Technicians Bearish, Goldbugs Buoyant

That's according to Peter Brimelow in his latest MarketWatch column. Noted technician Martin Pring has called gold's action over the last six months a rising head-and-shoulders top whose neckline was broken about Jan. 20th. JS Mineset's Dan Norcini has some harsh words for the Amex Gold Bugs Index chart: '"The HUI chart stinks -- not much more can be said than that. It has to get back above 400 to generate the least bit of bullish enthusiasm."'

Hard-core goldbugs and financial-system skeptics are holding the course, however, and some are getting enthusiastic at current prices.


Granted that both groups are full of gold permabulls, but these people also have a fundamentalist orientation. They're the closest answer to long-term investors, and they see the recent rout as a buying opportunity. These people tend to be wrong when long-term bull market turns into bear, but there hasn't been any indication of that tide-shift as yet.