“For those who are interested in gold…Xmas has come early this year”

Investors have the opportunity to receive quite the gift this holiday season in the form of gold, according to Bill Flecksenstein.

In his latest weekly article for MSN Money, the founder of Fleckenstein Capital and long-time gold bull argued that the yellow metal’s sell-off in recent months has created an excellent long-term buying opportunity for investors.

“From a psychological standpoint, most indicators are where they get to when gold prices put in a bottom,” Fleckenstein contended.  ”Market Vane shows just 58% bulls (a reading last seen in late 2008, when gold was about $800 an ounce). And on Dec. 13, both the Central Fund Of Canada (CEF)and Central GoldTrust (GTU) closed at discounts to their net asset value.”

“Taken together, this suggests that some sort of a significant low point will be reached sometime soon, although none of these data points can predict where prices will stop once they gain downside (or upside) momentum,” he added. “However, they do indicate that, in terms of duration, this correction is probably on borrowed time — though, as noted, that doesn’t tell us much about price.”

Fleckenstein concluded by noting that “I wish I could add some intelligent thought as to why the metals have been hammered so hard — especially given the state of the world (the very thing that drove gold prices higher all year, until recently). But sometimes the market just does bizarre things. It is what I refer to as the ‘perversity of markets,’ where they get you to give up on an idea just as it is about to work really well. For those who are interested in gold, but are underinvested, Christmas has come early this year!”