Gold Bugs Talking up $3000 Gold

Inflation adjusted $2000 is more plausible

Safe haven plays like gold and the dollar were down again Tuesday, despite the fall in global stocks, as concerns grew about the financial system, scaring investors off. Experts expect the precious metal’s rally to continue past the record $1,030.80 it hit last March.

Gold May Spike to $3,000

As governments print more money to pull the global economy out of a recession, Hans Goetti, CIO of LGT Bank in Liechtenstein tells CNBC that gold may spike to $3,000 a troy ounce as a result.

Gold at $1,200 Reasonable

Daryl Guppy, CEO of Guppytraders.com charts the short-term outlook for gold. He discusses whether the precious metal can revisit the $1,000 level.

Gold is a Safe Haven for Investors

As gold prices hover around the $1,000 point, Paul Burton from GFMS World Gold expects the price of gold to increase, due to the fact that gold is a an “asset of last resort” and is a “tangible asset.”

Fear Sparks Gold’s Rally

Gold Bricks
AP

Gold is rallying on the fear of investors, says Burkhard Varnholt, chief investment officer at Bank Sarasin.

Riding Gold’s Wave

A pull back in gold is healthy for now, says John Licata, chief investment strategist at Blue Phoenix. He speaks to CNBC about gold’s pullback from its rally.

Correlation Between Gold & Dollar

The correlation between gold and the dollar was broken in late 2008 and early 2009 but it is now back in place, notes Daryl Guppy, CEO of Guppytraders.com.

Dollar Weakness Unlikely to Last

The dollar fell following reports that the U.S. government may up its stake in Citigroup to as much as 40%. But Licia Kok, Treasury economist at United Overseas Bank Group tells CNBC that the dollar’s weakness is unlikely to last.

Short-Term Bullish on Dollar-Yen

Callum Henderson, head of FX strategy at Standard Chartered is short-term bullish on dollar-yen.

Dollar-Yen Cross to Hit 100

John Kyriakopoulos, head of currency strategy with National Australia Bank, says dollar is largely supported by risk aversion, and with the yen struggling, the dollar should reach the 100-yen mark.

South Korean Won Looks Oversold

Daryl Guppy, CEO of Guppytraders.com charts Asia’s currencies including the Australian dollar, baht and South Korean won. Adrian Mowat, chief Asian & emerging markets equity strategist at JPMorgan tells CNBC that the won is oversold.

Obama will address the congress tonight

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama takes center stage on Tuesday to try to sell the American people on his broader agenda for jolting the United States out of deep recession and confronting long-term economic challenges.

Riding high in opinion polls, Obama will deliver a State of the Union-style address at 9 p.m. EST in his first appearance before a joint session of Congress since he took office five weeks ago.

The primetime speech, the opening act on Capitol Hill for any new president, comes in a pivotal week for Obama. He will roll out his first budget proposal on Thursday against a backdrop of growing public anxiety over the worst economic crisis in decades.

In a stark reminder of how grim the situation has become, Wall Street slumped to a 12-year low on Monday as investors worried about the government nationalizing ailing major banks, a prospect the White House tried to play down.

Obama will be looking to trade on his popularity and personal suasion when he stands before the Senate and House of Representatives to try to reassure Americans about what he is doing — and what he plans to do — to halt the crisis.

The speech is sure to be his most closely watched performance since his January 20 inauguration as America’s 44th president.

“It won’t be enough just to look presidential,” said Stephen Wayne, a political scientist at Georgetown University. “What he needs to be is explainer-in-chief.”

M looses 73 cents a share

Macy’s reports 59 percent drop in 4Q profit, dragged down by sagging sales, one-time charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s is reporting an almost 59 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings.

The department store chain says its results were dragged down by weak sales and one-time costs associated with the consolidations of regional divisions and store closings.

The Cincinnati-based company said Tuesday that in the three months ended Jan. 31, it earned $310 million, or 73 cents per share. That compares with $750 million, or $1.73 per share, a year earlier.

Sales fell 7.7 percent to $7.93 billion from $8.59 billion a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items, expected the company to earn $1.01 per share on revenue of $7.92 billion.

Company misses earnings by 2 cents

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Target Corp. (TGT:
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TGT 28.43, -1.32, -4.4%) said fourth-quarter net income fell 41% to $609 million, or 81 cents a share, from $1.03 billion, or $1.23 a share in the year-ago period. Revenue edged down to $19 billion from $19.3 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 84 cents a share on revenue of $19.6 billion, according to a survey by FactSet. “Our financial results for both the fourth quarter and 2008 fiscal year reflect the impact of unprecedented economic conditions on both of our business segments,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In 2009, we are focused on continuing to grow our market share profitably – offering even more compelling prices on quality products in combination with a superior shopping experience. At the same time, we will continue to be thoughtful in our deployment of capital, ensuring that we preserve liquidity and make prudent investment decisions to create long-term shareholder value. We believe this will position Target to emerge as an even stronger retail leader when the consumer environment improves.” End of Story

FTSE opened in the red,but has managed to change course

London’s leading shares were riding out a global sell-off today after Wall Street’s lowest close for more than a decade reverberated through world markets.
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* Dow sinks to 12-year low on fears for AIG

Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 3.4 per cent to its worst finish since May 1997 last night, as lingering fears over the economy and the financial system sent investors heading to the exits.

The nerves hit Asian markets overnight, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunging to near 26–year lows and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down almost 4 per cent at one point.

The FTSE 100 Index opened in negative territory, but its losses were limited in early trading amid gains for bank shares. At 9.30am it was down just 18 points (less than half a per cent) to 3833.

In the US, banks have been hammered by concerns over possible nationalisation, but reports that Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were close to sealing a deal with the Government to insure £500 billion in loans helped both companies advance.

RBS advanced almost 3 per cent, while Lloyds was 1 per cent higher. Lloyds was also boosted by a Financial Times report that Chancellor Alistair Darling was set to waive the £480 million annual interest fee on loans made to the bank.

The repayments on the Government preference shares – agreed at the time of the first banking bail-out last October – will be dropped to ease the pressure on the bank as part of a deal for it to improve lending, the report said.

The Government recently transferred £5 billion in preference shares in RBS into ordinary shares to give it a 68 per cent stake in the bank.

Mr Darling is said to be keen to change the Lloyds’ preference shares into non-voting shares to prevent the taxpayer’s stake in the bank rising above 50 per cent.

Investors in London were also favouring traditionally defensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals and utilities in the market turmoil.

In the US – where the Treasury said it would launch a revamped bank rescue scheme this week – the Dow is just over 100 points from the 7,000 mark.

The index has lost around half its value since hitting record highs in October 2007, while the FTSE 100 Index is more than 40 per cent off its peak.

CMC Markets trader Jimmy Yates said the “aggressive” sell-off in the US came as uncertain investors sent stock markets swinging wildly.

“There is an extended, unprecedented level of volatility. The way this recession is beginning to look so protracted we might be here for a while yet,” he said.

Bank of England wakes up with a cup of deflation fears

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Bank of England policy maker Andrew Sentance said the U.K. may experience deflation if the recession intensifies, adding to the case for authorities to buy assets to bolster the economy.

“If the recession is prolonged and deep, there is an increased risk of deflation,” Sentance said in a speech at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London today. While “persistent” price declines “remain an outside risk,” there is “a strong case for providing additional stimulus to the economy to head it off more decisively.”

The Monetary Policy Committee this month unanimously agreed to ask the government for authority to create money after cutting the benchmark interest rate to 1 percent, the lowest ever. Policy makers’ reductions in borrowing costs should start to take effect by the middle of the year, Sentance said today.

“Our experience of the current recession in the U.K. is not, so far, out of kilter with earlier postwar recessions,” Sentance said. “The risks are still weighted to the downside at this stage.”

The Bank of England’s forecasts, published Feb. 11, show the economy will contract at an annual 4 percent rate by the end of the first quarter and inflation will slow to 0.5 percent at the end of next year. The central bank aims to keep annual price gains at 2 percent.