BizJournals Portfolio
Home >   Business Views, Opinions and Blogs >   Business Blogs >   Market Movers >  

Gold Too Volatile To Be A Safe Investment

Market Movers

by Felix Salmon
Main
Sovereign Wealth Funds: Yes, They Really Are That Big   Felix Salmon, Stock Picker

Recent Blog Posts

Links

Apr 01 2008 12:00am EDT

Gold: Too Volatile to be a Safe Investment

Eddy Elfenbein notes today that gold has dropped below $900 an ounce. Gold funds in general are suffering, with the biggest of them all, the $8.2 billion Merrill Lynch World Gold, down 10% in March. But they're still bullish:

The Midas Fund, managed by Thomas Winmill in New York, fell more than 11 percent last month, leaving it 4.1 percent down this year.
``As the gold price recovers and exceeds recent highs, we expect Midas Fund to outperform,'' Winmill said in an e-mailed message yesterday.

When gold exhibits this kind of volatility, it's not for risk-averse investors, no matter how much the goldbugs say that it's a safe haven. Given how risk averse the IMF is, I think that selling the Fund's gold reserves is still a pretty good idea.

. □

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.


Connect With Portfolio.com
Like Portfolio on Facebook

Come on, like us—you know you want to.

Follow Portfolio on Twitter

Follow us and if you're an innovative entrepreneur, we'll return the favor.

The Mix

Today's top stories, conversation starters, and the back nine business bites.

spotlight on

Slideshows

500 Startups Hits New York

Dave McClure's brainchild makes its way to New York and introduces East Coast money folks to some intriguing new companies. View Slideshow