The 75 basis point cut by the Fed combined with Treasury's Hank...

The 75 basis point cut by the Fed combined with Treasury's Hank Paulsen's announcement regarding the probable bipartisan stimuli from Congress will be positive for US economic woes and almost certainly be a boost. 1984 was the last time we saw a 75 point basis cut in 1 hit! It is also anticipated another 25 to 50 pt cut will follow next week.

However, what this will do to the US dollar and the gold price will be played out over the rest of 2008. It can only give gold a solid underpinning for price strength for the rest of 2008.

Tonights announcments in the USA should be a boost to confidence following the panic ASX sell off today. The reaction from the DOW tonight will be interesting following todays global sell off but will it be tempered by the Fed and Treasury action.

Watch tomorrow for a big rebound in gold producers which have been unbelievably oversold. The "experts" are predicting these segmental stocks will be the big gainers and lead the rebound.

I have never seen such an unpredictable volatile market in all my 40 years of investing in shares. However, times are so so different. When I started out I would deal with my broker, exhorbitant fees (relative to today) and stamp duty made you think twice about buying and selling with short term objectives or influences. Today it is so easy with online trading and with fees being small there is little impediment to making decisions to buy and sell. Hence so much more volatility when outside stimuli creates fear or mania.

One thing I have learned over the years is that these occasions which only arise intermitently are the times when you can pick up real winners. Cashed out of my last remaining fixed interest bank securities to go shopping today - it was a lovely day. (Some of the most successful investors bought stocks in the 1930s (gold stocks performed well) and in 1987)

Some good announcements from gold stocks in the next few days will be wonderful.