It's the Perfect Time to Buy Gold

The Dow hit the 13,000 level on Tuesday, so does that mean it's time to move back into the markets? Take a tip from us: Don't follow the herd. The best stocks -- where you can make some real money -- aren't being talked about on the golf greens or at the water cooler at work. It's time to turn to the alternatives.

Here's what else we discussed this week:

Gold Outperforms the Stock Market
ETFs are just paper. But there's one ETF that's not just paper. In fact, owning units of this ETF gives you the right to take actual delivery of gold. It's the perfect time to buy gold... no matter the price.

Why 95% of Investors Are Dead Wrong
There is only way to play natural gas... and that's by looking at it as the world's cheapest fuel source. The global boom will be to be huge... the biggest game changer of our lifetimes.

The Best Stocks... Just Got Better
The truth is small caps are moving higher because of one of our favorite moneymakers... share buybacks. And here's the thing... it's where you can really make some money.

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Chesapeake Energy, the second-biggest U.S. natural gas producer, just announced that their fourth-quarter profits more than doubled this year.

Net income was $429 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with $180 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. While putting money in such a huge company like Chesapeake could prove to be a profitable investment over time, there are plenty of other ways to make money from natural gas that I'm betting you didn't know about.

Learn how you could share in untold riches here.

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A Top Fund Ditches Stocks
The free markets and common sense beg us to flee to safety... but Washington wants us to move toward equities. The real river of money will flow into what is already the fastest-growing segment of the market -- alternatives.

The Race Is On
The race is on for African resources, especially as emerging markets become fully developed. This is going to be a major trend over the next decade as Africa welcomes new "suitors" to the continent.

The Race Is On...
by Sara Nunnally, Editor, Macro Trader

Dear Reader,

When I first brought this idea to our publishers, they were skeptical to say the least... I was told in no uncertain terms that investors didn't want to hear about this.

I wrote up my report anyway.

It was on the South African mining industry, and I was recommending platinum. Here's the story in a nutshell.

South Africa had been chosen to host the 2010 World Cup, and there was a huge boom in construction and the economy at large. But I had my doubts... South Africa has a history of underinvestment in key infrastructure -- like power grids -- and an even worse history when dealing with unemployment and poverty.

This extended into the mining industry, which was seeing round after round of strikes. Conditions were deplorable. People were dying. As a result, the country's mining industry was on the verge of a mini-collapse.

Production of gold and platinum was taking big hits, and prices for both precious metals were climbing quickly.

Check out how gold and platinum performed since March 2010:

View larger chart

Platinum has climbed $200 an ounce and gold has climbed more than $350 an ounce.

But this dynamic is just one reason I was looking at Africa. It's part of a bigger idea that's been gaining some slow traction.

I'm talking about a "New Colonization" of Africa.

Take China, for example. China has been on a campaign to become the biggest global power in Africa, and it is succeeding. In early 2010, it was reported that China bought up half the farmland in Congo. Eastern Congo is home to vast mineral wealth.

China's also been after African oil reserves. It gave Angola -- OPEC's newest member -- $20 billion in reconstruction loans in 2009. In return, Angola has given China access to its oil. All told, between 2003 and 2008, Chinese direct investment in Africa has soared from $500 million to more than $8 billion... And that was before the massive loan to Angola!

The IMF said of Africa, "One of the least noticed aspects of the global downturn has been the resilience of the sub-Saharan Africa region."

And with plenty of international "suitors" waiting to scoop up access to natural resources, Africa may be the place to be over the next decade.

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Case in point, from Bloomberg:

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)'s $1.6 billion bid for Cove Energy Plc (COV) starts a race to develop natural-gas fields off Mozambique's Indian Ocean coast that may hold more than Norway's entire reserves.

Winning Cove would give Shell an 8.5 percent stake in a block where Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) has found 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Italy's Eni SpA (ENI) has discovered even more in a neighboring area. Together, there's sufficient fuel for the development of two $20 billion liquefied natural gas plants to supply customers in Asia, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

The fact that these reserves are on the east coast of Africa means a lot for power-hungry China. Even if China doesn't get in on the drilling side of this massive development, you can bet it'll want to buy a lot of the production.

That goes for India, too.

According to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is climbing at 20% a year in Asia. In fact, demand for LNG in China could double by 2015.

With that kind of demand, it's likely we'll see a number of bidders for this natural gas field.

That's good news for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Eni.

Keep an eye on Eni... If it wants to parcel off some of its East African natural gas, we could see this company break out of its downtrend.

I wouldn't be a buyer yet, but Eni's on my watch list.

The race is on for African resources, especially as growing emerging markets become fully developed. Indeed, China and India are already in the game, and it's rumored that India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. was considering a bid for Cove Energy, as well.

This is going to be a major trend over the next few years...

Happy Investing,

Sara

P.S. China's deep demand for natural resources will be a hot topic at our natural resources conference. But it won't be the only moneymaker we cover. We'll hear from speakers on just about every angle of the resource sector. If you want to get the straight scoop from the world's top investors, including a billionaire or two... this is your opportunity.

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Gold: A Billionaire's Viewpoint

Oil is up. The euro is down. Stocks are mixed. And gold is bouncing all over the place.

It's the result of a world in flux.

In preparation for our big (maybe even huge?) natural resources conference in late April, Sara and I sat down with some of the brightest minds in the business.

On Monday, we talked with Ian Gordon, the famed economist behind the Long Wave Cycle. He tells us to prepare for even stronger gains in gold. As the world's debt bubble deflates, he says, gold will be the safe haven of choice.

It is all part of what Gordon calls the economic seasons.

GOLD RUSH: Why Metals "Mania" Is Just Ahead! While gold has soared in 2011, the public is still not in the trade. That's why the clock is ticking on a gold (and silver!) mania that will send prices into a blistering spike. Major bull markets don't end with a whimper... they end with a bang! Discover why the biggest gold rush in history is just ahead... and how it could make YOU rich!

Right now, we are in winter. But this isn't the kind of season that lasts a mere three months. We've been in this cold spell for several years -- ever since the beautiful leaves of economic autumn fell to the ground in 2008.

In winter, we're forced to live off what we've stashed away.

For most folks and most governments, though, the pantry is empty. There's nothing but an IOU left over from better days.

And that's what Gordon is focused on. He knows the only way out of this cycle of debt is to paper it over with more debt and more funny money.

In other words... inflation.

That's why Gordon agrees with us and recommends alternative assets. It's also why he likes gold.

But even though he expects gold to flat-out soar as winter becomes spring (I've heard him mention the $4,000-an-ounce figure), I don't think he's as bullish as the man who called me on Tuesday morning.

Eric Sprott is a billionaire gold investor. He's got over 80% of his portfolio in precious metals.

And he says you should, too.

One of the first things this famed investor mentioned during our call was how the rules have suddenly changed.

We've got huge reform efforts out of Washington. But the problem is our leaders tell us one thing and do another. The fact that we still don't have a final version of the Volcker rule -- more than two years after the president first endorsed it -- is perfect proof.

What's worse, Sprott says, is the constant manipulation.

If the Fed isn't printing money... it's "twisting" interest rates.

And if it's not the Fed, it's the suckers in Europe that are forced to prop up a country drunk on public spending.

Gordon and Sprott both said something that needs repeating.

Physical possession is key.

Again... physical possession is key.

In the off chance gold becomes the currency substitute so many investors want it to be, a few shares of an ETF will be next to worthless. If the system melts down, it will start with an implosion of counterparty risk.

In other words, when the banks fail, why would we be so ignorant to think the bank that sold you a gold derivative (little more than a piece of paper and a promise -- just like the dollar) would survive?

The chances are quite good, in fact, that it will be those same derivatives that take down the banks.

You do remember 2008, right?

If/when failure happens, it will be a great day for the folks with a chunk of gold in their home vault. But then again... it will also be a great day to buy a gun.

Most of today's gold investors, though, are speculators. They don't care about protection from a full-on meltdown. They just want to get rich between now and fiscal Armageddon.

And remember, the market will go wherever the money pushes it.

Right now, the money is pushing gold higher.

From the Inside,

Andrew Snyder, Editorial Director, Inside Investing Daily

P.S. I have no doubt gold will be a hot topic at our natural resources conference. But it won't be the only moneymaker we cover. We'll hear from speakers on just about every angle of the resource sector. If you want to get the straight scoop from the world's top investors... this is your opportunity.