A faction of Café members are pro the new GLD entity and a faction are against. In time we ought to know what the real deal is.
What I find troubling is that Barclays is also coming out with their own gold ETF. I can’t think of a firm more bearish on gold the past three years than Barclays. They have been bearish ALL THE WAY up and remain bearish. Their analysis has been beyond awful. You have to wonder then why are they coming out with this gold vehicle at this point in time.
Several Café members excerpted a small portion of the GLD filing for your perusal:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/bro…any&CIK=0001222333&owner=
"Their management has "no experience of operating an investment vehicle like the Trust....."
"The Trust is not registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940..."
The Trust does not have "the protections afforded by the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936."
"The operations of the Trust and the Sponsor depend on support from the WGC (World Gold Council). This support may not be available in the future...."
The "Shareholders will not have the rights enjoyed by investors in certain other vehicles."
"Crises may motivate large-scale sales of gold which could decrease the price of gold and adversely affect an investment in the Shares."
"The Trust's gold may be subject to loss, damage, theft or restriction on access."
"The Trust may not have adequate sources of recovery if its gold is lost, damaged, stolen or destroyed and recovery may be limited, even in the event of fraud, to the market value of the gold at the time the fraud is discovered."
Shareholders’ recourse against the Trust, the Trustee and the Sponsor, under New York law, the Custodian, under English law, and any subcustodians under the law governing their custody operations is limited. The Trust will not insure its gold. The Custodian will maintain insurance with regard to its business on such terms and conditions as it considers appropriate. The Trust will not be a beneficiary of any such insurance and does not have the ability to dictate the existence, nature or amount of coverage.
Therefore, Shareholders cannot be assured that the Custodian will maintain adequate insurance or any insurance with respect to the gold held by the Custodian on behalf of the Trust. In addition, the Custodian and the Trustee will not require any direct or indirect subcustodians to be insured or bonded with respect to their custodial activities or in respect of the gold held by them on behalf of the Trust.
Consequently, a loss may be suffered with respect to the Trust’s gold which is not covered by insurance and for which no person is liable in damages."
"The ability of the Trustee and the Custodian to take legal limited, which increases the possibility that the Trust may not use due care in the safekeeping of the Trust's gold."
"Gold held in the Trust's unallocated gold account and any Authorized Participant's unallocated gold account will not be segregated from the Custodian's assets. If the Custodian becomes insolvent, its assets may not be adequate to satisfy a claim by the Trust or any Authorized Participant. In addition, in the event of the Custodian's insolvency, there may be a delay and costs incurred in identifying the bullion held in the Trust's allocated gold account."
"In issuing Baskets, the Trustee will rely on certain information received from the Custodian which is subject to confirmation after the Trustee has relied on the information. If such information turns out to be incorrect, Baskets may be issued in exchange for an amount of gold which is more or less than the amount of gold which is required to be deposited with the Trust."