The threat of a global financial meltdown still exists. Perhaps 20 Japanese banks are technically bankrupt, and the Nikkei Dow needs to hold above 14,000 to withstand the increasing pressures of a collapse there. So far, no cigar. This makes China more dangerous than Russia militarily. An official Chinese devaluation of the yuan is all but a certainty in 1999, as is an accompanying devaluation of the Hong Kong dollar.
Oil is critical to Indonesia.
Then there are the building war tensions in the oil rich Middle East, where Islam is coordinating a potential attack against Israel when the Y2K problem hits the U.S. next year. If two of the primary gold currencies strengthen, the South African rand and the Australian dollar, such should also strengthen gold. In this present chaotic environment, which has quickly deteriorated from the complacency where all seemed well in mid July, it is logical that investors would look for some safety, comfort and security in gold and gold stocks. For all is not as it seems to be. I have personally followed the thinking of Mr. McMaster for years and consider his newsletter among the best available.