Notable. . . .
According to Insider Monkey, a service that tracks where hedge are putting
their money, SPDR, the largest gold ETF, is the second largest single holding
among hedge funds. The largest ETF commitment unsruprisingly is with
SPY, a fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index. At the end of June, 94
funds had invested $24.89 billion in SPY and 72 funds had invested $8.9
billion in the SPDR.
What I find fascinating about those numbers is that so many in the
mainstream financial press like to speak of gold as an investment pariah
appealing only to America’s fringe elements. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER
FROM THE TRUTH. As we have pointed out consistently at this page, gold
has gone mainstream and the strong hedge fund involvement in SPDR is just
more proof of the trend.
Gold owners are a group of people I have come to know very well in my 40+
years in the gold business. Contrary to the less than flattering picture
sometimes painted by the mainstream press, the people we have helped become
gold owners are among those we rely upon most in our daily lives — our
physicians and dentists, nurses and teachers, plumbers, carpenters and
building contractors, business owners, attorneys, engineers and university
professors (to name a few.)
In other words, gold ownership is pretty much a Main Street endeavor.
A Gallup poll taken a few years back found that 34% of American
investors rated gold the best investment “regardless of gender, age, income
or party ID. . .” In that survey, gold was rated higher than stocks,
bonds, real estate and bank savings. Also, according to a recently
published Bankrate survey, one in six investors chose gold as the best place
to park money they wouldn’t need for more than ten years – the same number
that chose stocks.
The strong commitment from hedge funds in the SPDR shows that Wall Street
and Main Street are on the same page when it comes to gold. These are
times where its presence in the portfolio has become an essential ingredient
for financial health (not to speak of one’s psychological well-being).
MK
