Large Institutional Investors & Gold

Gold has been in the news a lot lately.  In particular, several large institutions have relatively large positions in gold.  Here are some headlines on their positions.

Paulson & Co., the U.S. hedge fund run by John Paulson, cut a stake in the SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund backed by the precious metal, during the third quarter, according to a government filing.

Paulson held 20.3 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust as of Sept. 30, compared with 31.5 million a quarter earlier, a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed. SPDR is the biggest exchange-traded product backed by gold.

Read more here:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-14/paulson-co-cuts-position-in-spdr-gold-trust-holdings.html

... University of Texas Investment Management Corporation’s (UTIMCO) recent announcement that they are holding $1 billion in gold bullion. This is significant investment for America’s second largest college endowment and it’s important for investors understand why UTIMCO chose to invest in so much gold, and also why they chose to invest in bullion.

Read more here:
http://www.thestockenthusiast.com/opinion/why-did-the-university-of-texas-buy-so-much-gold/


Another article:

The April purchase of nearly $1 billion in physical gold bullion by the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) is raising questions among endowments, think tanks, and asset managers: Was this a prescient investment, or a political statement?

“Gold has had a huge run-up—which suggests a bubble,” says Dean Baker, Co-Director at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, who has previously warned about institutional investors overallocating to gold. “I would not consider investing in gold. I assume they expect higher inflation, but I don't understand it. I think it's silly. In this case, I don't see why UTIMCO would do this.”

Read more here:

http://www.ai-cio.com/channel/ASSET_ALLOCATION/The_UTIMCO_Bullion_Buy__Prescient,_or_Political_.html