Earlier this week we reported that gold, defying expectations, is one of the best-performing commodities of the year so far. And now we’ve learned that gold bullion imports by India climbed a stunning 65 percent last month after the country’s central bank allowed more investors to buy foreign bullion. Imports rose to $3.12 billion in June from $1.89 billion this time last year. India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold after China, accounting for approximately 25 percent of all gold consumption. Gold is the country’s second-largest import item after oil. Full Story
We know that the gold and silver stocks lead the metals at key turning points. The stocks started their bear market well ahead of Gold. This year the stocks have exhibited excellent relative strength. Gold and Silver are up less than 10% this year while GDX is up 27% and GDXJ is up 43%. In recent days GDX and GDXJ reached 10-month highs relative to Gold. SIL hit a 10-month high relative to Silver while SILJ, the silver juniors hit an 18-month high against Silver. The outlook for the miners remains positive but the miners are awaiting and need more strength from Gold. Full Story
By: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence - 18 July, 2014
The surreal US stock markets have continued melting up in recent months, spurred ever higher by the Federal Reserve’s money printing and jawboning. The resulting record highs in the headline indexes have been widely trumpeted by Wall Street as evidence of a strong secular bull underway, with years still left to run higher. But these records are misleading, mere illusions conjured by the Fed’s relentless inflation. Full Story
While most have been conveniently blaming the tepid first quarter -2.9% GDP growth figure on the weather, we believe that it is just another symptom of a much deeper malaise. As we have argued many times before (see, for example, the March 2014 Markets at a Glance), the U.S. economy has been on life support, graciously provided by Central Planners. However hard they try, they will soon realize that no amount of money printing can cleanse the rot of the U.S. economy. Full Story
As Federal Debt continues to accelerate in growth every year we come to wonder… “Who would want to continue buying the debt?” Federal debt held by all foreign and international investors is roughly $6 Trillion. Federal Debt Held by Foreign & International Investors includes every foreign nation, and international and foreign person who owns U.S. Federal Debt. Full Story
Recently, the Schectmans were kind enough to give me a day off from writing on Fridays. However, just as financial crises could care less if it’s the “seasonally slow” time of year, major events don’t conspire to take three-day weekends. Thus, I thought it imperative to discuss yesterday’s potentially world-changing events; as frankly, even I’m amazed at how rapidly the global political and economic environment is devolving. Full Story
Uncle Buck and his reserve status were leveraged to the hilt by “The Hero” and now his successor is trying to gently talk the Fed out of its policy stance over time. In other words, tightening is going to come one way or another and Janet Yellen is trying to go the orderly route. When this process becomes disorderly, the USD is likely to benefit from the liquidations elsewhere in the asset world. Full Story
Last Monday’s Daily Telegraph carried an interview with Jaime Caruana, the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (the BIS). As General Manger, Caruana is CEO of the central banks’ central bank. In international monetary affairs the heads of all central banks, with the possible exception of Janet Yellen at the Fed, defer to him. And if any one central bank feels the need to obtain the support of all the others, Caruana is the link-man. Full Story
Most everybody has seen the Wizard of Oz, but most don’t understand that it is a story about the removal of Gold from behind the dollar and the Federal Reserve at that time. The wizard was supposed to be the Federal Reserve chairman of that time, pulling levers on the economy and managing it from the seat of his pants. Well, nothing has changed. Fed chair, Yellen, commenting on recent legislation urging the Fed to create some rule like the Taylor rule (mathematical rule to guide interest rate decisions based upon GDP growth and inflation) to guide future interest rate decisions. Full Story
It was a jarring wakeup call this past Monday July 14, 2014 when everyone discovered that gold had plummeted some $30 overnight. It was the largest one-day drop for gold in 2014 and it almost was as large a down as the up day on June 19, 2014 following the June FOMC. It came just as gold appeared poised to move above $1,340/$1,350 and challenge the March 2014 highs up to $1,380. It was it seems not to be. Full Story
Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and NASDAQ 100 (NDX) remain above their rising 30-day and 60-day moving averages as of Thursday, July 17, there are a couple of negative signs among the major indices. One such area of weakness is the small cap stocks. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index (RUT) has recently made a negative divergence when compared with the other major indices. Full Story
In our yesterday’s second alert we wrote that yesterday’s rally was quite likely to be a one-time event and that it didn’t change the overall trend, which remained down. The reason was that the rally was clearly event-driven and not a reflection of the change in the attitudes of investors and traders. Based on today’s pre-market decline, it seems that we were correct. Let’s take a closer look at yesterday’s changes, Full Story
By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster - Global Watch - 17 July, 2014
Without looking at the facts and issues involved one would think that the U.S. can reach into any land outside its borders [except Russia] and impose its tax will and political will on others. The cases against the Swiss banks, UBS, Credit Suisse and other banks together with the fine on BNP Parisbas and the banning of its use of the dollar for a year with potentially other foreign banks facing the same punishment, gives rise to this viewpoint. Full Story
Retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond just announced plans to buy back another $2 billion in shares, which the company will start doing after it completes its current share repurchase program. You’ve seen it before: Press releases emphasize that buybacks return value to shareholders, analysts sometimes rely on repurchases to spot a stock to write up next, and management likes to tout their focus on shareholder returns. But what’s the real story? Full Story
In the in-depth article below, I discuss the recent headlines about a supercomputer supposedly passing Alan Turing’s “Turing Test.” I also trace out complex questions regarding how little we still know about the human brain. Full Story
Tonight I would like to take a look at the US dollar as its been showing a little strength lately. Over the last month or two I’ve been showing some commodities indexes that have been very weak which I think has to do with the strengthening US dollar. The move up in the US dollar hasn’t been that big yet but it could be in the beginning stages of a rally phase that could send this index higher. Full Story
Are the general stock markets and precious metals and precious metals equities about to experience a reversal in fortunes? Based upon current evidence, I think so. Buy on extreme weakness, sell on extreme strength. This is one of the fundamental laws of speculation, but one that is very difficult for most of us to act upon. Why? Because most of us have difficulty in being out of step with a crowd and the investment crowd is generally most bullish in times that markets are displaying extreme strength and most bearish at times when markets are experiencing extreme weakness. Full Story
An upward trend is afoot in the silver space, says Sean Rakhimov, editor of SilversStrategies.com. Rakhimov believes that at $26/ounce the reversal of the downward trend in silver will be confirmed and silver investors should set their sights on the next resistance level—$32/ounce. And if that threshold is breached, silver will test $50/ounce and more. In this interview with The Gold Report, Rakhimov talks about trends in the silver space and what makes silver special. Full Story
It is finally happening in full view, in unmistakable manner, in a way that the awake, the aware, and the conscious can perceive in alarming stunning terms. The central force of Europe, the industrial juggernaut, the stable core, has begun to pivot East. The Germans have had enough, fed up with destructive US activities of all kinds. For the last few months, they have been laying out their indictment, their justification, their reasons to abandon the corrupt US-UK crowd. The bank wreckage, the market rigging, the endless wars, the sanctions which backfire, the sham monetary policy, the economic sabotage, the spying, the gold gimmicks, it has finally reached a critical level. Germany has begun to move East in full view. Full Story
By: Gary Dorsch, Editor, Global Money Trends - 16 July, 2014
In an age when governments of every political leaning and ideological stripe distort economic data to promote their parties’ interests, it is hardly surprising that the nation’s inflation rate is reported in a manner that best suits their political needs. By the same token, in an age of near universal cynicism on the part of citizens towards their corrupt politicians, - it is entirely natural for official inflation data to be wildly at odds with the reality faced by consumers and businesses, and in turn, to be regarded with utter disbelief. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 16 July, 2014
At least today's smashing does not seem to have been a matter of panicking by ordinary gold investors all at once any more than was the biggest gold futures smashing in history, that of April 12 and 15, 2013. Rather today was another anomaly, an ambush -- and dispiriting as it was to gold investors, like the other ambushes it may convey important information. First, it may signify that powerful forces are determined to suppress the price of gold while central banks are striving to devalue their currencies and their countries' unpayable debts -- striving to bolt shut the exits from a financial system that would be destroyed by the restoration of free markets. Full Story
In this 28 minute video Gordon T Long and Charles Hugh Smith discuss through the aid of 23 slides the growing sub-prime population in America. It is getting little attention as more and more citizens are effectively being squeezed into the category that was once termed 'sub-prime' but which is now simply the US Economy. Full Story
Retiring rich is hard enough without paying for your child’s extended adolescence. Anyone in or planning for retirement today faces an unprecedented set of hurdles: from stubbornly low interest rates, to vulnerable pensions and an unstable Social Security system, to frightening and confusing changes in our healthcare system. Full Story
Rick Rule, Chairman of Sprott US Holdings Ltd. said in early March that the market looked overheated and was due for a pullback. Gold and silver had just delivered double-digit gains in a few months. Sure enough, from mid-March until early June, the precious metals gave up much of their gains. Since early June, resource stocks have surged higher once again.2 So the question on my mind was: Where is gold headed for the remainder of the year? Will this rally pull back? Full Story
As good as senior and intermediate stocks look, junior gold stocks look even better. This daily GDXJ chart shows that many junior stocks exceeded their March highs, while GDX and gold bullion did not. That’s bullish for the entire precious metals sector. GDXJ exceeded the $46 area highs, after rallying about 40% in just six weeks. There is enormous support in the $39 - $40 area. That support is defined by the Fibonacci 50% retracement line, the blue triangle boundary line, and the top of the flag pattern, and eager junior gold stock traders should be ready to add to positions there! Full Story
It is said that, “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword.” Let’s expand the concept and confirm that ancient bit of wisdom. If you depend upon your sword for self-defense and aggression, you can reasonably expect that someday you will meet another swordsman who will slice your body and kill you. Full Story
Another shot fired in the Global Currency Wars: Airbus CEO says the ECB must tackle the “crazy” strength of the Euro…the ECB should intervene in the currency markets to push the Euro down… "Europe cannot be the only economic zone that doesn’t consider its currency as a weapon…as a key asset to promote its economy." Full Story
If the gold market was a horse race then after yesterday’s sudden fall for no apparent reason observers would be calling for a stewards’ enquiry. Certainly those looking at a replacement for the London gold fix ought to be paying attention. Just days after Goldman Sachs renewed its propaganda onslaught against the precious metal in a long article on Bloomberg the price dropped by 2.3 per cent, its biggest one day drop this year. Did it fall or was it pushed? Full Story
To say we live in information age today is an understatement. Previously, technology gains were more profound and slower moving, providing innovation that had material impacts on economic growth and productivity. A hundred years ago it was innovation and mobilization in energy and the automobile that enabled hydrocarbon man to flourish, taking the human population to in excess of 7 billion people today. But this cycle has run its course, with hydrocarbon supplies in an accelerating decline, which posses increasing challenges for further profound technological innovation moving forward – because fracking won’t do it. Full Story
It’s now going on close to 30 years since I first discovered that silver was manipulated by excessive and concentrated short selling on the COMEX. I remember the exact moment like it occurred yesterday. It’s hard to believe I was in my 30’s when this started. As I’ve explained previously, I was looking for an answer to Izzy Friedman’s question as to how and why silver prices remained so low when the market was in a supply/demand deficit. Full Story
What a difference six months can make. After a disappointing 2013, the commodities market came roaring back full throttle, outperforming the S&P 500 Index by more than 4 percentage points and 10-year Treasury bonds by more than 6. Full Story
Silver is not just any old commodity. It is old money. Despite massive efforts and price fixing, clipping and manipulation, it has remained central to monetary and political systems for centuries. Today it is small and relatively dark in the context of modern investing. Full Story
The financial system’s interminable endgame continued last week with a hiccup in global markets that was attributed to liquidity problems at a Portuguese bank. Some might have hoped Europe’s problems were behind us, especially with the spate of ginned-up stories concerning Spain’s miraculous economic recovery – if not in statistical fact, then speculatively in the shrinking spread between yields on Spanish paper and the debt of countries whose economies remain a few more steps distant from eclipse. Full Story
Richard Daughty, who describes himself as "the angriest guy in economics,” is writer/publisher of The Mogambo Guru economic newsletter and a general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group, serving the financial and medical communities. Prior to joining Smith, Daughty was a financial adviser to American Express Financial Advisers in Clearwater, Florida. Murphy grew up in Glen Ridge, N.J., and graduated from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in 1968. In his senior year he broke all the Ivy League single-year pass-receving records. He then became a starting wide receiver for the Boston Patriots of the American Football League. Full Story
Whilst acknowledging that “this time it could be different” we have no choice but to call gold and silver lower on the basis of their latest extraordinary COT charts, which reveal that the normally wrong Large specs are already “betting the farm” on this rally. Let’s start by looking at the latest 6-month chart for gold. On this chart we can see that following its big up day in mid-June gold has only managed to creep about $20 higher. Full Story
There has been a smart rally over the past two months, but far from the strongest and the most dollar gain. It is still occurring within the confines of a protracted TR [Trading Range]. The June and December 2013 respective rallies gained much more, and the current rally may as well, but we can always only deal with what is known and not what may or may not come to pass. Full Story
We believe there are two classes of large traders dominating the battle underway for price discovery in the COMEX futures market for silver bullion. We point to the mercenary Swap Dealers on one side of the battlefield – figuratively dug in and short selling futures in obscene numbers as we have been documenting in these GGR pages. Full Story
All in all, the metals look great this weekend, but we do have to keep an eye on the behaviour of mining stocks who are breaking out but acting sloppy in general. As long as gold holds up, we should be good but if miners continue to show failed breakouts then chances are high that gold will reverse and that will take the rest of the precious metals with it. Full Story
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