Now that all the hedge-fund short-sellers covered their exposure last week, gold has fallen back nearly 2.4%, the biggest fall so far this year. This provides an entry point for buyers. While I do not know what the future gold-price will be, I think those wanting to buy physical gold should seriously examine BullionVault's offering. It is sponsored by the World Gold Council, as is the ETF, SPDR Gold, GLD. The WGC is a mining group which wants to sell more of its output to people.

Gold ETFs like GLD or IAU now are the most intelligent trading vehicle for really large holders trading the stuff, because their commissions are minimal for big trading. And as noted they have now proven that they do hold the gold they say they do.

Gold coins are a racket because the spreads are huge, and many buyers are ill-informed about valuations which are based on condition and rarity, and not just weight. Hard money physical gold funds have lost much of their raison d'être now because the exchange-traded funds did in fact turn out to own the precious metal they claimed, why their shareholders were able to sell what they wanted to last year. Buying bullion is very expensive and lucrative in markets like Switzerland, Hong Kong, and India—for the dealer, not the buyer. In Switzerland having your bank hold gold for you results in big insurance and security charges, so you are better off hauling off the ingot to hide under the bed.

For some holders, there is a better way to invest in gold than an ETF. If you want to hold and trade gold in retail quantities, for an amount of ~$20,000, our recommendation is www.bullionvault.com. The management fee is 48 basis points per year , under 20% higher than the 40 bp annual cost of an ETF. The commission to buy or sell is 0.80% on the first $30,000 bought or sold; 0.40% on the next $30,000, and 0.10% on the nest $540,000, cheaper than trading an ETF with a discount brokerage at $8 per transaction once you top $60,000 in your gold pool. If you want to trade in amounts above $600,000 the bite is only 0.02%.

Moreover, the friction cost of trading is lower because the bid-ask spread is reduced by other gold owners in Bullion Vault ranks offering the opposite trade, 24 hours per day> Quantities trading are set by the owners, based on prices in any accessible market: Switzerland, Britain, Canada, or the USA. Unlike the Swiss banks, there is no fee for your dollars to buy gold denominated in dollars.

And insurance and storage fees come to a mere 0.12%/year, with a minimum of merely $4 per month.The holding fees in Switzerland are many multiples of that level.

You own your own gold and should you want to take delivery this can be done, for a fee. It doesn't make sense. The BullionVault holdings are asayed once a year by independent specialists who report directly to the auditors, by-passing the management. While it takes 2 weeks or so for a USA account to be opened, because of verification procedures, the proceeds of bullion sales are credited immediately once the transaction has been done.

US investors are not in a very good position for taxes. Both ETFs and BullionVault capital gains are taxed at the higher collectables rate, not the securities one. However, there are ways to avoid the impact of taxes, using a trust or a tax-sheltered account like an IRA, a Roth, or a trust. Your accountant can advise you on this.

Visit www.global-investing.com and link up with www.bullionvault.com through our site. I think you will be surprised at how straightforwardly honest and easy the process of buying gold has become. You can also buy silver which is an industrial commodity, which makes less sense (we collect a modest finder's fee).

As to why you should own gold please consider the risks of the world's dependence on central bank monetary easing. At some point the worm will turn, and inflation will again rear its ugly head.

More follows from Portugal, Brazil, Israel, Spain, Colombia, The Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, and Britain.

*To the rescue of the Banco Espirito Sancto there came Nomura which took 5% of the holding company which owned the holding company which owned the holding company (all in Luxembourg) which owns 25.1% of BES in Portugal. In addition, respected central bank economist Vitor Bento has been named new CEO subject to shareholder approval, replacing Ricardo Espirito Santo of that ilk. Bento means blessed in Portuguese so the name is suitable.

The news is mixed as regards to our related sole Portuguese share position.

Brazilian newspapers, making up for their World Cup loss, are claiming that the pact for Portugal Telecom to buy into Oi is having to be renegotiated in order to reflect the possible total loss of euros 897 mn placed in short-term commercial paper issued by one of the BES Luxembourg holding companies, Rioforte. They argue that the PT stake in the future joint venture, called CorpCo, will fall to 20% from the planned 37% if the commercial paper doesn't pay back.

The write-off, however, is hardly inevitable and part or all of the money may well be recovered. PT which was sold off as a proxy for BES (whose trading was suspended starting last Thurday) began its recovery yesterday.

*However Banco Santander and Ecopetrol, SAN and EC, fell by over 2.5% yesterday in fallout from the BES mess. SAN was hurt by a Fitch warning of fallout from BES affecting Santander Totta, its Portuguese bank.

*Bombardier did not attend the Farnborough Air Show now going on in England but it may have won a surprising $3.1 bn in conditional orders. These came via letters of intent from China's Zhejiang Loong Airline for 20 CS100 jets; from UK Falko Regional Aircraft (a leasor) for 24 of the planes worth $1.5 mn with few conditions; and from Jordanian Petra Airlines for 4 CS100 and CS300 planes. The CS aircraft were not shown at the fair because they will not be flying until next year. Of course letters of intent involve conditions which both sides have to meet. But BDRAF is now at 203 firm orders plus another 292 conditional contracts for the plane; it needs 300 firm orders to make money when the plane goes on the market in H2 next year. We are close.

*There may be a truce with Gaza, but Teva's boardroom battles have resumed. Chairman Phillip Fost's resignation will not take place until year end but already the blogging about the designated successor has begun, negatively. Shareholder Benny Landa, who first revealed last October that the former CEO Jeremy Levin would resign, is now telling people that the new chairman will be Amir Elstein, currently Dr. Frost's deputy. Dr. Frost is an American stock operator and led the battle to depose Dr. Levin.

However, according to what he told Reuters, Landa is not happy about the selection of Elstein which was made by Moshe Many.  Landa and other board members were not consulted. Landa now plans with other dissidents to mount a proxy campaign against Elstein. Landa does however back current CEO Erez Vigodman.

Separately the FDA will review TEVA's albuterol multi-doze dry powder chronic obstructive airway disease inhaler against exercise-induced bronchospasm.

*GlaxoSmithKline has had to recall its Puerto Rico Panadol Advance paracetamol-optizorb tablets because a clever 4 year old managed to open the bottle which is supposed to be child-proof. Its investigators at ChinaWhys have now been indicted for illegal trafficking of personal information. The detective couple, a British journalist married to a Chinese-American, were hired to find out who blew the whistle to Chinese authorities about GSK bribery of doctors and hospitals to sell more meds. They also looked into the source of a video showing the GSK China manager Mark Reilly having sex. This indictment appears to be a first for China, according to Xinhua, the country's news agency. Mr Reilly has a new role but remains in China assisting with inquiries.

*UBS has now sold enough shares in Paddy Power plc, a week after buying them, so that it no longer has to report its holdings of under 5% to the Dublin Stock Exchange. PDYPF.

*Piper Jaffrey has cut Covidien to neutral as its price neared its take-over one. There are 452 mn puts out on COV stock now according to Dow-Jones.

*Despite Timothy Lutz's sell on Yandex, it traded up 38 cents yesterday, to my surprise. YNDX is Dutch.

*Fund notes. Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Global Diversified Equity Income Fund, or EXG, declared a monthly distribution of 0.0813 cents per share.

*Yield note follows: Barrick Gold created a jv with Ma'aden of Saudi Arabia to develop a copper mine near Jabal Sayid, for which Saudi state-owned company will pay $210 for half. This is probably too cheap, so speculation arose that the real deal will also include Saudi involvement in developing the trans-Andes Pascua Lama gold mine. ABX acquired the Jabal Sayid mine when it bought Equinox Mining last year, essentially to get control of a copper mine at Lumwana in Zambia. The Saudi deal will close by year end and the mine will go live next year. We own a US$ bond from Barrick which is going up as the new management boosts its cash horde.