Marc Faber on Crude Oil Gold and Risky assets

Q: There has been another curious development these past few months, which is that gold has been rallying along with many of these so-called risky assets. Do you read it as a warning signal that gold has been around the USD 1,000/oz mark?

A: Basically to some extent it is a warning signal for central banks because since 2001 the price of gold has gone up four times and that should make central bankers think that there is some kind of inflation in the system. It may not be inflation in consumer prices, although as you know in India recently food prices went up by 15%. So, in general we are in an inflationary environment. We have in the US a central bank that purposely wants to lower the value of the US dollar in terms of its purchasing power and also wants to eliminate one of the functions a cash deposit has which is namely to be a store of value. So, we see an elimination of these conditions, I believe that a lot of people consider gold to be an alternative to cash as I do. Now can the price gold move down somewhat? Yes, of course but I think we have some support for gold prices as it moves down from Asian central banks that own very little gold.

Q: While gold and metals have had a pretty sharp rally, crude has actually not been moving with that much momentum. For crude prices how do you foresee the next couple of months shaping up?

A: We had a more than doubling of crude oil prices between December 28 of this year until recently from USD 32/bbl to over USD 70/bbl. A correction is possible in the order of 10-20% – that I don’t know but in the long run given the increased demand from emerging economies for oil and given the fact that every year we burn more oil than we add to reserves, I think that the fundamentals of oil for the long run are relatively favourable.
Via www.moneycontrol.com
Dr. Marc Faber also known as Dr Doom is an investment adviser, investment analyst and fund manager author and publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report ,and the author of "Tomorrows Gold" . Dr Faber is known for his contrarian investment approach. Dr Marc Faber is associated with a variety of funds and is a member of the Board of Directors of numerous companies.
In 1987 he warned his clients to cash out before Black Monday on Wall Street. He made them handsome profits by forecasting the burst in the Japanese Bubble in 1990. He correctly predicted the collapse in US gaming stocks in 1993; and he foresaw the Asia-Pacific financial crisis of 1997/98 and the resulting global volatility. Dr Doom motto is "Follow the course opposite to custom and you will almost be right"
Mr. Faber is also the author of several books, including Tomorrow’s Gold – Asia’s Age of Discovery, and is a director of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. , a mining firm focused on the Asia Pacific region. He is also an adviser to a number of private investment funds.