The saga continues as we head into 2012. That saga is the demise of Ponzi finance and an ASSET-backed economic model in the developed world. We do not know whether the currency and financial system extinction event will occur this year or ten years from now. The questions we hope to answer in this 2012 economic analysis regard only the unfolding of short to intermediate-term ups and downs in economies, financial systems and societies. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Philip Ker - 27 January, 2012
Philip Ker, a mining analyst for Canada-based Union Securities Ltd., says while current market conditions are affecting the junior mining space, they are also helping investors to identify low-risk opportunities and projects that may provide future value growth. In this exclusive interview for The Gold Report, Ker discusses how the industry will need to continue to see positive news, especially from senior and midtier producers, which should trickle down to the juniors. Full Story
By: Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital - 27 January, 2012
With its announcement this week that it will keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014, the Federal Reserve has put another large crack into the foundations underlying the US dollar. In a misguided attempt to provide clarity and transparency, Ben Bernanke has instead laid out a simple road map for economists and investors to follow. The signposts are easily understood: the Fed will stop at nothing in pursuing its goals of creating phantom GDP growth, holding down unemployment, propping up stock and housing prices, and monetizing government debt. Full Story
THE GOLD PRICE on Wednesday broke up through the downtrend starting at last summer's record high. Or so a technical analyst studying the price chart would tell you. But just as in late 2007 – from where gold began a 55% run inside 6 months – this week the price of gold bullion jumped on news that is fundamental: the price of money, specifically Dollars, the world's #1 currency for trade and central-bank reserves. Full Story
This week marked the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, and according to Chinese mythology, Dragon years bring powerful changes and optimism representing imperial power, prosperity and good luck. This year is supposed to be even more auspicious since it's a Water Dragon year, something that occurs once every 60 years. Full Story
David Morgan will be presenting at SilverSeek.com’s 2012 Virtual Silver Investment Conference, an online, one-day event showcasing silver industry experts and top tier silver companies will begin at 10am Eastern on Tuesday, January 31st. Mr. Morgan's presentation: "Silver in the next Decade" will be viewable online at 10:00 am EST. Full Story
By: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence - 27 January, 2012
Gold is enjoying an awesome January, rallying strongly out of its oversold late-December lows. But last month’s hyper-pessimistic sentiment deserves some reflection before it totally fades from memory. One of the core theses of the bears resolutely predicting sub-$1400 gold prices soon was the notion that there would be widespread liquidations in the flagship GLD gold ETF, a mass exodus of capital. Full Story
Indeed the Central Banks are now “printing money to a degree never seen in human history” Massive (Covert and Overt) QE it is. And Bernanke confirmed earlier this week that Massive QE would continue by stating that QE3 was “on the table”, thus supporting a continuing “Risk-On” Rally. But this QE will have Profoundly Damaging and Risk-Creating and Wealth Destroying Effects. President Reagan’s Budget Director, David Stockman, correctly called it “Monetary Heroin”. Full Story
L: So Doug, a lot of readers are concerned about what's going on in Europe. Is this the beginning of the proverbial "it?" Or can the Eurozone be saved? Doug: In brief, the answers are "yes," then "no" – and a "good riddance" to both the Eurozone and the euro. But most people think the old order should be maintained at almost any cost. That would include George Soros, who recently penned an article called Does the Euro Have a Future? Now, I don't normally look to Soros for economic commentary, despite the fact that he's one of the shrewdest and most successful speculators in the world. He does, however, represent the way the Davos people, Eurocrats, and the ruling classes in general think. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 27 January, 2012
Central banks are now so heavily influencing asset prices that investors are unable to ascertain market values, former Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Kevin M. Warsh told the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research tonight. This influence is especially evident, Warsh said, with the Fed's purchase of government bonds, which has made it impossible for investors to use bond prices to learn anything about markets. Full Story
The year 2012 has started out in strange ways. While celestial forces augur for rare tail events, the assurance of man-made events that stretch far into the extreme tail of probability are not only very likely but will be of a type to reflect the change in the global balance of financial power. The Paradigm Shift mentioned over the course of the last two to three years is at work, having moved into a higher gear. The gold is moving from the West to the East, along with the power. We will not see the process reverse in our lifetime. Full Story
It has been my theory that this year we would see one of the worst performances by the stock market since 2008. However that has always been dependent on Bernanke not being able to break the dollar's rally out of its three year cycle low. As of this morning the dollar has printed a failed daily cycle. More often than not a failed daily cycle is an indication that an intermediate degree decline has begun. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 26 January, 2012
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker today defended government intervention in the gold market to counter "exchange rate instability at a critical point." Volcker's comments came in response to inquiry from the German freelance journalist Lars Schall, who noted GATA's reference to Volcker's expression of regret, recorded in his memoirs, about the failure of Western central banks to intervene to suppress gold prices during a currency revaluation in 1973. Full Story
Eric Sprott will be presenting at SilverSeek.com’s 2012 Virtual Silver Investment Conference, an online, one-day event showcasing silver industry experts and top tier silver companies will begin at 10am Eastern on Tuesday, January 31st. Full Story
For a new investor in gold and silver, here is the most lucid piece of advice I can offer. Identifying severe undervaluation points in gold and silver, buying gold and silver assets during these times, and not worrying about interim short-term volatility, even if the immediate volatility is downward, is much more likely to impact your accumulation of wealth in a positive manner than trying to perfectly time market tops and bottoms in the highly manipulated gold and silver game. Full Story
There is a well-established relationship between how silver and gold trade. They often trade similar in the same time period, but also at similar milestones, although those milestones are sometimes reached at different times. This can cause silver or gold to be the leading indicator, depending on the particular milestone. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Fayyaz Alimohamed - 26 January, 2012
Fayyaz Alimohamed, CEO of Altair Ventures Inc. and publisher of the Acamar Journal, offers historical perspective and predictions on the global economic crisis. In this exclusive Gold Report interview, he foresees a "mania" in junior mining stocks and recommends holding physical gold outside the banking system as a safety net. Full Story
The most obvious bubble in the global financial system is the US bond market and by far the biggest today. Holding interest rates until late 2014 as the Fed announced yesterday should hold it stable for another three years. Full Story
For breathtakingly stupid political ideas and catastrophic “solutions” to America’s biggest problems, it’s hard to beat the New York Times op-ed page. There, joined by such jihadists of the Left as Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, resides the peerlessly wrong-headed economist Paul Krugman, whose Nobel Prize was as well-deserved as the one Yasser Arafat received for helping to bring Peace to the world. Until yesterday, we might have thought Krugman had cornered the market for the absolute worst ideas on how to revive the economy. Full Story
By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster - Global Watch - 25 January, 2012
Government and bankers currently believe that gold places to great a restraint on them and their management of the monetary system. They will not accept a lump of metal at a fixed price limiting the money supply. The Gold Standard set a dollar price to gold that did not change from $20 an ounce to $35 an ounce until 1935. It held that level until 1971 when it was raised to $42 an ounce. Since then like the proverbial ostrich with it head in the sand, the gold price has been ignored in ‘official’ circles. Full Story
By: Marin Katusa, Casey Research - 25 January, 2012
The official line from the United States and the European Union is that Tehran must be punished for continuing its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. The punishment: sanctions on Iran's oil exports, which are meant to isolate Iran and depress the value of its currency to such a point that the country crumbles. Full Story
By: John Browne, Euro Pacific Capital - 25 January, 2012
In light of these persistent concerns (as well as recent OPEC pronouncements that $100 oil poses no threat to global economic health) investors should harbor no illusions that the recent surge in petroleum prices will ebb anytime soon, if ever. Investments that offer exposure to non-Middle East petroleum should beckon. Full Story
It has been a tough last year for precious metals investors but not so much for common stocks. Sure, the Euro crisis benefited Gold initially but as the panic has abated, stocks are rallying back to their highs while Gold has sold off and the gold stocks are trying to hold their lows. What is going on? Are we in the twilight zone? Full Story
Regardless of what happens in the short-term (i.e. interim market correction of routine or severe degree upon completion of this sentiment-induced broad market rally), the analysis being brought forward in NFTRH over the last few weeks is painting a picture of a 2012 that could by year end, feature heightened inflation concerns as opposed to the deflationary ones that so predictably came about after the spring of 2011. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 25 January, 2012
We’re not keen on market alerts, dear readers, because you probably have far too many of them to sift through already, each with a different and sometimes deliberately outrageous point of view. Even so, we should like to caution you that recent, coincident tops in Comex Gold and the S&P 500 are best not ignored. Although we remain bullish on both of these vehicles, you can infer that the yellow flag is out. Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 25 January, 2012
We announced our belief a few weeks ago that the Fed loan to the ECB could with fractional banking be $10 trillion. This past week we found that Credit Suisse shares our ideas as well. We believe that what this move by the Fed and the ECB is telling us that this is probably it. We also ask again how can the banks in the LTRP repay the funds in a timely manner? No plan has been presented before or since, there is no plan. Again, just throw money at the problem. Full Story
Uses and Sources of Gold – Where gold comes from and where it goes The Gold Tree Infographic visualizes above-ground stock of gold, sources of gold broken down to continents and countries and uses of gold. The infographic pictures the different forms of gold investments – ranging from physical gold in the form of bullion gold to securities not backed by gold. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 25 January, 2012
In an essay in The Wall Street Journal on December 6 (http://www.gata.org/node/10839), Warsh wrote that "policy makers are finding it tempting to pursue 'financial repression' -- suppressing market prices that they don't like." Warsh said last week he planned to elaborate on "financial repression" in his remarks at Stanford and GATA has urged him to identify which policy makers and which markets are involved, to explain whether he learned about this "financial represssion" through his service at the Federal Reserve, and to say whether the public and the markets have the right to know exactly how "financial repression" is being targeted. Full Story
Precious metals prices were buffeted last week as news was released of a reduced economic growth rate in China that sparked renewed speculation of near term monetary easing by the People’s Bank of China or PBOC. Full Story
How much gold have you bought since the lows of late December? Hopefully, you bought none. Click this gold battle zone chart now. When the price of any asset is in a rising trend, as it is now, the only thoughts in your head should be to hold your positions or book some profit. The gold asset has been in a rising trend against the dollar since late December, so you really should have bought no gold since then. Full Story
By: David Coffin & Eric Coffin, HRA Advisories - 24 January, 2012
We are extremely comfortable that our prognosticating for 2012 may or may not work out. Which puts us in the same camp as most others. That said, a contrarian turn ahead of possible normalizing of the debt issues still with us that we suggested in December does seem to be gaining ground in the market. With that should come a greater focus on basic technical indicators like metal stockpile changes. Full Story
In our previous essays, we emphasized that the long- and short-term trends for gold are up. In today’s article, we will feature the current situation in the USD and Euro Indices and in the general stock market. After analyzing each of them, we will move to implications for the precious metals investors. Full Story
At this point in time it is unnecessary to rehash the dismal state of fiscal and monetary affairs that plague the US. Excluding the willfully delusional, it is clear to any honest analyst that the gargantuan debts of the US can never be paid in full with dollars retaining current purchasing power. Further, with the insatiable need to issue exponentially growing volumes of debt to keep the welfare/warfare state hobbling along, who would willingly continue to finance such a debacle? All that's left to supports this failing fiat experiment is an entrenched, yet deteriorating, reserve currency system to which there has not been a functioning alternative to date. Full Story
That governments will want - and will NEED - much, much higher gold and silver prices in the future is counter intuitive, given that they have done everything within their power till now to throttle back and to keep a lid on bullion prices. Let me explain why. Full Story
By: Andrey Dashkov, Casey Research - 23 January, 2012
In last week's Metals, Mining, and Money from Casey Research, Jeff Clark estimated that given the magnitude of the correction that started last September, it may take until May 2012 for gold to reach a new high. Let's take a look at how long it may take for silver to rebound.It's a commonly known fact that silver is more volatile than gold. Already in this decade, silver has risen by a factor of 12 from its ten-year low ($48.70 vs. $4.07), while gold has seen about a sevenfold climb ($255.95 vs. $1,895). This volatility – as you'll see in a minute – holds for corrections as well. On average, silver's retreats have been deeper and longer than gold's. The three big gold corrections we looked at last week averaged 22.8%. Take a look at the three biggest for silver, along with how long it's taken to recover and establish new highs. Full Story
There is an old saying around Wall Street: “So goes January, so goes the year.” Many traders believe that if the stock market is up in January, then the stock market will finish for the year in the black. Actually, there is some truth to the old saying. Data collected on the S&P 500 over the 65 year period of 1940-2004 show that the broad market closed higher for the year 69% of the time when stocks were up in January. Well, that’s better than flipping a coin, but it is hardly a basis for a successful trading strategy. Full Story
Our agriculture system is concentrated on producing a very few staple crops - there is a very serious lack of crop diversity. Corn, wheat, rice and soy are the main staples and production is oftentimes half a world away from where the majority of the crop would be consumed. The world’s extreme poor exist almost exclusively on what is a ‘buy today, eat today’ plant based diet - wheat, corn, soy or rice provide the bulk of their calories. Full Story
Pop down to the Old Gold Souk in Deira, part of the modern city of Dubai and the hottest selling item is a 1kg bar of silver these days. Karachi Jewellers told ArabianMoney yesterday they are selling 600 to 700 of these $1,300 bars each month with a 4.1 per cent profit margin. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks - 23 January, 2012
Talk of economic recovery is surfacing even in the Rick’s Picks forum, and so it’s probably a good time to consider why the very notion of a sustained recovery is factually unsupportable. It’s not hard to fathom why sightings of supposed economic green shoots have returned like kudzu in recent weeks. For one, Europe’s slow-motion collapse has been put on hold by an all-out effort by the central banks to suppress sovereign borrowing rates. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 22 January, 2012
Many people ask why, if there really is a gold price suppression scheme -- a scheme of currency market intervention to support the dollar and other currencies against the true international reserve currency, gold -- some whistleblowers haven't come forward to expose it. In fact, the whistle has been blown on the gold price suppression scheme many times over the years, and by the highest authorities. They just haven't yet been recognized as whistleblowers by the news media and financial analysts. Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 22 January, 2012
If the entire financial system does not come down upon our heads and if we do not have another war, global growth is going nowhere in the year’s ahead. We had a mini-recovery, but it cost $1.8 trillion. We had a second recovery and that cost $1.5 trillion. We are entering a third of what is becoming yearly recoveries that will probably cost $1.3 trillion. In other worlds without these massive injections of money and credit we would probably be in a deflationary depression. Full Story
Proclamations like ‘The Death of Equities’ usually arrive near the point of maximum pessimism, and when everyone is most bearish it is usually time to take a contrarian stance and buy. However, today - less than 4-years into a historic deleveraging phase* - calls that equities are dead are likely to prove premature. Equities are not ‘dead’ in the sense that they are poised to rally strongly from a contrarian perspective. Rather, equities are simply dying… Full Story
By: John Mauldin, Millennium Wave Advisors - 22 January, 2012
Europe's leaders are committed to keeping both the euro and the eurozone as it is. But for it to do so, everything must change, as the wonderful quote from the 1958 Italian novel suggests. This is no easy task, as no one wants a change that will impact them negatively; and there is no change that will allow things to stay the same that does not impact all severely, as we will see. In the third part of a continuing series, we look at the actual options that are available on the menu of choices, or as one group called it, the menu of pain. Full Story
We had a super week in regard to swing trading as markets and stocks did what the charts said they were going to, now it looks like we need at least a few days of correcting and backing and filling before we attempt a new move higher but it was very nice to see the S&P move beyond 1,300. Full Story
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