Writing in SeekingAlpha Jeff Nielson points out the tremendous misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding ETS's – how they influence the price of gold and other precious metals. Jeff believes it is an intricate scam to keep the price of gold in check. Here is an excerpt: "An article put out by Reuters Sunday morning noted that holdings of the largest (so-called) bullion-ETFs shrank significantly in January. As with most “analysis” of precious metals by mainstream talking-heads, Reuters totally misunderstood the dynamics at work.

“Analysts fear sustained outflows from gold ETFs if investors' attitude towards bullion sours, which could be a drag on prices,” said Reuters, proving that these anonymous “analysts” know nothing about the precious metals sector.

As I have written on numerous occasions, the large “bullion-ETFs” – which are backed by nothing but banker promises – exist for one purpose: to dramatically dilute the number of dollars entering this sector, in order to assist the anti-gold cabal of bankers in their three-decade long price-fixing campaign." Read more here: Bullion ETF Shrinkage Good for Sector

Jeff Nielson writes in Seeking Alpha about deflation. Deflation is not nearly as well understood as inflation – at least when it comes to the roll of precious metals and commodities. Many believe that the value of gold will drop in a deflationary scenario. Jeff sees the opposite and makes the case for gold rising. Here is an excerpt: "As the U.S. economy begins its next leg down (and a “leg” certain to be even more painful than the initial collapse), and as the U.S.'s previously-deluded creditors begin to comprehend the magnitude of U.S. insolvency, no one will want to hold U.S. dollars – and everyone will want to hold gold and silver.

In a high-inflation environment, a currency moves relentlessly but gradually toward a value of zero. Conversely, in a solvency crisis, a currency can go to zero overnight. Thus, instead of a deflationary environment being “bearish” for gold, it is arguably even more bullish than a high-inflation scenario." Read more here: Seeking Alpha

Problems with finances are fuel to gold – if those having the problems are big enough. Well, Greece is experiencing problems which leads some to believe it will be gold-positive. Here is an excerpt from Bloomberg: "European finance ministers meet today to discuss Greece’s budget deficit. The country’s worsening finances last month prompted credit-rating companies to cut its creditworthiness. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s strength, fell as much as 0.3 percent today. Gold typically moves inversely to the dollar." Read more here: Bloomberg

This article from Bullion Bulls Canada makes the case that China is planning on pulling the plug on the US Dollar peg. It also says that as a result, the Chinese are picking up gold as quickly as they can – buying on dips. If this is so, then it is certainly good for gold. The time for this to happen? The author speculates sometime in 2010. Here is an excerpt: "The general attitude I have encountered (which is obviously fueled by how the mainstream media chooses to report this issue) is that China's government is likely to retain the dollar-peg either because a) that has been its policy throughout the last decade; or b) that China is somehow “trapped” into maintaining the “peg”. I firmly believe the exact opposite: that China's government is very close to abandoning the dollar-peg, and (in fact) has made a multitude of preparations to do so." Read more here: Bullion Bulls Canada

Gold recovers and the future looks 'golden' according to James Moore: “We expect the dollar to dominate short-term direction,” James Moore, an analyst at London-based TheBullionDesk.com, said in a report. Gold will “maintain its bull trend over the mid- to longer term as investors continue to diversify away from fiat currencies and offset inflation concerns,” he said. Read more in Bloomberg

Gold rose to a one-month high in New York and London as a weaker dollar increased demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Platinum climbed to the highest price in 17 months. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the strength of the greenback, slid as much as 0.9 percent. (BTW, the US Dollar Index is calculated by factoring in the exchange rates of six major world currencies: the euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. This index started in 1973 with a base of 100 and is relative to this base. This means that a value of 120 would suggest that the U.S. dollar experienced a 20% increase in value over the time period.) More from Bloomberg

More news on various gold scams with this article from Gold Investing News: "With reports that the GLD “was created and run by untrustworthy instititions”, Michael Pennington explains: “The gold and silver ETFs were created by such financial giants as JP Morgan and Barclay’s Bank that also serve as custodians and sub-custodians. These are the very firms that have been involved in the process of short selling gold and silver in huge quantities. That they would be involved in creating the ETFs had to be considered as most unlikely unless they had nefarious purposes.” More here: Gold Investing News

Where there's smoke, there's fire it is said. Well here you have a situation with a heck of a lot of smoke…and it's smoldering. If you are holding GLD ETF, perhaps it's time you looked at holding real bullion.

Gold and silver jump as the US dollar takes a hit. Traders take a dislike to the dollar early in 2010. Here is an excerpt from Bloomberg: "Gold prices surged the most in two months as the falling dollar boosted demand for precious metals as alternative investments. Silver jumped almost 4 percent." More here: Bloomberg

Doubt about the quality of gold and its existence at all are prompting investors to demand their physical gold in place of 'paper' according to this story from 'Before It's News'. Here is an excerpt:

"As the result of 40 years of known and secret sales of gold bullion by central banks to suppress gold prices, demands are made by those who have allowed the US and to hold their gold and they are asking for physical delivery. After delays on requested delivery, the sale of melt bars, which are not good delivery, and the discovery of gold plated tungsten bars, owners are suspicious that maybe their gold isn’t really in a US or UK depository. As a result there is enormous pressure for delivery. We know there are gold-like bars at Ft. Knox. We do not know if they are real because there has been no audit since 1954. Furthermore we don’t know who they belong too. This has caused great concern for those owning gold and hence, a demand for gold bullion. The same shortage has shown up on Comex and the LBMA, where instead of physical gold delivery the exchanges are offering cash bonuses, not to take delivery or in the case of Comex are being offered shares in the gold ETF, GLD." Read the full story here, including an economic summary: Before It's News

Peter Brimelow writes about legendary newsletter writer Jamas Dines (now 80) and about his outlook for gold in 2010 saying, "Dines continues extremely positive on gold (although he thinks silver will outperform it in the near term) and uranium". He also paints a picture of a man who is "probably the most arrogant, egotistical, aggressive and abrasive of all the investment letter editors monitored by the Hulbert Financial Digest." Read more here: Market Watch