Or-chronique

This document is an issue of the French investment newsletter “L’Edito Matières Premières & Devises,” sent by email on 27 January 2011, focusing on gold and other commodities. In the main article, Rafael Michaut presents a strongly contrarian view on gold, arguing that physical gold creates no real value, has no intrinsic yield, and functions mainly as a recycled, static stock whose price is driven by expectations, fear, and speculative behavior. He likens the speculative rise in gold prices since 2000 to a Madoff-style pyramid, where each buyer simply bets on finding a later buyer willing to pay more, ultimately leading to a bubble and painful losses for late entrants. The article describes the classic dynamics of speculative bubbles—media hype, institutional participation, delayed entry of small investors, and sudden reversals—warning individual investors not to treat gold as a sound long‑term investment but rather to sell it. A brief advertising segment promotes strategies to profit from the broader economic crisis. A second article by Alain Freymond offers an opposing view, stating that gold and silver have not yet peaked and should continue rising in 2011 due to fiscal uncertainties, inflation risks, currency tensions, and constrained mine supply, while also announcing favored base metals and soft commodities for that year.