All that glitters is gold

On the face of it, gold appears a normal investment. With a shareholder base made up of institutional holders who are fairly steady and retail investors who tend to be loyal, this precious commodity looks like your average blue chip. However, unlike a bellwether's stock certificate, gold can be turned into jewelry, packed into teeth or held by central banks as money. As a commodity, gold is in a league of its own because it doesn't produce anything tangible. With uranium, for instance, you