Gold Near Make-or-Break Point

The gold stock I recently recommended in Red-Hot Global Small Caps is doing well, but be careful. I’m watching gold like a hawk as it pushes up against overhead resistance …

Looking at a weekly chart, we can see that gold is still in a downtrend. It needs to break out of that downtrend for gold stocks to really take off.

As I explained in the RGS issue that went out today …

“Investors around the world are scared out of their pants by the financial crisis. So, they’re rushing into the U.S. dollar, even though the U.S. Treasury is printing money so fast I’m surprised the presses don’t catch on fire. And people are rushing into gold because you can’t print more of it. It is a flight from risk to safety. This is good for gold and big gold miners with plenty of cash that are leveraged to the price of gold.”

In other news …

Chinese Growth Plunges China’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in seven years as the global recession dragged down exports, increasing pressure for more government spending and lower interest rates to buoy growth. Gross domestic product grew 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, after a 9 percent gain in the previous three months, the statistics bureau said in Beijing today.

The Chinese Devil Wears Prada: Why 0% Growth is the New Size 6.8% Indeed if one were to convert the 6.8% y-o-y figure in the more standard quarter over quarter annualized figure Chinese growth in Q4 would be close to zero if not negative.

Gold, Precious Metals Climb in New York as Investors Seek Out Safe Harbors Gold rose, along with silver, platinum and palladium as investors sought a store of value amid tumbling New York and European equity markets.

Potash Corp. Fourth-Quarter Profit More Than Doubles as Prices Increase Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, said fourth-quarter profit more than doubled because of higher potash prices.

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending January 16, 2009 U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased 6.1 million barrels from the previous week. At 332.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 6.5 million barrels last week, and are at the upper limit of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and gasoline blending components inventories increased last week. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.8 million barrels, and are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com