Soros Buys Gold

Mr Soros – a legend in investing circles for his $10bn (£6.37bn) bet against the pound in 1992 which forced sterling out of the European exchange rate mechanism – increased his stake in the SPDR Gold Trust in the last quarter of 2009.

Regulatory filings show that his $8.8bn investment vehicle, Soros Fund Management, raised its stake in exchange-traded fund SPDR by 3.7m shares to 6.2m shares in the three months ending December 31, 2009.

The new shares were bought at a price of $421m, taking his total holding in the fund to $663m at the end of December.

In addition, Mr Soros's investment vehicle owns 11,000 call options that will permit it to buy an extra 1.1m shares should gold prices move higher.

Soros Fund Management also increased its stake in Canadian-based gold producer Yamana Gold, buying 60,880 shares to take its total position to 85,880 shares, worth $973,314 at the end of December.

However, the actions of the Mr Soros's investment fund however seem to be at odds with his own viewpoint. During the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January, Mr Soros said: "When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment. The ultimate asset bubble is gold."

Gold hit a new high of just over $1,225 an ounce in December, having rise 40pc in the prior 12 months, and touched an all-time high in euros of €818 an ounce earlier this week. On Wednesday, gold was trading in New York at $1,115.55 an ounce, having hit a one-month high of $1,126.85 earlier in the day.

Mr Soros is not alone in increasing his stake in the SPDR, with new filings also showing that China Investment Corporation (CIC), Beijing's main overseas investment fund, taking a 0.4pc stake in the fund worth $155.6m.

CIC's investment is equivalent to just 0.4pc of the 33.9m ounces of gold maintained by the Chinese government, but is part of a growing trend of major funds investing in the metal.

The World Gold Council said on Wednesday that pension funds began actively investing in gold last year, viewing the metal as a long-term safe haven.

Aram Shishmanian, the council's chief executive, told Reuters that although the organisation does not forecast prices, he believes the gold market will be "robust' in 2010 in spite of an 11pc global drop in demand last year because of weaker industrial output.

PDP Runs Up 22% On This News...

Petrolifera Petroleum Limited provides update on Colombian Operations

CALGARY, Feb. 17 /CNW/ - Petrolifera Petroleum Limited (PDP - TSX) announced today that it has made significant progress in the remediation program at the La Pinta 1X well on its Sierra Nevada License in the Lower Magdalena Basin, onshore Colombia.

The snubbing unit arrived on location from the United States in late January 2010 and we are now in the seventeenth day of operations. The program has resulted in the successful removal of the blockage in the tubing string in the wellbore and screens have been run to restrict the intrusion of sand during planned testing procedures. A wellhead and test lines are being made up and testing is anticipated to commence in the near term. Of consequence, costs to date are well below budget and if immediate testing of the Cienaga de Oro ("CDO") Formation proves successful, we anticipate a substantial savings relative to our original budget. We will report on results once we have definitive and reliable information.

We are also pleased to report that we spudded the Brillante SE 1X exploratory well, also on the Sierra Nevada License, at 11:00 hours on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. The projected total depth of the well is 9,500 feet and the well is considered prospective for natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Petrolifera owns a 100 percent interest in these projects.

The company also wishes to advise that Mr. Gary Wine, President and Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Kristen Bibby, Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer, will be participating in the RBC Capital Markets' "2010 South American Energy Symposium" to be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Thursday, February 18, 2010. Subsequently, they have a series of meetings planned with various institutional investors in the U.S.A. In conjunction with participation in the Symposium and the scheduled meetings, the company has posted an amended Investor Presentation on its website at www.petrolifera.ca under the Investor Information tab.

Petrolifera Petroleum Limited is a Calgary-based crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas exploration, development and production company active in Argentina, Colombia and Peru in South America. Its shares and share purchase warrants are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PDP and PDP.WT, respectively.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward looking information including, but not limited to, the company's remediation efforts and testing of the La Pinta 1X well in Colombia and the timing and costs associated therewith and the anticipated results from the Brillante SE 1X exploration well, also in Colombia. Forward looking information is not based on historical facts but rather on Management's expectations regarding the company's future growth, results of operations, production, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, plans for and results of drilling activity, environmental matters, business prospects and opportunities and expectations with respect to general economic conditions. Such forward looking information reflects Management's current beliefs and assumptions and is based on information currently available to Management. Forward looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking information, including but not limited to, risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production, unavailability of or delays in receipt of required equipment, delays or changes to plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections in relation to production, costs and expenses and health, safety and environment risks), the risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, the uncertainty associated with negotiating with foreign governments and third parties located in foreign jurisdictions and the risk associated with international activity. There can be no assurance that planned remediation efforts and subsequent testing of the La Pinta 1X well drilled on the Sierra Nevada I License will yield commercial results. Hydrocarbon shows and results of logs do not confirm the presence of commercial hydrocarbons. Additional risks and uncertainties associated with Petrolifera's future plans are described in Petrolifera's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2008. Although the forward looking information contained herein is based upon assumptions which Management believes to be reasonable, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with this forward looking information. This forward looking information is made as of the date hereof and the company assumes no obligation to update or revise this information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward looking information, prospective investors in the company's securities should not place undue reliance on this forward looking information.

For further information: Petrolifera Petroleum Limited, R. A. Gusella, Executive Chairman, (403) 538-6201; Or Gary D. Wine, President and Chief Operating Officer, (403) 539-8450; Or Kristen J. Bibby, Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer, (403) 539-8450, Inquiries@petrolifera.ca, www.petrolifera.ca

TSX Up 6th Day

The Toronto Stock Exchange clinched its sixth straight day of gains on Wednesday, the longest run in about seven months, as a slew of earnings from both Canada and the United States came in better than expected.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 49.11 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 11,635.49, with financials leading the way.

It marks the longest winning streak on the TSX since it went six days with gains from July 13-20.

The TSX Venture composite was down 1.42 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,518.72, marking its first loss in eight days.

Gains on the main TSX were reduced from earlier on Wednesday when it charged ahead by more than 100 points in morning trading.

Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier, attributed the reduced rise to profit-taking, given Bay Street's extended streak as of late.

"We've had a pretty good lift in most of these share prices, so I think people are just sort of taking a 'bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' mentality," he said. "We had a bit of a lift up and they're taking some profits."

Nakamoto said there's still uncertainty surrounding the overall strength of the economic recovery globally, as well as the government debt situation in Greece and other European countries.

However, he noted that corporate earnings, for the most part, are coming in strong.

Rogers Communications Inc. beat expectations with its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, as did Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and WestJet Airlines Ltd., even though the latter two recorded significant dips in profit compared to a year earlier. At the end of the day, Rogers' stock had lost 4.58 per cent, while Loblaw was up 2.93 per cent and WestJet was ahead 1.23 per cent.

In the U.S., better-than-expected results came from Deere & Co., the maker of John Deere tractors, among other things. Its stock was up 5.02 per cent in New York.

Also on Wednesday, Statistics Canada said wholesale transactions were up 0.7 per cent to $42.8 billion in December.

And the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed housing resales down 2.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January from December, but up 58 per cent on an unadjusted basis from January 2009. The average home price was $328,537, up 19.6 per cent from a year earlier.

On the commodities market, crude oil was up 32 cents to $77.33 U.S. a barrel, while gold rose 30 cents to $1,120.10 U.S. an ounce.

The Canadian dollar was down 15 basis points to 95.68 cents U.S..

On U.S. markets, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 40.43 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 10,309.24. The Nasdaq composite index rose 12.1 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 2,226.29.

Data for housing starts and industrial production in the U.S. in January came in better than expected Wednesday.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Yamana one investor is calling for later-term downside in the stock by buying out-of-the-money puts

Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) shares closed up 20 cents, or 2%, to $10.85, but at least one investor is calling for later-term downside in the stock by buying out-of-the-money puts.

More than 5,000 July 7.5 puts hit the tape so far today versus current open interest of 1,178 contracts, indicating investors traded these options to open. The majority of these options crossed at the ask price of 25 cents per contract, suggesting investors expect the stock to drop at least 33% throughout the next five months. These options have an implied volatility of 54%, compared to a 30-day historical volatility of 48%. The July 7.5 puts have dropped six cents on the day, with a 10-delta.

By opening a free virtual trading account with OptionsHouse, you can build a profit/loss diagram to help visualize this trade.

Investors could make profits of up to $7.25 if AUY shares close lower than $7.25 (the breakeven price) at July options expiration. But keep in mind that investors could sell these puts if the stock drops significantly throughout the next month and take profits instead of holding the options until they expire.

AUY shares reached a 52-week high of $14.07 on Dec. 2, but the stock has since sold off roughly 22%. AUY is scheduled to announce earnings on March 3 after the market closes (analysts expect earnings of 17 cents a share). At least one investor is betting that the stock could drop after the earnings announcement and bought puts today to protect against a potential slide.

For additional commentary on AUY:

Moderate bullishness in Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY)

Market loses rally, sparks bearishness in Zion, Yamana