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Irish Finance Minister Dumps Stocks - Buys Gold

GoldCore's picture




 

- Ireland's Minister of Finance shifted personal wealth out of stocks and into gold
- Minister invested in SPDR Gold Shares ETF, Portuguese government bonds and other ETFs

- Maintained holdings in bank and agricultural commodities ETFs
- Gold ETF not a safe haven asset - much unappreciated counterparty risk

The Minister for Finance in Ireland, Michael Noonan, sold his shares in funds that track European and US stocks and diversified his portfolio including allocating some of his personal wealth into a gold exchange traded fund (ETF) in 2014.




Noonan sold out of his positions in the Lyxor Eurostoxx 50 ETF and SPDR DJIA ETF in 2014 and opted to invest in the SPDR gold shares ETF and Portuguese government bonds. He maintained his holdings in SPDR KBW Banks ETF, Ishares FTSE 100 ETF, Market Vectors Agri Business ETF, ETFS Agricultural Commodities ETF.


The information was published last week in the Register of Members Interests, in which members of Oireachtas - the Irish Parliament - must declare financial interests valued at over €13,000.  


The changes to the Minister’s portfolio were highlighted by Ireland's Sunday Independent yesterday, who described Noonan as "bearish" and interpreted the move as a “hedge against euro deflation".


The piece acknowledged that gold is a safe haven - the "traditional hedge against tough times" and that "gold is an asset that has outperformed in times of both inflation and deflation."

Noonan is believed to be quite a shrewed investor. The Sunday Independent reported that

Noonan's personal investments give an insight into his thinking and his views on the risk and opportunities facing the global and European economies and markets. He has a track record stretching back decades of canny private investments.”


The news is of interest given Noonan's status within the Eurogroup of Finance Ministers, the Council of the European Union and the Ecofin. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin), is composed of the Economics and Finance Ministers of the Member States, generally meets once a month under the chair of the rotating EU Presidency.

Noonan is an EU economic insider and would have access to good information with regards to financial and economic developments in Europe.

Noonan represents Ireland at these meetings and chaired the Council during the first half of 2013. He is committed to the European political project. The political opposition and an angry public have accused him of  putting the interests of EU banks and political elites over those of Irish society.

Given Noonan is close to EU elites, it is interesting that he chose to sell his European stocks and his allocation to Eurostoxx. Was the decision made prior to the ECB mooting the possibility of QE? If so it would suggest that Noonan may have been concerned about deflation. And yet the ECB never considered factoring the potential for deflation into its stress tests for banks.


Or was the decision made with knowledge of the ECB's intention? If this were so it would indicate a lack of faith by a European finance minister in the ability of the ECB to achieve its stated objectives, given that QE should raise European stock markets.     


Unfortunately, the Register of Members Interests does not detail the timeline of investments or their relative value so it is difficult to speculate whether the minister dumped his stock market investments prior to buying the gold ETF.


Noonan also bought Portugal 4.35% October 2017 government bonds. This either suggests that he has more confidence in the economic outlook for Portugal than for Ireland or more likely it is a form of diversification.




Gold Investment Pyramid - GoldCore

He continues to hold SPDR KBW US Banks ETF - which tracks US banks,  iShares FTSE 100 ETF, Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF and ETFS Agricultural Commodities ETF.


Whatever the motivation of a European finance minister to buy into a gold ETF - which, incidentally, is not the same as owning physical gold as it carries significant counterparty risk - it represents a significant shift in attitude toward gold.

It also demonstrates that the recovery narrative is not one that the Minister appears to have much faith in. Noonan is prudently hedging his bets in this regard.

We advise readers and clients to do as the Minister has done and prudently hedge the many risks of today by diversifying into gold - not paper gold but physical gold. The gold ETF is not a safe haven asset rather it is a derivative that tracks the price of gold and in which one does not have legal title to or own the underlying asset.

Download: Comprehensive Guide To Investing In Gold

MARKET UPDATE

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,157.00, EUR 1,097.67 and GBP 782.13 per ounce.

Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,156.50, EUR 1,091.24  and GBP 779.58 per ounce.


Gold climbed 0.17% percent or $1.90 and closed at $1,155.20 an ounce Friday, while silver remained unchanged at $15.57 an ounce. Gold and silver both traded down for the week at 0.90 percent and 1.89 percent.




In Singapore, bullion for immediate delivery ticked lower and then higher and was up 0.3 percent to $1,162.50 an ounce near the end of day trading.


Gold hovered at its lowest in nearly three months today pressured by the still strong U.S. dollar. The two day U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting starting Tuesday, may hint at the timing of any hike in U.S. interest rates.


Bearish sentiment continued as holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell to 750.67 tonnes down 0.28 tonnes on Friday - the lowest since late January.


Asians continue to buy physical bullion on dips in price and premiums on the Shanghai Gold Exchange were about $5-$6 an ounce above the global benchmark, even stronger than Friday's premiums.


In Ireland, in late morning trading gold is trading at $1,157.03 or off 0.09 percent. Silver is at $15.64 or up 0.15 percent and platinum is $1,115.32 or up 0.03 percent.

 

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Tue, 03/17/2015 - 18:16 | 5899927 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

The bright side is that the 19 other people who have claims on the same gold as the one that cashed out can have themselves a grand shabeen and stay drunk for 3 days when they find out the ETF insurer went broke.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 15:43 | 5899425 l1b3rty
l1b3rty's picture

Should we warn him about precious metals manipulation?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 15:14 | 5899274 Shitgum Suicide
Shitgum Suicide's picture

Had a thought for while but have never revealed it to the gallery here but why the hell it's St. Patty's Day.

Is it possible that the governments of the world are going to shift their debt into Gold ETF's so when gold goes ballistic that the paper debt will be wiped away wih paper gold all the while the governments of the world are loading up on physical gold so when the reset happens there will be an actual backing to the new currencies or SDR's?

Any thoughts regarding the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow? Would love to hear it!

Happy Saint Patty's Day everyone, even you HH ;-)

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:44 | 5897413 Chris Rofot
Chris Rofot's picture

I know there's a leprechaun joke in here somewhere...

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 06:07 | 5897275 Kokulakai
Kokulakai's picture

Throw another chair on the fire.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:37 | 5897258 Gold Dog
Gold Dog's picture

Q- What's the differance between an Irish wake and an Irish wedding?

 

 

A- One less drunk.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 14:51 | 5899161 Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas's picture

Hey and Ted Kennedy has been sober for almost 6 years!

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 22:26 | 5896539 oldmanofthesee
oldmanofthesee's picture

So....this is a sincere question. I understand the aversion to GLD. Is one a step closer to phys with IAU or PHYS, the Sprott fund? Some of us are inhibited from "stacking" by age and health, yet are loathe to leave our few, remaining dollars there for the gubmint to devalue.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:48 | 5897081 uncle_disgusting
uncle_disgusting's picture

If counterparty is the risk, then choose your counterparty well. There is also of course jurisdictional risk to consider - what if private gold holdings became illegal, heavily taxed etc. where you or your ETF provider are domiciled? A foreign bank-run ETF in a safe jurisdiction might be better e.g. ZKB, Julius Baer etc.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 23:59 | 5896905 one_hundred
one_hundred's picture

my roomate's step-mother makes $79 hourly on the laptop . She has been fired for 10 months but last month her pay was $18694 just working on the laptop for a few hours. see here... www.globe-report.com

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 21:51 | 5896400 MontgomeryScott
MontgomeryScott's picture

I'm learning some stuff.

McGraw-Hill (the international globalist corporation that writes revisionist history textbooks for the U.S. edumacation system) has a subsidiary that is tied directly to the internationalist global corporation Standard and Poor's (or, rather, Standard and Poor's Financial services, LLC. is a subsidiary of McGraw-Hill Financial). ANOTHER internationalist global corporation called 'State Street Global Advisors' speaks to the investments held (the so-called 'Exchange Traded Funds'). An 'ETF' is kind of like a 'stock', sort of, I suppose. Actually, it looks more like a 'derivative' in practice... but worse than either.

SO: the guys that re-write history, combined with the guys that cheerlead the global ponzi banking system via 'ratings', directed by the guys that tell people to buy worthless paper investments, conned the Irish Finance Minister into their confidence game.

The guy doesn't posess any GOLD. He has toilet-paper shit that SAYS he does.

When Noonan the Mick figures it out (one second after he figures out that all the shit he thought he owned isn't really there), BOY, is HE gonna be pissed!

I guess that your brains really DO leak out after you go bald.

'Come in to my parlor', said the SPDR to the fly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzTGSKNjrp4

 

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 20:39 | 5896118 self_declared_c...
self_declared_commando's picture

www.bullioncapital.com

Thats where i'm purchasing my gold...

The Ultimate Gold Solution ;)

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 19:31 | 5895939 Conax
Conax's picture

SPDR gold ETF?

He didn't buy any gold. He's a good boy.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 04:35 | 5897210 AssN9
AssN9's picture

And later he will be forced to bid higher to get what he thought he already had...

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 22:01 | 5896440 MontgomeryScott
MontgomeryScott's picture

WELL, I'm SURE that the paper he bought is printed with shiny yellow-colored ink!

Don't you remember the automotive interiors plastered with Walnut-looking plastic?

(SHIT. You mean to say that people STILL FALL for this bullshit? I thought that when they bought 'I Can't believe It Isn't Butter' and tasted this crap, they would have figured out that this shit REALLY ISN'T BUTTER. Oleo margarine, by any other name,...)

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 15:19 | 5899302 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Hey!  Naugahyde (the hides of naugas) and painted on walnut is the most awesome interior of all.  Especially on a hot day when all of the dead naugas stick to your skin as you try to pull away from the car seat.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 19:11 | 5895882 walküre
walküre's picture

2 questions regarding Noonan

How big of a portfolio are we talking?

Did he personally benefit by accepting EU and IMF bailout conditions on behalf of the Irish people?

Worth investigating. The swamp didn't start and end with the Papas in Greece.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:17 | 5895339 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Portuguese government bonds? Really? Someone's not as smart as he thinks he is.

Had he been an actual bankster, and not a useful idiot, he would have put his nest egg in non-EU stocks and a second passport, not Fourth Reich theft bonds.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 22:18 | 5896507 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Nazi gold. By population one of the largest gold reserves in the world.

 

Sounds like he's betting on a Grexit to me.

 

 

Egypt is being flooded with capital right now...

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:15 | 5895331 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

"Noonan is believed to be quite a shrewed investor"

If he was actually shrewed he would have invoked the zero counterparty risk clause and have his gold in the same place the FED founding shareholders have their gold...underneath the chateau in a walk in safe.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:13 | 5895324 Finnman
Finnman's picture

Stupiiiido! Why didn't invest to German or Scandinavian stock market? I'm sure he knew Draghi will shoot with Bazooka but didn't expect stocks will soar so much?

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:09 | 5895304 Downtoolong
Downtoolong's picture

My favorite passage from Michael Lewis’ book Boomerang, The Meltdown Tour.

“Everyone in Ireland had the idea that somewhere in Ireland there was a little wise old man who was in charge of the money.…And then they saw him and said, Who the fuck was that??? Is that the fucking guy who is in charge of the money??? That’s when everyone panicked.”   

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 22:05 | 5896457 Wahooo
Wahooo's picture

Wait until Americans discover Yellen.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:02 | 5895278 Vegetius
Vegetius's picture

 

 

The following is the main legacy of the present Irish Government and their Great Finance Minister Noonan.

Ireland's national debt as a percentage of estimated 2014 GDP 114% (€183.6 bn)

The beginning of the crisis in 2006 the Irish National Debt stood at €43.7 billion, with the underwriting of billions of privately held debt mainly in three banks has lead to the debt burden on the Irish people exploding to a massively unsustainable level.

This Debt was mainly created during Irelands Tiger years by members of Irelands Golden Circle of insiders and placemen.  These same people have been involved in political office, Government business deals and a series of corruption scandals since 1980. No one has ever had to face jail in the land of Gombeen men and  leprechauns.

With the election of the present Government the Elite breathed a sigh of relief when Baldy Noonan the aptly nicknamed Minister for Finance was appointed he rapidly made the private debt into  Government debt.

So there we have it a corrupt rotten state up to its eyes in debt waiting for the Interest rates to go up and unravel the hokey story of the Irish rebound.

 

So in summary Noonan should buy gold coins because if this goes North he may need to buy his way out of a hanging

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 19:14 | 5895895 walküre
walküre's picture

I'm sure he did this for the children....

With the election of the present Government the Elite breathed a sigh of relief when Baldy Noonan the aptly nicknamed Minister for Finance was appointed he rapidly made the private debt into  Government debt.

Why would anyone ever suggest that Noonan has his fingers in the pots and benefited directly from the bailout?

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:59 | 5895269 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Yea - he's a genius. He was one of the overseer's that took Ireland down the shitter. The debt to GDP is in the top 3. Hopefully he'll take that expertise and help bury the EU Troika etc. what a joke

BTW - tomorrow being amateur drinker's night - please note that the real Irish will drink the usual amount but will be out there again on the night of the 18th.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 16:20 | 5895232 SoilMyselfRotten
SoilMyselfRotten's picture
Irish Finance Minister Dumps Stocks - 

BUYS LEVERAGED GOLD PONZI SCHEME INSTEAD

 

There, headline fixed

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:18 | 5895114 madcows
madcows's picture

Gold is down, what, 40% since its high?  China is buying.  The Russians are Buying.  India is Buying.  Well, apparently, so is Ireland.

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:17 | 5895110 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

A gold ETF isn't gold, it doesn't even play gold on TV. Portugal....really?

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:09 | 5895080 CHX
CHX's picture

More smoke signals from the elite... 

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:04 | 5895058 BanksterSlayer
BanksterSlayer's picture

And promptly vaulted his bars at HSBC? oh wait....

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 15:02 | 5895048 jaxville
jaxville's picture

  The best thing about SPDR is you can point to it and say you own gold but really you have nothing more than a jar of gold coins buried in your back yard.

  You buy gold to protect yourself from the excesses of the financial sector.  Holding a "gold" product within that sector makes no sense except for very short term speculation.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 14:00 | 5898909 jonytk
jonytk's picture

you can actually hold bitcoin on your phone. And it's really there for you to move it, send to a friend or spend it as you like 24/7 unlike stocks.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!