All commodities and near-commodities are priced internationally in dollars, and the dollar is used for over 80% of cross-border trade settlements. Consequently the dollar is the base currency for all countries' foreign reserves, giving it its reserve status. However, there are now challenges to the dollar's hegemony, with Russia, China as well as the other members, dialog-partners and associates of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), taking deliberate steps towards doing away with the dollar entirely for pan-Asian trade. Recent developments setting up a rival to the IMF by the BRICS nations is part of this challenge. Full Story
By: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence - 15 August, 2014
The gold stocks are almost certainly in the early stages of a major new upleg. Given the widespread apathy and antipathy still plaguing this beaten-down sector, that’s hard for most traders to swallow. But the gold stocks’ performance this year has already been outstanding. And heading into gold’s strong season, their gains should only accelerate. Gold stocks’ overdue mean reversion higher is well underway. Full Story
The U.S. can only blame themselves for Mr. Putin's actions. He and Russia were basically sanctioned out of the SWIFT system and told they could not use dollars anymore, he has complied. Do not take the words "the petrodollar must die" lightly. Just to his south, the Chinese have been "courting" the rest of the world for several years now. In particular, they have been investing in and partnering through trade deals many African and South American countries. This is significant because they all currently use(d) U.S. dollars for trade and nearly all of them use dollars as "reserves" for their banking systems. Full Story
Outside of the sound practice that is physical gold ownership in a time of monetary gamesmanship, the precious metals sector is all about speculation (at least according to 9 out of 10 chart jockeys and momentum junkies micro managing every short-term twist and turn. Full Story
Why could September be fateful for the precious metals complex? First, consider its history within the current secular bull market. The years 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010 have seen very important breakouts in either or both Gold and gold stocks in the month of September. Conversely, September marked important peaks in 2008 as well as in each of the past three years! Currently, Gold and more so the gold miners are consolidating their recent gains just below very important resistance. This consolidation figures to end before the end of September which means September will produce another important inflection point. Full Story
By: Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital - 15 August, 2014
On June 30, U.S. authorities announced a stunning $9 billion fine on French bank BNP Paribas for violations of financial sanctions laws that the United States had imposed on Iran, Sudan and Cuba. In essence, BNP had surreptitiously conducted business with countries that the United States had sought to isolate diplomatically (sometimes unilaterally in the case of Cuba). Although BNP is not technically under the jurisdiction of American regulators, and the bank had apparently not broken any laws of its home country, the fine was one of the largest ever issued by the United States and the largest ever levied on a non-U.S. firm. Full Story
The greatest man made societal and economic collapse in history is unfolding before our eyes. This Journey to the collapse of the developed world’s civilization and empire began over 100 years ago during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson with his subversion/betrayal of the constitution of the United States and creation of a privately owned banking and currency monopoly called the Federal Reserve and the creation of the income tax to fund the beginning of the Confiscationism of the progressive socialism we see today. Full Story
The ongoing bull market is over 5 years old and both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P500 Index have climbed to record highs. Yet, the vast majority of retail investors are still not convinced and many are waiting for the elusive stock market crash! Full Story
Despite hearing it over and over, the meaning of "all markets are rigged" is completely lost on the most hopeful. Of course, hope is fear gone badly. Investors want desperately to believe that the real market exists. They believe that the pricing mechanism is legitimate - a fair expression of the markets. And that if the markets point toward recovery, then the recovery is real. Worse than that, they believe they can be a part of it - master it, profit from it; even when the money is broken. Because as long as they are making money, who cares? Full Story
Looking back on the upcoming economic, financial and social crime wrought by the collapse of history’s largest Ponzi scheme – perhaps, in the not so distant future – 99% of the world’s population will be kicking itself. True, few are educated enough to understand the tragic history of fiat currency, whilst countless others have been “propagandized” otherwise. And most importantly, most of “the 99%” don’t have the means to protect themselves irrespective; and thus, fall back on human nature’s oldest defense mechanism – denial. Well, that and the exploding government entitlements necessitated by imploding economic activity. Full Story
By: Gary Dorsch, Editor, Global Money Trends - 14 August, 2014
Investing is an inherently risky business with lots of uncertainties. At any given moment, the bullets can fly from any direction, and at a bare minimum, the investor hopes to emerge unscathed from the battlefield. But of course, the goal of investing is not just to break-even, but to earn a sizeable profit in the marketplace. And for the past 5-½ years, there has been no better way to maximize gains, than sticking with the traditional “Buy-and-Hold” strategy. It requires a lot of patience, a lack of emotion, and a firmly held belief that the Federal Reserve and its central bank allies will always bail you out of a difficult position. Full Story
Silver Wheaton President & CEO Randy Smallwood hooks up for an informative conversation with Cambridge House Live anchor Vanessa Collette at the Sprott Natural Resource Symposium in Vancouver. They cover a range of topics, from Silver Wheaton's recent successes to why metal streaming companies like Silver Wheaton are a much better alternative to ETFs. Full Story
By: Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor, InternationalMan.com - 14 August, 2014
A court ruling involving Microsoft’s offshore data storage offers an instructive lesson on the long reach of the US government—and what you can do to mitigate this political risk. Full Story
Wall Street is “rigged.” That’s the word Michael Lewis, author of the bestseller Flash Boys, is spreading among the news networks, and it’s produced a vast outcry in the financial community. Really? As Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous corporate raider in the ‘87 classic Wall Street, says, “Come on, pal. Tell me something I don’t know.” Full Story
While contemplating a subject to write about this morning I considered lumping the economy and standard of living together. I thought about writing on the situation in Ferguson Mo. because it's pretty clear to me it's not what we are being told. We are being led to believe that a black vs. white situation exists which very well may be true, however, the reality in my opinion is one of "economics". Let me clarify this, rather than "economics", let's call it a "standard of living" problem. It has been reported that people from neighborhoods far and wide have descended on the area to "protest" but what is happening is looting ...for "free stuff". Full Story
The London market for silver enters a new era tomorrow with the ending of the London silver price fix after 117 years. From tomorrow it is replaced by a new benchmark administered jointly by Thomson Reuters and the CME Group offering a superior level of transparency and reckoned to be immune to illegal price fixing that has been widely alleged to be a feature of silver prices up until now. The LBMA will accredit price participants and own the intellectual property rights. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 14 August, 2014
Your secretary/treasurer was interviewed via satellite by CNBC Asia's Bernie Lo for about seven minutes this morning Hong Kong time and the better four of them have made it to the CNBC archive, wherein we discuss the growing documentation of gold price suppression by central banks, the refusal of mainstream financial news organizations (cited by name) to touch the issue, and the likelihood that "financial repression" by central banks will intensify if interest rates are allowed to rise. Full Story
A year ago, there were many predictions that the majority of mediocre junior exploration companies would de-list or die off. Observers at the time noted that companies simply did not have enough cash left to create much shareholder value. It was also apparent that very few of these same companies would be able to raise money in the future in any meaningful way, even to just keep the lights on. Full Story
The world is overwhelmed with debt; far more debt than can ever be repaid with current dollars, yen, euros or pounds. The choices are massive inflation and/or default. The rumblings from the “drums of war” are reverberating across the globe. War benefits bankers and military contractors so anticipating another large war is a reasonable expectation. Full Story
Welcome to Cambridge House Live. I’m Vanessa Collette here at the Sprott Symposium–I’m thrilled to be joined by Peter Spina, the President and CEO of GoldSeek and SilverSeek.com. Welcome Peter, it's great to have you with us today. Full Story
By: Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Precious Metals - 13 August, 2014
Jim Rickards is Chief Global Strategist at the West Shore Funds, and Director of The James Rickards Project, an inquiry into the complex dynamics of geopolitics + global capital. In The Death of Money, Rickards shows why another monetary system collapse is rapidly approaching – and why this time, nothing less than the institution of money itself is at risk. Fortunately, it’s not too late to prepare for the coming death of money. Rickards explains the power of converting unreliable money into real wealth, such as gold and other long-term stores of value. Full Story
By: Steve Saville, The Speculative Investor - 13 August, 2014
Prior to 2002 the Fed would tighten monetary policy in reaction to outward signs of rising "price inflation" and loosen monetary policy in reaction to outward signs of falling "price inflation", but beginning in 2002 the Fed became far more biased towards loose monetary policy. This bias is now so great that it seems as if the Fed has become permanently loose. Full Story
When one looks at gold and silver prices and their moves yesterday, it might seem that nothing happened in the precious metals market. That’s far from the truth because the real action took place in mining stocks. Several weeks ago, it was miners’ strength that heralded the rally in the whole sector. Will we see one also this time? Full Story
The pork industry for years has had an advertising campaign that asked "what about the other white meat?". If you already own precious metals or are considering making purchase, I would ask you, "what about the other white metals"? The "other" metals are palladium and platinum. Full Story
Last week, European Central Bank (ECB) head Draghi talked about the de-coupling of the ECB and the Fed’s policies, of policy divergence. Lots of pundits have suggested the same. With due respect to their views, my analysis of the data suggests they are wrong. If you own dollars, the euro or gold, you might want to pay attention to this one. Full Story
Most investors buy gold because they are nervous about the financial system, government debt/bureaucracy, central bank money printing, and dangerous geopolitical developments. In a nutshell, that’s the “fear trade” for gold. The fear trade is a great reason to own a core position in gold now, and forever. Gold should be the first item bought in any investment portfolio. That’s because lowest risk assets must be bought first, not the ones that appear to offer the most potential reward. Full Story
American currency has quite a storied history. American bills have come a long way from their humble beginnings in the 18th century. Over the last decade, the US has given its currency a more secure makeover (weird fact of the day: it costs 12.5 cents to create a hundred dollar bill). It was a wise choice; according to the US Federal Reserve, there are 34.5 billion notes in circulation, worth a total of $1.23 trillion. For every 10,000 genuine notes, there is 1 counterfeit. This works out to 3.45 million fake notes in circulation. Full Story
China’s 22,000-megawatt Three Gorges Dam, pictured on the cover of our latest Shareholder Report, is an undertaking that must be described in superlatives. Not only is it the world’s largest hydroelectric plant in terms of generating capacity, but it’s also one of history’s most expensive engineering feats, costing upwards of $25 billion. Full Story
There are only a handful of ways to protect your investment portfolio, and proper diversification is chief among them. No matter how well you do your due diligence on a single investment or how disciplined you are at executing trades, if your portfolio looks like a bridge party among pals who’ve known each other just a tad too long you’re in trouble. Full Story
An article caught my eye this week. The Tirumala Tirupati Temple in India has deposited gold at the State Bank of India, and is getting paid interest on their deposit. There is something unique about this. The interest is paid in gold. Full Story
Russia took some very stern retaliatory steps this past week in response to being sanctioned, sanctioned again, and sanctioned further for good measure. Up until this point, Mr. Putin had remained somewhat restrained and I would say almost stoic in his responses by never trying to "one up" the sanctions, only matching them so far. This may have now changed and unfortunately for the West, Russia's retaliation is coming at a poor time. Full Story
In last week’s Thoughts from the Frontline (“Transformation or Bust”), my young colleague Worth Wray and I continued our groundbreaking series exploring the risks posed by China’s rapid private sector debt growth and its consumption-repressing, investment-heavy growth model that is quickly running out of steam. China is the true conundrum in the global economy. It is an outlier in the history of development, with no true analogues. And while there is much to be appreciative of and admired about China, there are clear danger signals. Full Story
I remember my first drug high. No, it wasn’t from a shady deal made with a seedy character in a bad part of town. I was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and while I wasn’t in a lot of pain, the nurse suggested something to help me sleep better. I didn’t really think I needed it—but within seconds of that needle puncturing my skin, I WAS IN HEAVEN. Full Story
Aggressive financial repression is the cornerstone of subversive market manipulation being imposed on the macro by the ‘powers that be’ (think oligarchs, fascists, and bureaucrats) at present, which is affecting not only prices, but also investor attitudes. At the core, this practice is very unhealthy, because not only has it created the most profound example of wide-ranging mal-investment in the history of mankind, but more, it has also engendered dangerous embedded misunderstandings and a sense of complacency associated with real world constraints and conditions that have material affect on life. Full Story
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, told the Guardian last year: “The lessons of history would suggest that civilizations move in cycles. You can track that back quite far—the Babylonians, the Sumerians, followed by the Egyptians, the Romans, China. We're obviously in a very upward cycle right now and hopefully that remains the case.” Full Story
Many consider deliberate currency devaluation to be a tool that can help jump start a nation’s economy. The aim of such a practice is to increase exports while encouraging domestic purchases by making goods outside of the country relatively more expensive. However, like any good prisoner’s dilemma, this might be the case if only one country acted in isolation. The reality is that many major countries engage in the same policy, and the end result – as the infographic details – is a race to the bottom. Full Story
Last week Market Psychology was driven by rapidly escalating Geopolitical Stress (Ukraine, Gaza, Syria/Iraq) with the major stock indices hitting 2 month lows Thursday night as Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border and the US began air strikes in Northern Iraq….BUT…the market reversed sharply higher Friday on reports that the Russians were “standing down.” Full Story
Probably the biggest reason this column has been silent for the past few months is that there has been so much to say; yet there is nothing really new to say. Sometimes I wonder how reporters do it. They write essentially the same story every week or month, but have to come up with different words and flavors. This is likely why the ratings for ‘news’ are so low these days. It isn’t because people have suddenly become adept at sorting the wheat from the chaff; it is just that the news, like most of our world, has become like a soap opera. Full Story
Last week we sawthe stock markets go down and the precious metals stock indexes go up for the most part, inverse correlation. Friday the stock markets had a big reversal day with the PM stocks being mostly flat to down. It will be interesting to see how long this inverse correlation holds together. Lets start with a daily chart for GDM that is showing a falling wedge at the moment that has broken out to the upside with a backtest to the top rail last Friday. Full Story
Representing all things big, institutional investors believe there is no inflation. The market "behaves" as if there is none. This undercuts value at risk. But reality is very different. Across the board, price is determined by a broken system fueled by an unsound economy. (The developing Ebola pandemic may serve as an example and a warning). Full Story
I received quite few responses to my article last Thursday, "Could gold and silver go no offer?". The responses in general were questions pertaining to the "real" movement in gold and silver prices as opposed to the "nominal" or dollar movements. I will get to these questions in a moment but I want to pass along a note that a reader "Bryan" sent me via his group. Very rarely do I pass along writings and try to keep links to a minimum but this piece is special. I say "special" because it comes from a very long term perspective and he "get's it" from start to finish. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph, my comments will follow. Full Story
Although the Dow Industrials finished the week with a 186-point rally, there’s reason to hope that this latest, drug-addled binge will sputter out within the next two or three days if not sooner. The sleazeballs who engineered Friday’s impressive levitation had to pull out quite a few stops to make it happen. To get things rolling, they precipitously withdrew their bids Thursday night on news that Asian markets were getting socked, apparently because of bad vibes from Ukraine. The air pocket in U.S Index futures produced a quick 15-point drop in the E-Mini S&Ps – equivalent to about 120 Dow points. Full Story
John Williams from ShadowStats.com says the Fed's quantitative easing has failed because the bank balance sheets remain toxic, so lenders are not lending, stifling the intended economic growth. The trillions of dollars added to the Fed's balance sheet since 2008 simply kicked the recessionary can a few years down the road but the net result will be a new domestic depression. Bill Murphy from GATA.org says that few media outlets are interested in the price suppression story, despite mountains of supporting evidence. Gold stock manipulation may include naked short selling, a nefarious practice only available to the elite, which artificially dilutes share price, crushing the wheat and with the chaff. Full Story
With all the uncertainty in the world, and everything that could happen over the weekend, I think it’s safe to say that the market didn't rally 22 points naturally to complete a swing low as we go into the weekend. When I saw the index futures turn from deeply oversold to positive as if by magic in the pre-market Friday morning I had a pretty good idea that the Fed was ready to put an end to this correction. By the end of the day it looks like they probably succeeded (at least for now). Full Story
Gold and silver have outperformed stocks so far this year and have a lot further to go as equities hit a wall of fast deteriorating geopolitics and weakening economies as we progress into the autumn. Do you buy high and sell low? No. So why would you buy stocks close to all-time highs when you can still pick up gold and silver at a respective discount of 30 and 60 per cent off their 2011 highs? Full Story
What do you get when a bunch of unelected bureaucrats band together? The EU. How is the EU different from the US? There is no difference, except that the US has the illusion of electing bureaucrats. The de facto corporate federal government remains undiscovered by the vast majority of US citizens. Thanks goes to the Rothschilds for setting everything up. Full Story
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released data for the disaggregated commitments of traders (DCOT) and Legacy “COT” reports for the week ending August 8, 2014. Our recap of the net positioning for large reporting futures traders is below, compared to the prior week’s data. Full Story
Investing is all about exploiting opportunities. And some of the most interesting exploitation in the market today is happening in gold. Agnico Eagle Mines, Yamana Gold and other miners are snapping gold assets that larger players are casting off. So far this year, small- and mid-sized gold miners have spent $14 billion grabbing mining assets, the highest total in three years. Full Story
Weakness dominated markets this past week and many stocks followed. The summer of consolidation continues with some weakness thrown in for good measure. I still don’t think this correction will be very deep, rather, it will just put in the low of this base that is forming and is set to complete in early fall before we breakout and run into the end of the year. Full Story
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