Four Ways to Play New Gold Rush

Gold has become the color of hope for paralyzed investors in the past year. Since the start of 2002, shares of the public companies that dig the stuff out of the earth have marched forward 50% to 300% to the drumbeat of war as all the major equity indexes have plunged.

It has become the investment of choice, not just for wizened old men on park benches and 'fraidy cats in the Adirondacks, but for everyday professionals saving for retirement, daytrading speculators and sober fund managers seeking a hedge against uncertainty. Whether in the form of 100-ounce bars, futures, stocks or coins, the metal has come to be seen as the antistock of the post-dot-com world. It's a combination of security blanket, insurance policy and Lotto ticket. The metal with moxie. ...