“Leave a million dollars with a bank, and in a year, you get only something like $990,000 back,” Marc Faber, respected publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, told Bloomberg by phone yesterday.

“I would rather want to own some solid currency, in other words … gold” warned Faber.

Gold bears for years fed off the prospects for higher borrowing costs. Now bulls are thriving in a world where negative rates are becoming commonplace.

The Bank of Japan adopted negative rates last month to spur growth, joining central banks in Denmark, the euro area, Sweden and Switzerland. With about a quarter of the world economy facing negative rates in some form and growth faltering, gold has become one of this year’s best investments.

It’s a big turnaround for the metal which slid to a five-year low in December as the Federal Reserve readied for its first rate increase in almost a decade. With China’s slowdown roiling markets, there’s less chance the Fed will move again until next year. Negative rates mean depositing cash would leave investors with less than when they started, making traditional stores of value such as gold more appealing.

You can read the full article on Bloomberg here

Marc Faber is an eloquent advocate of owning physical gold which he describes as being a way to become “your own central bank.”  He believes an allocation to physical gold will serve as vital financial insurance and that Singapore is the safest place to own gold in the world today.

Marc Faber Webinar on Storing Gold in Singapore 

LBMA Gold Prices

19 Feb: USD 1,221.50, EUR 1,101.14 and GBP 853.35 per ounce
18 Feb: USD 1,204.40, EUR 1,082.41 and GBP 841.19 per ounce
17 Feb: USD 1,202.40, EUR 1,080.57 and GBP 838.84 per ounce
16 Feb: USD 1,212.00, EUR 1,083.75 and GBP 838.04 per ounce
15 Feb: USD 1,208.45, EUR 1,078.94 and GBP 834.57 per ounce

For the week, gold is 0.4% lower and gold appears to have recovered from the falls seen on Sunday night and Monday morning.

For the week, silver is 0.7% lower and also appears to have recovered from the falls seen at the start of the week.

Both appear over valued in the short term and under valued in the medium and long term.

Smart money will continue to accumulate and dollar cost average into bullion.