Tuscaloosa News – IT’S a splendid spring day in Connecticut’s horse country and James E. Sinclair, perhaps the best-known gold speculator of his era, is sitting before his trading terminal,contemplating the upward thrust of gold on his trader’s chart.
The sun, bursting through the bay windows, catches the glint of gold that is everywhere in Mr. Sinclair’s home office: on the coins near his computer, on his chunky Rolex watch, on the rings on threeof his fingers, on the cuff links on his monogrammed shirt, and could it be? a hint of it in his one working eye.
“I love gold, O.K.?” he said, his voice rising in excitement. “Gold has made me wealthy. It feels nice. It’s exchangeable. It’s money.”
On his television set, which is tuned to CNBC, news breaks of a terrorist attack in Egypt, the price of oil pushes higher and traders continue to sell the dollar, which is approaching a one-year lowagainst the euro.
With gold trading at $683.80 an ounce, a 25-year high, it’s a good time to be a gold bug like Mr. Sinclair, especially if, like him, you own a gold exploration company (his is in Tanzania) and were abuyer when the metal sank as low as $250 an ounce in 2001. Now Wall Street, traditionally a laggard when it comes to making the investment case for gold, has jumped on Mr. Sinclair’s bandwagon.
Investment banks like J. P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are putting out bullish research notes, retail investors are heavy buyers through exchange-traded funds and hedge funds; and the trading desks ofinvestment banks have been piling into the market, especially in the last week.
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