a month now, but keep putting it off. But, I don't have any investment in these finds except my metal detectors, scoop, gas and my time. So, I may wait until I get a chance to visit the coin show in Atlanta and if I can make it, I may just take my jewelry and let some of the people at the coin show give me an evaluation. If I can't make the show, I will mail it to ARA.

 

[Fortuna]

Sell gold buy silver asap

 

[mudpuppy]

Gold just now crossed 1290...bears watching this closely...two schools of thought...gold is moving east, (China) and once there wont be seen on the open market again for at least 300 yrs...the market price is based on the "float" or available physical gold to be had on the open market at a certain price, and not its "true" value as of TODAY...TODAY/PRICE being the imperator....
anyway, China is buying gold..and not necessarily through formal channels, which is smart, off radar, keeps the market price down, etc..they spend other budgets for gold, and get it and hold on secretively...

Fortuna, I would also support the strategy of aquiring silver, in coin form or any form at 20 bucks per oz. but I would not sell gold at this price...granted, this is one tough (PM) market to call and trade and about all a fellow can do is go by "gut" instinct...

The world is moving, PM afficianados (like us) need to 'try' to see where..lots of flak and MSM scatter, 'bout all a simple person can do is to default to PM's in hand and hang on if you can...some mathematicians are calling for 3k/oz AU by Aug...some are calling higher, and a few on the other side down to 700....its a real crapshoot, sell or hold, but what does your gut tell you? Do that and I guess dont worry about it..we can always go find more right? Full disclosure: I'm not a gold bug...I sell when I can, and find more when I need it..but I sure wish I'd kept what I sold in the past!
Mud

 

[EL Pulltabio]

There is no recovery. Don't be fooled by the soaring stock market and
false unemployment statistics. The Federal Reserve and manipulated
economic Government reports are keeping the truth hidden.
Our economy is being kept alive by the Fed's QE which pumps $85 billion dollars every month into it.
What's worse is that the Fed has no exit strategy for the QE.
When this phony recovery is finally understood to be what it is, there will be chaos.
Silver might be the way to go. During the mid 1930's FDR outlawed Americans
owning over a certain amount of gold.
Anyway, for most of us, it'll be easier to multiply out investment
by selling gold and purchasing silver.
Just my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX7J8-VTG08

 

[icurabeachguy]

EL Pulltabio, Mudpuppy and KinTN all have valid points...in short, it's blatant manipulation endorsed by the Central banks aka: The FED, Bank of England, etc.

Why, you might ask?...because holding gold is the reciprocal of faith in Central Banks. $65 billion (down from $85B after the recent taper) of QE per month has served to drive down the yield curve and and the net effect has been to divert people into the stock market, chasing yield. $4 trillion of newly printed money since 2008 will eventually spawn hyperinflation (see Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Argentina recently..) and when it does, you don't want to be holding worthless fiat. The quoted prices of AU are blatantly manipulated (LIBOR Is the tip of the ice berg KinTN) and all the paper AU instruments aren't worth the paper they're written on...read up on "gold rehypothecation" if you're interested. China has been wise enough to use their dollars to buy up all the hard assets and precious metals the US is willing to sell...and you would be wise too. When the music stops, you don't want to be left holding worthless fiat...keep stackin my friends!


good reading for those interested in finance/economics: Zer0 Hedge

 

[CladDog]

Investors flooded the precious metals market when stocks tanked.

Now that stocks are performing better, these large block investors have dumped their gold and silver holdings to jump back into the stock market in pursuit of better returns.

This results, no surpirse, in precious metal prices falling to a more consistent, sustainable level.

If the economy, and the stock market, tanks again, look for gold and silver prices to take off once again.

 

[Wandering Yoda]

...keep stackin my friends! - icurabeachguy

Yep, always keeping the physical metal around, like a pirate would. It's just so nice to look at. And the paper gold and silver ratio of leveraging is getting on up there a ways now.