Alternative Outlook

Sector IM’s Angelos Damaskos explains why he thinks the gold price will continue to rise.

Many observers have been calling the gold price a bubble for several years now but the price has continued to rise.

Gold recently reached a high of above $1,500 per ounce for the first time in history and it is not unlikely that we may see an ounce of gold selling for over $1,600 before the year end.

Putting inflation-adjusted pricing and long-term history aside, it is worthwhile looking at the current situation and the drivers of gold p…

With many stocks setting records, it is tempting to open a fine bottle of wine and celebrate. But richer rewards might await investors who let it age.

After a bout of monetary easing, the hunt is on for scarce physical assets that offer protection against inflation and potential for strong returns. The Mei Moses World All Art Index, for instance, rose an annualized 5.8% in the past 10 years, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was flat.

Even more profitable, though, were rare wines—up an annualized 6.8%. That is based …

Farmland prices in the UK increased 13% in 2010 alone, according to the Knight Frank Farmland Index. High quality land is available at a fraction of the price in places like Argentina where farmland value went up 10% last year.

Prices have been driven by a rising demand for land with sovereigns looking to secure their food supply and investors looking to diversify their portfolios.

Developing nations often perceive this sort of investing to be land grabbing and countries like Brazil have moved to restrict ownership.

Economists like Rob…

Google has serious power needs, and the company is looking to make sure its operations are as environmentally friendly as possible.

The company has invested in solar power plants and green datacenters in the past, and even has massive arrays of solar panels on the buildings at its Mountain View, California headquarters. Now the company is investing over $100 million into what will be the world’s largest wind farm.

The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, located in northern Oregon, will be completed in 2012 and pump out 845 megawatts of ele…

Gold hits new record price as global economic fears push investors into seeking safe havens.

Gold has smashed through the $1,500-an-ounce barrier for the first time, pushed higher by worries about global inflation, the European debt crisis and the state of the American economy.

Spot gold set a new record of $1,501.26 (£917) an ounce in Asian trading, underpinned by a weak dollar. Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s debt outlook on Monday sparked a new flight into safe-haven investments.

The ratings agency lowered its credi…

Rising food prices have pushed up the price of arable land in parts of the UK, but life is tougher for livestock farmers.

Agricultural land prices in Britain have hit record levels following the surge in global food prices, according to figures from Savills.

An acre of prime arable land in East Anglia is fetching up to £8,500 compared with around £3,000 in 2005, with demand driven by the dramatic increase in wheat prices over the past year. Last week, feed wheat was selling for nearly £200 a tonne, a 115% gain on the £93 a t…

Forestry investment and plantation management firm Greenwood Management has announced that it is to begin planting a new species in its Brazilian plantations, in the form of White Pine – a timber that is popular as a specialty wood for use in the furniture industry.

Greenwood’s forestry management experts have decided upon White Pine as it is an extremely durable timber, which can be processed in a timber mill up to a year after being cut down. This makes it ideal for exportation, which is a major growth area for Greenwood.

G…

If you want to invest in wine, look no further than the Bordeaux vintage wines of 2010, which are being called unique by connaisseurs, Stacey Golding, investment director of Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments told CNBC.

“The vintages are already being compared to 1899-1900, so that gives you a fair idea of how rarely this comes around,” Golding said.

“The big debate is the quality of the two vintages together side by side, and the answer that keeps coming back is they’re both excellent, but different. So they’re very differe…

The price of gold will reach $2,100 an ounce within three years and could rise to almost $5,000 by the end of the decade, according to a new report.

Rising demand for gold in China and India will drive the precious metal’s continued bull run, analysts at Standard Chartered, the Asia-focused bank, predicted. They said low interest rates in America and a time lag before mines started supplying more gold would see the rally extend to at least 2014.

“Our base-case forecast is that prices rally to peak at an average o…

DL International managing director Sven Kuhlbrodt says alternative investments offer a beacon of security.

Investors are always being told that diversification is the key to minimising risk. It is sound advice and generally true. Unless, of course, the asset classes you have used all fall at the same time, which is exactly what happened to many investors during the financial crisis. As a result, investors have been left with scars and investments that will take time to heal.

This is not just because the wounds were so deep but…