Gold will recover in 2012, says Smith & Williamson's Markova

A calm and relaxed interview; quite unlike the R4 interviews at 8:20am each morning; there is room for both and this was refreshing.

Gold miners may rally however with PMs currently falling, it is a big ask in the short term. PM prices, have for some years, moved in line with equities etc in response to QE and perhaps the interesting question is when PMs will lose this correlation with equities.

In Q4 2011, pundits promoting gold bullion and associated equities have ended up with a lot of egg on their faces. Despite the economic woes the image of gold bullion as a safe haven appears to have become somewhat tarnished. If the p.o.g. cannot hold up in bad economic times then why should it rise in the future? Is it because the promotors of gold believe that far worse is yet to come - break up of the EU, or because their clients are too heavily invested, to say otherwise? Interestingly, platinum which has far greater industrial use, has also dropped heavily, which should be an indication of either over supply or lack of demand, in the latter case there could be a knock on effect from the car industry for iron ore.

Some central banks have sold gold to meet debts. This combined with a stampede into the dollar has led to what I believe to be a short term decline in the gold price.

It all depends on your view of QE and the future of the Euro. The eventual break up of the Euro in its present form is inevitable given the impossibility of achieving a fiscal union/ harmonisation of all the economies in the Eurozone.

Anatole Kaletsky suggests that we should follow the example of the US by spending our way out of recession. There may be some change from Plan A but not much if the Government wants to avoid a complete loss of credibility.

David Aaronovich thinks the countries in the UK should become the 51st-54th US states. Whilst this might be a welcome solution to our woes it can be discounted whilst the Queen remains on the throne.

All of the above seems to spell a depressing outlook for the UK in 2012.

WIth all the doom and gloom and uncertainty in the U.K. and Eurozone markets,

Emerging Markets declining ,where to invest globally?

I have been looking at investing in property in the U.S.A. Detroit 18%net yields and Atlanta 12% net yields. Bearing in mind the U.S.A may be starting to come out of recession and the dollar possibly strengthen against the pound what are the perceived downsides? Any thoughts ideas out there?