Reuters
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA
Mon Oct 4, 2010 1:13pm EDT
GENEVA (Reuters) – The world’s wealthiest people have responded to economic worries by buying gold by the bar — and sometimes by the ton — and by moving assets out of the financial system, bankers catering to the very rich said on Monday.
Fears of a double-dip downturn have boosted the appetite for physical bullion as well as for mining company shares and exchange-traded funds, UBS executive Josef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.
"They don’t only buy ETFs or futures; they buy physical gold," said Stadler, who runs the Swiss bank’s services for clients with assets of at least $50 million to invest.
UBS is recommending top-tier clients hold 7-10 percent of their assets in precious metals like gold, which is on course for its tenth consecutive yearly gain and traded at around $1,314.50 an ounce on Monday, near the record level reached last week.
"We had a clear example of a couple buying over a ton of gold … and carrying it to another place," Stadler said. At today’s prices, that shipment would be worth about $42 million.
Julius Baer’s chief investment officer for Asia is also recommending that wealthy investors park some of their assets in gold as a defensive stance following a string of lackluster U.S. data and amid concerns about currency weakness. LINK...
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Mainstream media is continually regurgitating the comments of George Soros earlier this year, that Gold is the "Ultimate Bubble." Let's please put this to rest once and for all! Mr. Soros referred to Gold as the "Ultimate Bubble", he did NOT say that the Gold bubble is ready to BURST! We agree that Gold could become a bubble but it is far from bursting. Besides, Mr. Soros' hedge fund is LONG Gold and did anyone ever think he's playing his position? There are many economists predicting Gold at $5,000 to $10,000 before this is all over. We believe that Gold is still in the early stages of a run-off phase and it will not hit a top for years to come, so
DON'T invest at your own risk! BK
