22 Signs to Look For When Gold Is Topping
By Rick Ackerman
Oct 1 2009 9:40AM
Gold lurched back into bullish gear yesterday, lifting the spirits of those who may have read too much into last week’s apparently gratutious decline. Before lapsing into despair whenever gold corrrects, as it is bound to do from time to time, we should consider the big picture and ask, Is this the way a top would look? Here are some of the signs we might expect to accompany a real top in bullion, courtesy of our friend Chuck Cohen.
No sane gold bug, if there really is one, would dare to pinpoint an ultimate top both in distance and price in gold, but I believe that when it approaches, there will be definite signs to the discerning and pure of heart. The following are some of the signposts I envision as we near the great, final high. They are listed in no order of significance or chronology.
Things to look for when gold is making its ultimate top:
Bill Murphy, minus any censoring, is a regular guest on CNBC
Barron’s has an issue with two articles on gold
Abbe Joseph Cohen turns bearish and announces that 50% of her money is now in gold-related assets
A CNBC host is heard recommending gold
The New York Times runs a major front page headline highlighting the price of gold and its price chart
Jim Sinclair is chosen "Man of the Year" by Time magazine
Gold is the lead item on the national news every night for a week
Wal-Mart announces they will begin to sell tiny amounts of gold
Jon Nadler starts a fashion craze wearing gold lamé suits, and, in an announcement that shocks the financial world, reveals that he is starting a round-the-clock precious metals channel. Another coup is that Dennis Gartman and Leonard Kaplan will be his featured analysts.
Your local jewelry store takes down its Cash For Gold sign and replaces it with "We Sell Gold"
In a recent poll, Yale and Princeton grads reveal that their top career choice is to start a gold exploration company
Goldman Krupp, correction, Sachs, changes its name to Gold and Silver Sachs
An enterprising young Gold and Silver Sachs executive comes up with an idea of franchising gold coin shops
Bill Murphy is frequently seen dining with mainstream Wall Street executives, and "Midas" sightings — as he is known throughout the world — become commonplace in the gossip columns
Brokerage houses and banks fire their financial analysts and frantically start gold research departments to cash in on gold mania
Some of your friends or relatives call you to recommend some gold stock that you must buy, and inform you that they are now up 50% in their gold stocks
All mainstream gold forecasters raise their gold price target by $500 for the year
The "Association of Gold Trading Advisory Services" formed in March 2010, publishes a 15-page apology on the internet. In brief, the document apologizes for the years of predicting near term tops and missing 90% of the entire move in gold and silver. They are now long-term investors and predict that a tradable top is not in sight
The Donald builds a series of "Trump Oros" in the Sierra Madres for Mexican miners
In one week, 15 new movies connected with gold are announced to be ready for production
A remake of the movie Goldfinger features Sean Connery’s grandson as Bond and Jon Nadler as Auric Goldfinger. This time, the villain gets away with the gold and Bond is accused of the theft. Goldfinger is actually filmed inside Fort Knox, which, since it was discovered to be empty of gold, becomes the world’s largest production set. As an aside, the guards at Fort Knox were falsely accused of the gold theft but convicted anyway in a secret trial. During their defense, the guards claimed that there hadn’t been any gold there for over 30 years.
Golden Fleece, current market cap $7.6 million, tenders a friendly offer for Barrick Gold, which immediately snaps it up as it tries to pare down its still-monster hedge book.
