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Daily Dispatches

Barrick accelerates reduction of gold hedges

Section: Daily Dispatches

Excerpted from
Barrick Gold Corp. Press Release
Thursday, February 22, 2007

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070222/0218637.html

Hedge Book Reduction

During fourth quarter 2006, Barrick reduced its fixed price Corporate Gold Sales Contract position by 1.0 million ounces, and incurred a pre-tax opportunity cost of $327 million ($0.37 per share) against its gold sales.

You can know a few things, or you can have technical analysis

Section: Daily Dispatches

1:18a ET Thursday, February 22, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Some of us grunts in the gold army don't believe in technical analysis. To us it's just a bunch of entrail reading, astrology, and illusion, because the markets themselves now are mainly illusions.

A courageous and principled politician in action

Section: Daily Dispatches

9:52p ET Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was able to read aloud for the cameras some of his prepared statement at the Feb. 15 meeting of the House Financial Services
Committee
(http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr021507.htm),
which was forwarded to you in a GATA dispatch on Feb. 17. Now someone has posted at YouTube.com the C-SPAN video of Paul's remarks. The committee's sound system fails briefly, and Paul is cut short because of a lack of time, but it's a chance to see a courageous and principled politician in action.

Peter Millar: Seven-fold increase in gold needed to avert debt depression

Section: Daily Dispatches

7p ET Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

While it is almost a year old, a study of the enduring importance of gold in the world economic system by R. Peter W. Millar, founder of Valu-Trac Investment Research Ltd. in Scotland (www.valu-trac.com), seems ever more compelling, and Millar graciously has agreed to let it be shared with you.

ROB-TV's Jim O'Connell takes medical leave

Section: Daily Dispatches

12:09p ET Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Report on Business Television in Canada, which, because of its Internet video archive has been what might be called Radio Free America, announced Tuesday that the longtime host of its "Market Call" program, Jim O'Connell, will be taking leave to undergo treatment for cancer. ROB-TV's statement about O'Connell's leave is appended.

Peter Grandich: Year of the pig and the trip to the slaughterhouse

Section: Daily Dispatches

11a ET Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Market analyst Peter Grandich's new letter is headlined "The Year of the Pig and the Coming Trip to the Slaughterhouse." It's talking about the precarious position of the U.S. dollar, and it examines the world economic situation generally and a bunch of mining companies particularly. It also urges support for GATA, as Grandich often has done, for which we're deeply grateful. You can find it at GoldSeek here:

Vietnam forsakes real economy for stock trading

Section: Daily Dispatches

Stock Market Mania
Grips Vietnamese

By Amy Kazmin
Financial Times, London
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4cd3fc26-c0f1-11db-bf18-000b5df10621.html

A manager at a foreign-run hotel and part-time MBA student, Nguyen Dung, 26, had never owned shares in a company until recently. But last week, impressed by the spectacular rise of Vietnam's stock market, he invested $650 in an informal pool with 30 of his MBA classmates.

Mark Hulbert blames bugs, not central banks, for gold's struggle

Section: Daily Dispatches

7:58p ET Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Today's commentary about gold by Mark Hulbert, editor of the Hulbert Financial Digest, blaming gold's inability to crack $670 on the over-exuberance of its advocates, could be so smug only because its author has never bothered to examine a few crucial things -- like the speech given in June 2005 by William R. White, head of the monetary and economic department of the Bank for International Settlements.

Invest with Barclays and watch it sell you short

Section: Daily Dispatches

Barclays Puts
ETF Portfolios
To Good Use

Securities Lending Helps
Juice Returns, Revenue;
Potential for Conflicts

By Tom Lauricella
The Wall Street Journal
Friday, February 16, 2007

Barclays Global Investors has become a dominant force in the business of running exchange-traded funds, partly on the appeal of the low fees it charges investors on these mutual-fund-like products.

Another aspect of its business that is less well-known to ETF investors: Barclays actively engages in securities lending -- loaning out the stocks and bonds in its iShares ETF portfolios. The loans are highly lucrative, bringing in millions of dollars a year for Barclays in addition to the fees it gets for managing the funds.

James Turk offers World Gold Council the evidence it missed

Section: Daily Dispatches

4:25p Monday, February 19, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

In an interview with the Financial Times on January 15, James Burton, chief executive officer of the World Gold Council, remarked that he had "seen no evidence" that central banks were working together to suppress the price of gold. This is understandable enough, given that the head of the gold council must spend most of his time draping exquisite jewelry on fashion models at advertising shoots.

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