“Gold is rising because the post-Breton Woods exchange rate system doesn’t work,” Eric Roseman, our colleague over at the Commodity Trend Alert, matter-of-factly declares. “More than ever, governments are piling up debts, as a result of bailing-out their respective banking systems. There is a price to pay for this profligate spending. And gold sniffs trouble.”

“Gold is rising because the post-Breton Woods exchange rate system doesn’t work,” Eric Roseman, our colleague over at the Commodity Trend Alert, matter-of-factly declares. “More than ever, governments are piling up debts, as a result of bailing-out their respective banking systems. There is a price to pay for this profligate spending. And gold sniffs trouble.”

The commodity markets are surging today. Are the bulls charging because of investor fear or is something else going on? Here’s the answer.

Gold prices have been fairly stagnant lately, but savvy investors are still making money. AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) is rewarding its investors today for taking some risk.

With American and British equity markets closed on Monday, there wasn’t a lot of activity in the gold and silver markets either. Both got sold off a tad in Sunday night electronic trading and during Monday in the Far East…but both recovered during European trading hours at, or after, London opened for the day. The highs…such as they were…were after the London close.

Deprecated and reduced as a financial asset, gold is fast-gaining new buyers yet remains under-invested compared to previous crises…

“FEAR, Mr. Bond, takes gold out of circulation and hoards it against the evil day,” as 007 learns from a Bank of England officer in Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger (1959).

Gold was basically comatose all through Far East and European trading…with what activity there was, beginning [as is mostly the case] once floor trading began on the Comex in New York. Volume was decent in both metals, and both gold and silver’s attempts to go vertical shortly before the London close got firmly stopped in their tracks. The usual New York gold commentator noted that a very large 80,482 gold contracts had traded by 11:00 a.m….with a total of 110,979 for the entire day.

For the first time in a couple of decades, some of America’s most successful, big-name investors are buying gold.

At 53 years of age, John A. Paulson manages about $30 billion in his hedge funds. Over 2007 and 2008, he pocketed $10 billion in profits after he correctly bet that the subprime-mortgage market would crash.  His Credit Opportunities Fund earned nearly 500% gains in that year.

What this leading indicator for gold is telling us right now… Five specific precious metal plays for you to consider…Three gov’t mandates that could force you to make $63,359 and more…