Nov 18 a.m. (USAGOLD) -- Gold continues to trade within the recent range in the wake of this past weekend's G20 meeting. While the yellow metal remains in 'wait and see' mode, the stock market has reacted negatively to perceived G20 inaction.

The leaders of the twenty largest economies in the world met in Washington over the weekend to discuss the global financial crisis. While it was unlikely that a solution would be discovered, little more came out of the meeting than platitudes about greater oversight and cooperation.

As we discussed in our most recent USAGOLD RoundTable discussion, government efforts to address the financial crisis and re-instill confidence in global markets have thus far been unsuccessful. If anything, inconsistencies and changes to existing plans have further eroded confidence in the government's ability to shepherd us through this mess.

Despite much hype, the G20 had little to offer. There did seem to be some consensus that the global economy was in need of additional fiscal stimulus. China has already announced a massive fiscal stimulus package geared at sustaining growth.

Should we be expecting a check from the government in our Christmas stockings this year, or will Congress withhold so the new administration can grace us with their largess next year? Perhaps all our dollars are destined for the banking and auto industries.

Yesterday, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig said, "I think the Fed has done about as much as it can do." Meanwhile, the ECB's Noyer said that global policy makers have more room to act. Just two days after the G20 meeting it's apparent that coming up with a consistent message was not on the agenda. That makes even the platitudes somewhat suspect.

I'm no PR flak, but it seems the first step in generating confidence is to have a consistent message from the parties that are presumably managing the situation. If the Fed and the ECB aren't on the same page, can we assume the G20 is in disarray with each country scrambling to protect their own interests?

Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson will appear before the House Financial Services Committee this morning. They will be answering questions on TARP as well as the various Fed liquidity facilities. The proposed bailout of the auto industry is likely to come up as well. My guess is that the questioning is going to be pretty heated.

At this point, I think it's reasonably to anticipate more of the same: Even lower interest rates. And more money will be thrown at the problem. Perhaps some of that money will make it to the consumer level, but the bottom line is that global currencies are likely destined for further debasement.

This is exactly the environment where physical gold admirably serves its role as a preserver of wealth. Wealth manager Pura Saxena sums it up nicely in an article entitled Deflation Hoax, saying, "I would suggest that you take advantage of the recent rout in the markets by converting more of your cash to hard assets."

Gold Market Movers:

US TIC data shows net inflows of $143.4 bln in Sep.

U.S. PPI for Oct plunged a record 2.8%, but core was a higher than expected +0.4%.

UK CPI for Oct 4.5% y/y, versus 5.2% in Sep.

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