Salient to Investors: Hedge funds have a net-short position on silver for the first time since at least 2006, but holdings in ETPs are within 1.3 percent of the all-time high reached in mid-March 2013. Silver entered a bear market on April 2. The median analyst expects silver to rise to an
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeff Currie and Damien Courvalin at Goldman Sachs says: The selloff in gold was sparked by investor concern that European governments may have to follow Cyprus in selling part of their holdings, and exacerbated by the drop below a key technical-support level at $1,530, and then below the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The IMF said: Budget deficits in advanced economies will narrow at a faster pace in 2013 than in 2012 even as countries including the US and Japan lack clear plans to reduce their debt. Fiscal shortfalls will shrink to 4.7 percent of GDP in advanced nations in 2013, the narrowest
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Laurence D. Fink at BlackRock said we have not seen any large major change in attitude in bonds are not seeing the same investor appetite for long-dated bonds, which will persist for some time. Fink sees no evidence of a large-scale rotation into stocks from bonds as global and high-yield
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The festival season in India, the world’s biggest gold consumer, runs from August to October and the wedding season runs from November to December and from late March through early May. Gaurav Mehta at Ambit said the fall in gold should alleviate to a significant extent one of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Central Bank of Sri Lanka said falling prices are an opportunity for nations to raise gold reserves. The Bank of Korea said the gold price plunge is not a big concern because short-term price moves are an unavoidable risk and holding the metal is part of a long-term strategy for diversifying
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Builders are rushing to satisfy growing demand for rental units. Work on multi-family homes, such as apartment buildings, jumped 31 percent to an annual rate of 417,000, the most since January 2006. Aneta Markowska at Societe Generale said demand from homebuyers or renters does not matter because it’s roofs over peoples’ heads.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The IMF says: The global economy will expand 3.3 percent in 2013 versus its 3.5 percent forecast in January, and 4 percent in 2014. The euro area will contract 0.3 percent in 2013 versus its forecast of a 0.2 percent retreat in January. Expect a 3-speed recovery led by emerging
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Tom Tucci at CIBC World Markets said we are range bound, with the lower end at 1.8-to-1.65 percent. Guy LeBas at Janney Montgomery Scott said the most significant long-term indicator has been the drop down in CPI, which on the margin makes Treasuries more attractive. Peter Jolly at National Australia
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gold miners will accelerate spending cuts and trim high-cost output as gold’s biggest fall since 1980 threatens to make about 30 percent of production unprofitable. Gold is down more than 20 percent since its record close in August 2011, thus signalling a bear market. Dundee Capital Markets
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