Japanese Pension Fund Buys Gold, Commodity Report by Top Financial Newsletter Profit Confidential

A Japanese pension fund, Okayama Metal & Machinery, is going to place 1.5% of its total assets ($500 million) in gold bullion-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Michael Lombardi, lead contributor to Profit Confidential, this is the first time the fund has bought gold bullion in its history.

In the article, Japanese Pension Fund Buys Gold as Currency, Lombardi highlights the importance of this event.

“The perception in Japan has begun to change, as retail investors are beginning to view investing in gold bullion as a protection against a crisis,” says Lombardi. “The chief investment officer of the fund said explicitly that investing in gold bullion was meant to protect against sovereign risk.”

According to Lombardi, historically, the $3.4-trillion Japanese pension market has invested in bonds, with the balance finding its way to other assets, but not gold bullion until now.

“Unlike North America, the talk isn’t of investing in gold bullion as a commodity, but the perception is that of gold bullion as a currency,” says Lombardi.

Now that Japanese pension funds are beginning to dip into gold bullion, Lombardi thinks increased demand in Japan is just beginning, “If even five percent of assets are invested in gold bullion, then five percent of a $3.4-trillion dollar pension fund market is a staggering $170 billion.”

Lombardi also points out that central banks have also been investing in gold bullion in the first few months of this year.

“If you want to sell your gold bullion, looks like there are plenty of Japanese investors who will be happy to take it off your hands,” says Lombardi.

Profit Confidential, which has been published for over a decade now, has been widely recognized as predicting five major economic events over the past 10 years. In 2002, Profit Confidential started advising its readers to buy gold-related investments when gold traded under $300 an ounce. In 2006, it “begged” its readers to get out of the housing market…before it plunged.

Profit Confidential was among the first (back in late 2006) to predict that the U.S. economy would be in a recession by late 2007. The daily e-letter correctly predicted the crash in the stock market of 2008 and early 2009. And Profit Confidential turned bullish on stocks in March of 2009 and rode the bear market rally from a Dow Jones Industrial Average of 6,440 on March 9, 2009, to 12,876 on May 2, 2011, a gain of 99%.

To see the full article and to learn more about Profit Confidential, visit www.profitconfidential.com.

Profit Confidential is Lombardi Publishing Corporation’s free daily investment e-letter. Written by financial gurus with over 100 years of combined investing experience, Profit Confidential analyzes and comments on the actions of the stock market, precious metals, interest rates, real estate, and the economy. Lombardi Publishing Corporation, founded in 1986, now with over one million customers in 141 countries, is one of the largest consumer information publishers in the world. For more on Lombardi, and to get the popular Profit Confidential e-letter sent to you daily, visit www.profitconfidential.com.

Michael Lombardi, MBA, the lead Profit Confidential editorial contributor, has just released his most recent update of Critical Warning Number Six, a breakthrough video with Lombardi’s current predictions for the U.S. economy, stock market, U.S. dollar, euro, interest rates and inflation. To see the video, visit http://www.profitconfidential.com/critical-warning-number-six.