Billionaire Paulson Sticks With Gold Wager as Prices Rebound

 Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, who cut his gold holdings by more than half in the second quarter, maintained his bet on the metal over the next three months as prices rebounded.

Paulson & Co., the largest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded product for the metal, held 10.23 million shares as of Sept. 30, unchanged from June 30, according to a government filing yesterday. Billionaire George Soros took a stake in the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF.

Global bullion demand tumbled 21 percent last quarter as investors pulled 118.7 metric tons out of ETFs and similar products, World Gold Council data show. Prices that fell into a bear market in April have rebounded 9.1 percent since reaching a 34-month low on June 28 as purchases of coins and jewelry rose. The metal is still headed for its first annual loss since 2000 as equities rallied and inflation failed to accelerate after the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented money printing.

Gold futures in New York declined 23 percent this year to $1,286.30 an ounce, outpacing the 4.6 percent drop for the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities climbed 17 percent, and the Bloomberg Dollar Index gained 3.3 percent. The Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bond Index declined 2.6 percent.

(Source: Bloomberg)