!!! الذهـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــب !!!
الاسبوع القادم هناك احتمال ان يسن قانون جديد بمقتضاه يمكنك شراء الذهب مباشرة من سوق نيويورك بدل ما تشتريه و تخليه عندك و هذا من شأنه أن يرفع أسعار الذهب إلى أسعار خيالية!
و سيكون رمز الذهب هو GLD
By John Spence, CBS MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 11:32 AM ET Nov 14, 2004
BOSTON (CBS.MW) -- Investors have long been denied a cost-efficient way to invest in gold bullion without actually buying the metal and stashing it away.
At the same time, many institutional investors and mutual funds are barred from purchasing gold or other precious metals directly.
However, that will likely soon change as a gold bullion-backed exchange-traded fund is expected to launch on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GLD" as soon as this week.
On Friday, Swiss bank UBS (UBS) released an offering notification for the streetTRACKS Gold Trust after the World Gold Council, the ETF's sponsor, filed its last registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in the week.
For the World Gold Council and the fund's marketing agent, Boston-based ETF player State Street, the introduction of the first gold ETF appears well-timed as the price of gold hit 16-year highs near $440 an ounce this week. Some traders and analysts speculated gold may be moving higher on anticipation of the ETF launch.
Yet Ross Norman, a director at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said it's too simplistic to attribute the recent upward movement of gold solely to expectations surrounding the debut.
"The dollar is in decline, and that's really helping gold prices," Norman said. "I'm not saying the upcoming ETF is already factored into the price of gold, but the market has been expecting the launch of gold ETFs for quite some time."
The World Gold Council first filed the prospectus with the SEC over a year ago in May 2003. ETF powerhouse Barclays Global Investors has also filed a gold ETF with the SEC to be called iShares COMEX Gold Trust. It is slated to list on the American Stock Exchange.
Both ETFs are designed to reflect the price of gold owned by the trust, less the expenses of the trust's operations.
The funds will pay their fees by selling off small amounts of gold bullion. In other words, the fractional amount of physical gold represented by each share will decrease over the life of the trust -- an important caveat.
Gold, like artwork, is classified as a collectible by the IRS and is therefore taxed at a higher 28 percent capital gains rate in the United States after being held for more than one year.
According to filings, both ETFs will be structured as grantor investment trusts rather than registered investment companies, and expenses will be priced identically at 0.4 percent of assets. The Bank of New York will be the trustee for both ETFs.
Elsewhere, gold ETFs have already been listed in England, Australia, and South Africa.
Mining stocks not the same as gold
Individual investors wanting to invest directly in gold bullion have traditionally had to pay the high costs associated with transporting, insuring, and safely storing it.
Although traditional open-end mutual funds that invest in gold-mining stocks exist, there is no convenient or efficient way to invest directly in gold bullion, aside from perhaps buying gold coins and keeping them in a safe-deposit box at your local bank.
"Gold has lacked a sensible product that ordinary investors can buy," Norman said. "Yes, you can buy equity in the underlying mining companies, but it's been difficult to get access to the gold market."
Since mining companies are affected by factors not related to the gold market, they may not provide as good a hedge against inflation and market shocks, which is one of the main benefits of owning bullion.
Still, existing precious metals and mining funds have posted sparkling returns of late in the bull market for gold.
One of the purest plays on gold in the fund world is the $720 million American Century Global Gold (BGEIX), which has a 3-year annualized return of 37.2 percent, while the S&P 500 has averaged 3.3 percent annually over the same period, according to investment research firm Morningstar.
The American Century fund's 0.69 percent ratio stacks up very well against the 1.8 percent category average for precious metals funds, reports Morningstar.
The $753 million Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining (VGPMX) fund has an ultra-low expense ratio at 0.55 percent. However, when it reopened its doors in May 2003 after closing to new buyers under a flood of investor cash, its mandate broadened to invest more in mining companies outside gold, such as platinum, nickel, copper and iron ore. Additionally, investors need $10,000 to get into the fund, while ETF investors can buy as little as one share.
There's gold in them exchanges
Many observers expect gold ETFs, which would mark the first time investors could buy the precious metal on an exchange like a stock, to be a runaway success.
"The gold ETFs could bring a new raft of institutional and possibly retail investors into the gold market," Norman said.
"I would be shocked if they did not garner $1 billion in assets in the next year or so, and firmly believe they have the potential to do much better than that," said Jim Wiandt, editor of the Journal of Indexes.
Gold has long been a stalwart hedge against falling markets, and gold ETFs would also allow investors to go short, he added.
With largely-untapped markets soon gaining access to gold with the new ETFs, some analysts are expecting gold to continue its climb.
"Gold is definitely poised, and we think we'll see $450 before Christmas," Norman said. "This bull run has legs, and we've yet to see the best."
