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Soros Says Gold Is the ‘Ultimate Bubble’

By Marlene Y. Satter

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In an interview with Chrystia Freeland of Reuters, billionaire financier George Soros said Wednesday that, despite setting records this week, gold prices may continue to rise. However, he also repeated a warning he originally issued at Davos in January, that gold is “the ultimate bubble.”

Soros Fund Management LLC had been heavily invested in gold and the companies that mine it. As of June 30, the Soros fund, which he no longer manages, held 5.24 million sharesof the SPDR Gold Trust, holdings valued at approximately $650 million on Tuesday; it also held equities valued at nearly $250 million, as of the same date, in miners of gold and other minerals.

Soros pointed out that any investment is at risk in the current economic environment: “this is a period of great uncertainty so nothing is very safe.” He also said that at present gold is the only bull market. On Tuesday, spot gold set a new record at $1,274.75 an ounce, but retreated a bit on Wednesday as silver hit a new 30-month high. As if to underscore gold’s retreat from its dizzying new height, Soros warned, “…it’s certainly not safe and it’s not going to last forever.”