How big a pile?

The world’s biggest mutual fund, PIMCO’s Total Return fund, has $132 billion in assets. The fund has been gaining new fans based on its conservative management and steady returns as other mutual funds tanked.

PIMCO is a great reference point for understanding just how scarce gold is, relative to the pool of money that might be scrambling for some ballast amid today’s financial hurricanes.

The ~1000 tons of gold held in the SPDR GLD fund, a gold-backed security that currently constitutes the world’s seventh largest stockpile of gold, are worth only $23 billion.

From Wikipedia.