October 26, 2009 - While some of our nation's economists and government officials have proclaimed that our fledgling economy is growing and stabilizing, mixed signals continue to tangle news wires, as evidenced by the most recent corporate scuttlebutt. Our recession has claimed over 7 million jobs, because consumer spending is down, reducing retail sales to a fraction of what they were three years ago.

Over-budgeted companies have had to slash payrolls in order to curb their losses. The unsustainable profits that many companies saw during the previous quarter will disappear once companies have fully consolidated. The fear of diminished dividends has caused many stock investors to diversify their holdings with assets that may move opposite to retreating stock indexes. Gold bullion is one of the assets that investors value as a safe-haven hedge against a falling dollar and repressed stocks. Bank lending and consumer confidence is still weak, so companies may not be willing or able to hire anytime soon.

The national unemployment rate hit 9.8% in September, and economists expect that this 26-year high will continue to rise for the next two years. Layoffs in some sectors have showed signs of slowing, but our jobless level will most likely surpass the 10% barrier in 2009. "There (are) a few positive signs, but there's still a shortfall in profits from where they were a year ago or two years ago," said Jeff Bergstrand, an economist with Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. "There's still a lot of cost cutting going on."

Many stock investors fear that executives have chopped overhead to show share holders profits, but these cost-cutting measures could catch up with them during the next two quarters. Until the volatility in US stock indexes subsides, it may be a wise idea to diversify into silver and gold bullion. The current gold spot price is $1060, and investors can visit www.GoldPrice.net for up-to-date spot prices for all investment-grade precious metals. 

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Jonathan Monroe

Senior Staff Writer - Gold-Bullion.org