$65.78
-0.42 (-0.63%)
Central Gold-Trust (AMEX:GTU)
CAPS Rating:
The Company is an investment holding entity created to invest of its assets in gold bullion, with the primary investment objective of achieving long-term appreciation in the value of its gold holdings.
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It was another CAPS player who first brought my attention to Central Gold-Trust. Looking back, I see it was marcd77.
http://caps.fool.com/Pitch/GLD/1898711/gold-is-going-through-1650-in-.aspx
Many CAPS members may be more familiar with Central Fund of Canada (CEF), which is essentially the same thing but with equal parts gold and silver bullion:
http://caps.fool.com/Pitch/CEF/287640/cef-central-fund-of-canada-is-.aspx
Looking more closely, however, I see this closed-end fund does invest in some gold bullion certificates, even though they comprise a small percentage of overall holdings. CEF, on the other hand, invests solely in physical gold and silver bullion... no paper instruments or proxies in their vault! Those certificates currently represent 3% of GTU's holdings, though...not enough to be a major concern for me. The important thing is that they remain, as is stated in the company's profile, "unencumbered".
Here is a link to the company's net asset value page with current vault contents:
http://www.gold-trust.com/asset_value.htm
I view these two instruments as the best alternatives to holding physical bullion available on the market. GLD,IAU,SLV... these all have their flaws in my opinion which make them less desireable... not the least of which involves questions I have about the solvency of institutions involved... like Barclay's, for example.