Bloomberg: Gold Bears Dominant Again as U.S. Growth Quickens: Commodities

Gold traders are bearish for the first time in six weeks as accelerating U.S. economic growth and weaker sales of physical bullion curbed demand for the metal.

Twelve analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to fall next week, nine were bullish and four neutral. The metal retreated for a fifth day yesterday, the worst losing streak since May 17 and slipped below $1,300 an ounce earlier today for the first time since July 22. Physical demand slowed in the past several weeks, according to Standard Bank Group Ltd.

Gold is heading for the first annual drop in 13 years after some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value. The slump that wiped $58.9 billion from the value of gold funds hurt investors including hedge fund billionaire John Paulson as well as Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and other mining companies. U.S. equities reached a record this week after data showed the nation expanded 1.7 percent in the second quarter, more than economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected.

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The Motley Fool: Gold Absolutely Crushed These Dividends

The aftermath of gold's bloodbath last quarter continues. After falling a record 23%, gold isn't done ruining investor returns just yet. After it absolutely crushed the stock prices of many gold mining stocks last quarter, gold has set its sight on crushing the last remaining glimmer of hope for investors: dividends.

In addition to reporting multi-billion-dollar quarterly losses, gold miners Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) and Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC ) had one parting shot for investors. Both companies also announced dividend cuts, with Barrick slashing its dividend by 75% and Kinross completely eliminating its payout. Talk about adding insult to injury.

To say it was a rough quarter for the pair would be an understatement. Barrick's stock is down 43% since the start of the second quarter. Gold's collapse caused the company to take $8.7 billion of impairment charges for the quarter, which led to a reported loss of $8.56 billion on the quarter, or $8.55 per share. Also, its once steadily growing dividend of $0.20 per share was cut back to $0.05 per share, a level not seen in more than a decade.

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Wall Street Journal: Investors Get the Shaft From Gold Miners

A dividend cut at Barrick Gold Corp. is the latest setback for investors amid a brutal year for precious metals plays.

The price of gold has plunged 22% this year, as investors anticipating an end to the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy sought out higher-yielding assets. But the carnage has been even worse for those seeking to benefit from investments in companies that mine the metal.

The NYSE NYX Arca Gold Bugs Index, which tracks 17 gold-mining companies, is down 45% in 2013. Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, on Thursday reported an $8.56 billion second-quarter loss, compared with a $787 million profit a year ago, and cut its dividend to five cents from 20 cents. The company's stock is off 53% this year, falling 16 cents, or 0.9%, to $16.81, in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Thursday.

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Reuters: Gold imports dropped in June and July - finance minister

Gold imports into India in June and July were lower compared to the same period last year, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Wednesday, without giving figures.

India is hoping to contain gold imports well below 845 tonnes that were shipped last year, Chidambaram said, a week after the central bank restricted imports further, by tying imports to exports volumes.

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The Age: Gold bull ANZ opens 50-tonne vault in Singapore

ANZ has started a second bullion vault in Asia to cater for growing physical demand that the bank sees driving prices as much as 13 per cent higher over two years.

The leased facility, which can hold 50 metric tonnes, opened in Singapore last month, adding to storage in Hong Kong, Perth and Zurich, according to Eddie Listorti, co-head of fixed income, currencies and commodities. The vault could keep $US2.13 billion ($2.36 billion) of metal at yesterday’s close, Bloomberg calculations show.

The bullish stance on gold from ANZ, which has forecast the metal at $US1400 an ounce in 2014 and $US1500 in 2015, contrasts with the outlook from Goldman Sachs, which predicts lower prices as the US Federal Reserve scales back stimulus.

Gold has plunged 21 per cent this year, tumbling into a bear market as stocks and the dollar rallied.

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The Telegraph: Never mind the Czech gold the Nazis stole...

The documents reveal a shocking story: just six months before Britain went to war with Nazi Germany, the Bank of England willingly handed over £5.6 million worth of gold to Hitler – and it belonged to another country.

The official history of the bank, written in 1950 but posted online for the first time on Tuesday, reveals how we betrayed Czechoslovakia – not just with the infamous Munich agreement of September 1938, which allowed the Nazis to annex the Sudetenland, but also in London, where Montagu Norman, the eccentric but ruthless governor of the Bank of England agreed to surrender gold owned by the National Bank of Czechoslovakia.

The Czechoslovak gold was held in London in a sub-account in the name of the Bank for International Settlements, the Basel-based bank for central banks. When the Nazis marched into Prague in March 1939 they immediately sent armed soldiers to the offices of the National Bank. The Czech directors were ordered, on pain of death, to send two transfer requests.

The first instructed the BIS to transfer 23.1 metric tons of gold from the Czechoslovak BIS account, held at the Bank of England, to the Reichsbank BIS account, also held at Threadneedle Street.

The second order instructed the Bank of England to transfer almost 27 metric tons of gold held in the National Bank of Czechoslovakia’s own name to the BIS’s gold account at the Bank of England.

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Bloomberg: Marathon Hires JPMorgan’s Gold to Boost Emerging-Market Trading

Marathon Asset Management LP, a hedge-fund operator that oversees more than $10.5 billion of assets, hired JPMorgan (JPM) Chase & Co.’s Jason Gold as it bolsters its emerging-markets trading effort.

Gold, who focused on Latin American sovereign debt as a senior trader at JPMorgan, will join Marathon in September, according to Andrew Rabinowitz, the company’s chief operating officer. Gold will be a senior trader based in New York and report to Gabriel Szpigiel, a partner and senior portfolio manager, Rabinowitz said.

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