By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster - Global Watch - 16 September, 2011
With the downgrade of Societe General and Credit Agricole, two of the largest French banks, because of their Greek debt holdings, it is certain that any default by Greece (which still looks more than likely) will trigger major banking crises. Moody’s lowered Credit Agricole to Aa2 from Aa1 because of its Greek holdings, and will continue to review the impact of funding markets on the rating. Societe Generale was reduced to Aa3 from Aa2, with a negative outlook, as Moody’s re-evaluated its level of state support. Full Story
By: John Browne, Senior Market Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital - 16 September, 2011
Last Wednesday in a conference call followed around the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece gave broad assurances that in exchange for Greek commitment to enact further austerity measures, the flow of bailout funds will continue from the north. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 16 September, 2011
An updated complaint in the class-action lawsuit against JPMorganChase alleging manipulation of the silver futures market, filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, details the mechanisms of the manipulation and some of the traders executing it. Full Story
Ever wonder what it would take for Greece or the other debt ridden nations to leave the euro? According to a UBS report there are no such provisions. It appears that the only way that a country could leave in a legal way is to negotiate an amendment to create an opt-out clause. That would likely take a long time and would require a negotiation with the entire European Union with possible referenda to be held in some of the countries. Full Story
By: Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the herd - 16 September, 2011
Government attempts to inflate the money supply and stimulate growth through quantitative easing have failed, so far, because they gave the stimulus to banks, not directly to their citizens - stimulation will only work if the cash is spent... Full Story
By: The Energy Report and Mickey Fulp - 16 September, 2011
There have been few catalysts driving uranium stocks this summer. But Mickey Fulp, the "Mercenary Geologist," believes that this market funk resembles the period that preceded one of the best junior resource bull markets ever seen. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Fulp tells us why he's "hopefully optimistic" about the coming months. Full Story
By: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence - 16 September, 2011
Europe has become something of a four-letter word among American investors and speculators lately. Weak European stock action has been mesmerizing stock-index-futures traders here in the States. They dump US stock-index futures in sympathy whenever Europe is selling off. This in turn spawns bearish sentiment and weak opens in the US markets. Europe is the epicenter of US stock fears these days. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 16 September, 2011
Is GATA really asking too much in seeking acknowledgement that the gold market is manipulated largely surreptitiously but sometimes openly by Western central banks? Is nearly everybody in the world's financial establishment and financial press an absolute moron or corrupt? Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 16 September, 2011
Is anyone really surprised by Netflix’s sudden fall from grace? The company’s shares have fallen 45 percent since mid-July, down 136 points from an all-time high of 305. Nearly 40 of those points came yesterday alone, when the movie-rental company acknowledged that its customers have been canceling their subscriptions in droves, apparently because of a horrendous new pricing scheme announced earlier this summer. Full Story
It should be clear to all Realistic Astute, and Non-Mainstream Media-Bamboozled Observers by now that, like it or not, a New Era for Investing, Economies and Politics has begun. It is absolutely essential to understand certain key characteristics of this New Era. Failure to do so can lead to Investing and Economic Ruin. Full Story
I realize most people that come to this blog are bullish on gold. I myself am definitely bullish long-term. That being said, warning signs are starting to build. Full Story
By: Marin Katusa, Casey Energy Team - 15 September, 2011
When oil prices start to decline, investors and economists get worried. Oil prices in large part reflect global sentiment towards our economic future – prosperous, growing economies need more oil while slumping, shrinking economies need less, and so the price of crude indicates whether the majority believes we are headed for good times or bad. That explains the worry – those worried investors and economists are using oil prices as an indicator, and falling prices indicate bad times ahead. Full Story
The present system of reserve currencies favors the United States government and American consumers. It is a subsidy to exports to the USA by way of holding down interest rates for U.S. government debt. Central banks inflate. They can buy any asset, but export mercantilism favors the U.S. dollar and the euro. The crisis in Europe favors the dollar. There are lots of things to worry about, The loss of the dollar's world reserve status is not high enough on the list to be of much concern. Full Story
As we predicted earlier this year, China may use its newfound economic clout to save Europe and diversify away from the US dollar. Seeing as Italy is still in favor with global investors with spreads between Italian and German bonds reasonable, the Italians could strike a formidable deal with the Chinese to push off debt concerns. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 15 September, 2011
The Dow was up nearly 300 points at its highs yesterday, savaging bears who may have gloated over last week’s equally impressive decline. These short-squeeze rallies are usually catalyzed by economic headlines, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether the news is good or bad, since the markets have a mind of their own and can sometimes surge on the gloomiest data. Full Story
State-owned oil companies today hiked petrol prices by Rs 3.14 per litre as a fall in rupee increased the cost of importing the crude oil. "Every rupee depreciation, the under-recovery (revenue loss) increases annually by around Rs 9,000 crore," the official said. Full Story
By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster - Global Watch - 14 September, 2011
In 2000 gold stood at just below $300, and when the euro arrived it stood at just over €250. Confidence was nearly absolute in the U.S. dollar at the time and the currency the world’s energy was priced in. The euro was about to be launched to replace currencies like the Deutschemark, the French Franc and the rest of Europe’s currencies. Today and eleven years later, gold is standing six times higher than the level at the turn of the century, despite all attempts to keep it contained. Why? Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Dr. Paul Zweng - 14 September, 2011
Dr. Paul Zweng, a portfolio manager with Resource Venture Advisors in Beverly Hills, Calif., has managed to make some big things happen with small companies. By investing in the tiniest of resource companies, he has grown the fund from about $2 million (M) in 2009 to more than $20M today. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Zweng tells why his biggest asset is his cast-iron stomach. Full Story
THANKS TO late-2011's truly miserable outlook, there are now more bullish gold-price forecasts to choose from than Heinz varieties. UBS sees a 2012 average of $2075 per ounce. Nearer $4000 an ounce would be "fair value" today reckons Paul Tustain here at BullionVault. Dylan Grice at Société Générale says $10,000 isn't impossible. Full Story
Members of Wells Fargo's wealth management team released an article recently entitled, "The Gold Bubble," where it is claimed, in no uncertain terms, that gold is in a bubble. While I would not normally spend time rebutting an entity that would shock me far more if they actually put out a recommendation to buy gold, the subsequent readership this article has received (it was referenced in the business section of the Denver Post, for example) suggests it might be an entertaining, and perhaps useful exercise, to dissect their claims point by point to see what, if any, validity they carry. Full Story
As yields on Greek debt soared to a record 117% for one-year notes, the US Treasury announced a new auction of 3-year notes with an entirely different response. While investors were busy watching Europe for any sign of life, a round of 3-year US Treasury debt escaped auction at a record low rate. According to the Treasury, the notes sold with a yield of .334% per year, meaning investors will walk away with little more than $10 in 2014 for every $1,000 invested. Full Story
By: Ira Epstein, The Linn Group - 14 September, 2011
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was reported to have said today that the commission will soon present options for the introduction of a common bond for the euro area; while France said it would do all it takes to save Greece from default. Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 14 September, 2011
In the case for gold and silver, it has been go long and stay long for 11 years. During that period great gains have been made during what was the formidable first phase of the gold and silver bull market. Gold was $260.00 and silver was $3.50. Some stocks rose from $4.00 to $86.00, some from $0.80 to $42.00. This performance in spite of gold and silver suppression by the US government. In their desire to keep gold and silver subdued all the government really accomplished was to offer an opportunity for buyers to buy at lower prices than they normally would have been able too. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 14 September, 2011
With Bank of America’s recent announcement that it plans to lay off 30,000 workers, the Great Recession has finally spread its shadow over a sector of the economy that had seemed inured to hard times. Investment consulting, mortgages, mergers and acquisitions and the rest of banking’s most lucrative concessions have fallen into a more or less permanent funk, and so the banks are faced with the prospect of earning their money the hard way – i.e., through ruthless cost-cutting, and via fees on checking accounts, credit cards and other transaction-based services. How dull! Full Story
By: Bud Conrad, Casey Research - 13 September, 2011
Poor Ben Bernanke. The greatest financial train wreck in history is going to happen on his watch, and it will be mostly his predecessor’s doing. But not the work of Alan Greenspan alone. The Washington elite and their compulsively clever counterparts around the world have set the US (and global) economy up for a currency crisis of gargantuan proportions. Full Story
The collapse of 2008 remains fresh in mind. And yes, while collapse is the most overused word in the financial markets (next to bubble), 2008 was indeed a collapse for everything. Our beloved gold stock sector plunged roughly 70% in only three months. This collapse hangs in the back of the psyche each time global trouble intensifies and the gold stocks selloff. In the last week or so I’ve received many emails from subscribers who are worried about a Euro crash and a potential repeat of 2008. Let me explain why there is absolutely no need to worry if you own the gold stocks. Full Story
By: Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital - 13 September, 2011
On Tuesday, September 13, Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, www.europac.net will testify before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending. The hearing entitled, "Take Two: The President's Proposal to Stimulate the Economy and Create Jobs" will examine federal job creation efforts. Full Story
Please ask yourself if you are caught in a time warp, or whether reality continues to unfold, with new and more powerful phases of this all-epic OTC derivatives crisis. The “2008 again” crew really needs to sit this one out. I told you of juniors expert “GoldLion”. His view is that juniors are likely 3-6 months behind the seniors, in terms of being set free from the gold stocks gulag. I’ll add that asking a 20 cent juniors stock to surge to $20 a share while gold surges from $250 to $1800 is perhaps realistic during an economic super-boom, featuring the public lined up down the street, buying in a greed-fuelled mania. Full Story
Conventional wisdom has it that there are three safe haven currencies—the Swiss Franc, the Japanese Yen and the U.S. dollar. But perceptions are changing. The US dollar is no longer the default shelter for long-term investors. Instead, the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen have been the hideaways in a financial storm along with history’s longest used currency—gold. Full Story
By: Steve Saville, The Speculative Investor - 13 September, 2011
Based on the average duration of secular bear markets in equities, it is reasonable to expect that the NDX's secular bear market will end within 12 months of the time predicted by the Nikkei Model. However, it is clear that the post-bubble NDX has more of an upside bias than the post-bubble Nikkei. This is the result of the US' rate of monetary inflation being much higher than Japan's rate of monetary inflation. Full Story
Folks, this is the hard truth: the US is broke and our leaders have no clue how to solve any of the structural issues our economy and markets are facing. They’ve spent TRILLIONS propping up the stock market but haven’t created new jobs nor have they improved Americans’ quality of life in the last two years. In other words, we’re at the End Game for Government Intervention in the economy and marketplace. Greece has already shown us what’s coming: default and debt restructuring. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 13 September, 2011
If you thought Obama’s vote-buying “jobs” scheme was political bilge when he announced it last week, the plan sounds even less appealing now that we know how he plans to pay for it. For starters, in search of revenues, the president has returned yet again to his cherished notion that anyone making more than $200,000 is “rich” – i.e., in the same category as leftist envy-mongers put hedge fund managers and oil and gas companies. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Porter Stansberry - 12 September, 2011
The money supply increases naturally by exactly the amount of increases in productivity in a healthy economy, notes Stansberry & Associates Investment Research Founder Porter Stansberry. He doesn't have to point out that the economy isn't healthy, nor that the money supply expands every time the printing presses run to bail out a failing business and bring on a new iteration of quantitative easing. The solution is a simple (albeit not necessarily easy) one, Porter tells us in this exclusive Gold Report interview: Return to the gold standard. That will happen, he says, when the people say, "Enough!" Full Story
By: David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research - 12 September, 2011
The human ape has any number of qualities not often found in other species of mammalia, including opposable thumbs and the ability to fashion and use tools. Continuing the list, I would add a tendency to form all manner of mental constructs and to then act in accordance with those constructs, even when those constructs have little or no connection to reality. Full Story
Financial Repression is the academic term for how governments can pay down enormous debts by forcing interest rates below the rate of inflation, and then systematically confiscate the purchasing power of their citizens' savings over time, while keeping people from being able to escape or defend themselves. It is a hidden form of investor wealth confiscation and redistribution with a very long track record of "success", that is as effective in its own way as taxation. Full Story
By: John Browne, Senior Market Strategist at Euro Pacific Capital - 12 September, 2011
In the early days of September, financial markets worldwide were nervous. Investors and governments were waiting for a crucial ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, a ruling that could have triggered the imminent collapse of the world's second currency, the euro. This past Wednesday, the court ruled that the German bailout of Greece did not violate the German Basic Law (i.e. constitution), and investors breathed a collective sigh of relief. Full Story
Back in July I wrote an article discussing the fact that the Euro had failed so far to come under pressure during this wave of the European debt crisis. In fact it was still in a technical uptrend since bottoming in 2010 after the first wave of the Euro crisis. Last week the picture for the Euro changed significantly as it fell -3.90% for the week and fell out of a trading range between 140 and 145. Full Story
While gold gains the notoriety (and top callers of its own), the gold miners have likely entered the beginning of a phase where the mythical leverage to the price of gold is to be exhibited. Many people will simply go along with the gold stock story, but if they do not know why they are going along how on earth will they know when to sell? Full Story
Headline news & the Market Weatherman Report. Spotlight Stock Picks. Host Chris Waltzek & Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster discussion and answer listener's questions. GUEST BIOS: Dr. Stephen Leeb, Leeb Capital Management James Turk, GoldMoney.com Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 12 September, 2011
Many people believe the Jackson Hole was a non-event, a failure and it was. QE 3 was not announced, as we predicted. We believe that was being saved for mid-September when the $300 billion rollover in Treasury securities is completed. Mr. Bernanke has failed in a number of respects, the most glaring being zero interest rates for 2-years and no housing recovery. Even purchasing $1.3 trillion in toxic mortgages has only helped the banks. Full Story
The year 2011 has been a tumultuous one for market participants and non-participants alike. In just the last few months we’ve witnessed record extremes in the weather in the U.S., revolutions in the mid East region and exceptionally high levels of volatility in global financial markets. Full Story
In the way of a refresher course, the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) proposes that global financial markets are efficient in terms of the information available to investors and traders that drives prices. Another way of looking at the efficient markets hypothesis, which has influenced much of the investment thinking around the world in recent decades, is that based on the information available, you cannot achieve risk-adjusted returns in excess of the average market returns over time. The efficient markets hypothesis is the sister hypothesis of the random walk hypothesis, which essentially states that the direction of prices in markets cannot be predicted. Full Story
A tsunami doesn’t start with a bang, but with a whimper. The first sign is a little hump in the water way out in the distance that is barely notable. Anyone who catches a glimpse of it simply continues to expect the day to be the same as the last many days - calm and beautiful waters along the shore. This is the point where we are, today in the Precious Metals (PM) sector. Full Story
By: John Mauldin, Millennium Wave Advisors - 12 September, 2011
This week we turn our eyes first to Europe and then the US, and ask about the possibility of a yet another credit crisis along the lines of late 2008. I then outline a few steps you might want to consider now rather than waiting until the middle of a crisis. It is possible we can avoid one but, as I admit, whether we do (and the extent of such a crisis) depends on the political leaders of the developed world (the US, Europe, and Japan) making the difficult choices and doing what is necessary. And in either case, there are some areas of investing you clearly want to avoid. Finally, I turn to that watering-hole favorite, the weather, and offer you a window into the coming seasons. Can we catch a break here? There is a lot to cover, so we will jump right in. Full Story
Gold continues to look as though it is marking out an intermediate top area, with several additional bearish developments having manifested over the past week. One is the powerful breakout in the dollar, which was predicted on the site in the article The Great Dollar Shocker just days before it occurred. Could the dollar and gold rise at the same? yes, they could, especially if the dollar's gain is largely due to the demise of the euro, but a strong dollar does mean that gold will be battling headwinds. Full Story
By: Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante - 12 September, 2011
Last month we marked the 40th anniversary of the Federal Reserve Note being a completely unbacked fiat currency. This month marks another major event in the demise of the US dollar, September the 11th. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 12 September, 2011
Jitters over Greece’s increasingly dire financial plight are waxing yet again, taking Wall Street traders by surprise if no one else. The Dow Industrial Average dove 303 points Friday on speculation that Greece would fall into default when the new week began. As of late Sunday night, however, there was barely a word about Greece on Google’s news page – only a story about rioting in the streets following enactment of a new, $2.7 billion property tax in the name of austerity. Full Story
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