By: Andrew Schiff, Director of Communications and Marketing at Euro Pacific Capital - 5 August, 2011
To an extent not fully appreciated by the investing public, financial markets are influenced by human emotion just as much as they are by economic data, corporate earnings, and dividend yields. Of all human motivations, fear is perhaps the most powerful. When people get scared, the "fight or flight" instinct forces us to take action. Full Story
By: Frank Trotter, President, EverBank Direct - 5 August, 2011
Friends who know that I speak frequently about global economics have been calling to see what I think about the smackdown arguments over spending in Washington. I have surprised them all by saying that it’s really an empty record. Well, I suppose there is some kind of odd entertainment factor in the recent public debates about the U.S. debt ceiling. Full Story
With a last-minute debt deal reached, I’m reminded of two holy words in Washington: “compromise” and “bipartisanship.” It’s amazing that the political elite have so twisted the English language as to lend virtue to these terms. In Washington, these words hold intrinsic value… similar to how “truth” and “honesty” do outside D.C. Unfortunately for the American public, Washington compromises have been and will continue to be the death knell of the U.S. economy – and particularly the free market. Full Story
By: Daniel Aaronson and Lee Markowitz - 5 August, 2011
The sovereign debt crisis gained significant attention in July, yet while the equity market is overdue for a bounce, it remains significantly overvalued. The chart below, showing the highest debt/GDP ratios for developed nations as of 2010, demonstrates the severity of the sovereign debt crisis. Full Story
By: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence - 5 August, 2011
It’s sure been an exceptionally-ugly week in the US stock markets! The threat of Washington defaulting on its debt, worse-than-expected economic data, and the waning of Q2 earnings season conspired to wallop equity prices. The resulting sharp selloff has led to soaring anxiety and fear, traders are rushing for the exits. But these scary conditions are a contrarian’s dream, an ideal time to snatch up bargains. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Vishy Karamadam - 5 August, 2011
It seems to defy logic: even though gold prices are at historic highs, the stock in many junior gold companies has been languishing. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Vishy Karamadam, managing director of Ubika Research in Toronto, which runs the Ubika Gold 50 Index, says now is the time to give those shares a second look. Full Story
The one constant this year has been market volatility. Stock market volatility, including for the mining stocks, has waxed and waned throughout 2011 but has been recurrent more this year than in the previous two years. After a brief period of dormancy, volatility has once again been on the rise. We’ll discuss the implications of this volatility increase for stocks as well as the gold price in this report. Full Story
Much of the Investment World is finally beginning to realize that a number of worsening International Economic and Financial Problems will not be solved by increasing “borrowed liquidity” (via, e.g. QE 1, 2, 3…?) or Fiat Money Injections, because the aforementioned problems are structural Problems for which reliance on “Earned Liquidity” and, ultimately, bullion-backed currencies are necessary but not sufficient conditions for solving. Full Story
President Obama’s slogan changed from “Yes we can” to “Yes we cave,” as heard on one of the Late Night shows this week. It only took the threat of financial Armageddon to get both sides to work together and get the debt ceiling legislation passed. Full Story
Mining stocks still represent excellent value versus the underlying metal prices. Since 2005 when gold broke above $500, the Philadelphia Gold Mining Index is up only 91% versus the gold price which is up 184%. Full Story
An interesting day, for sure. But a surprise? It shouldn’t have been, since even the Guvvamint’s statisticians and spinmeisters seem to have noticed that The Great Recession is back with a vengeance. Under the circumstances, anyone so stupid as to be loaded to the gills with stocks yesterday deserved the full brunt of the devastation. Full Story
I would argue that beyond the Fed and the big banks, which own and control the Fed, we must take a hard look at the controlled media now run by the Rothschild Cabal snakes. And then we must take an even harder look at reducing the power structure that the plutocrats secretly have over our nation and lives. Full Story
By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster - Global Watch - 4 August, 2011
This was a deeply significant week in the global monetary system. For the last 40 years the developed world has insisted that currencies are the definitive money and that gold –and silver too—is a ‘barbarous relic’. Reflect on currency and national debt management over the last four years and the decade of blithe confidence before that. The smart money went into gold during this time and has multiplied six times in a decade. Full Story
The awful truth about deficits and this week's "solution" to the debt limit crisis in the United States is that government debt isn't actually the core problem, but rather represents the costly cover-up of the bigger problem, that of a depression-level unemployment crisis. Full Story
By: Michael Pento, Senior Economist at Euro Pacific Capital - 4 August, 2011
The reliance upon the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency and "safe haven" asset has created a perverse, but deeply entrenched, mindset among global investors. In fact, many believe the major financial players have no alternatives to owning U.S. debt and dollars. Full Story
With the debt deal now signed and the crisis proclaimed to be over by the government and the mainstream lapdog media, it is time to take a serious look at the debauchery that was just perpetrated on the American people – again. Full Story
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - 4 August, 2011
GATA Chairman Bill Murphy was interviewed for five minutes this morning on CNBC Europe on the eve of our Gold Rush 2011 conference in London. Video of the interview has been posted at the CNBC Internet site here. Full Story
Just as I expected, when the market failed to rally on the debt ceiling resolution, panic set in. As I have been telling people the stock market is not dropping because politicians are debating whether or not to spend more money. Full Story
Pity the Wall Street Journal for having to gin up an explanation each day for whatever it is that the stock market did the previous day. We reflected on the difficulty of this task, and its inherent futility (and silliness), while discarding a stack of old newspapers yesterday morning. Markets Show Relief, for Now was the above-the-fold headline that greeted subscribers on Monday’s Money and Investing page. Full Story
Many of you likely rubbed your sleepy eyes in disbelief when you saw gold prices breach $1,675 an ounce in early trading, but you weren’t dreaming. Gold danced above $1,675 into the wee hours of the night before settling in at $1,663.45 (at the time of this writing this afternoon). Full Story
The US Federal Reserve has no monetary options whatsoever. They have been backed into the corner since 2007. It was coerced to reduce interest rates as the subprime mortgage crisis morphed into an absolute bond crisis, as the Jackass loudly stated during that fateful summer. The US bank leaders claimed it was contained. It was not. The USFed was backed into the corner in 2009, unable to raise interest rates from near 0% (the Zero Interest Rate Policy disease) and put into effect its propaganda theme of an Exit Strategy. The US bank leaders knew the longest period of time for the Fed Funds rate to stick at 0% was nine months, ensuring a future disaster. They saw it. They claimed a move toward normalcy. It did not come. Full Story
By: Elizabeth Manning, Casey Energy Opportunities - 3 August, 2011
Nuclear energy has taken a beating since the Fukushima crisis began in March, but we believe the arguments are strong that it’s not down for the count. There are a couple of factors that the Casey Energy Team considers bullish for the nuclear industry and market. Let’s take a closer look and back them up. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and James West - 3 August, 2011
Move into gold and silver was the advice James West, founder of the Midas Letter Opportunity Fund, gave Midas Letter subscribers in June. He recommended moving from the junior stock market to 100% gold, silver and precious metals funds backed by bullion. For a while it looked like a bad call. But as markets tanked, gold and silver soared, and it turned out to be a smart strategy. Now might be a good time to sell the metals and get back into the juniors, he says. Full Story
PERHAPS it's coincidence, or perhaps The Connells were onto something, but the years 1974 and 1975 stick out as key dates in the economic history of the United States. December 31 1974 was the day Americans finally regained their right to own gold. The US removed the last of its significant capital controls in 1974, while 1975 was the time it ever ran a trade surplus. Full Story
Many who hope to succeed in the markets seem to forget one of the primary laws of market speculation: Sutton’s Law. This axiom has proved correct time after time and is now used in several disciplines, ranging from law enforcement, physics, medicine, economics and market speculation. Sutton’s Law is described precisely by its namesake, William “Willie” Sutton, the prolific 1920’s bank robber who, when asked why he robbed banks answered, “That’s where the money is.” Full Story
Resolution of the immediate debt ceiling crisis in the US came with the expected and predicted raising of the ceiling from about $14 trillion to $17 trillion, but it also came with announced plans for seemingly strident austerity measures to cut the deficit. The situation could not be more contradictory - they raise the debt ceiling to accomodate the results of their prior profligacy and then talk about reining in spending! No wonder the markets gave the whole package a massive thumbs down yesterday. It's too late, way too late, to puts the brakes on spending and any attempt to do so will result in the already fragile economy collapsing into depression. Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 3 August, 2011
It was 15-months ago that we projected that the second half of 2011 and onward would present many financial and economic problems, and we have not been disappointed. There was federal debt and its renewal, which we are now suffering through, municipal debt problems, the lack of any kind of solid recovery and financial problems emanating from Europe. Making the situation more difficult is the statistical exposure at Princeton University that more than $5 trillion has been spent since 9/11 to create new wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan, with more in the works. Full Story
In recent weeks I’ve read a few missives from mainstream advisers and pundits on the merits of stocks. These people despise Gold and are quick to point out that since March 2009, stocks have outperformed Gold. This means very little as it is an arbitrary date. Gold will continue to outperform stocks and then stocks will outperform into the next decade. Trends and markets are cyclical and not permanent. Full Story
Gold in relation to S&P 500 units has now triggered up by MACD on a monthly chart. When this chart was originally created on July 10th in NFTRH, it was noted that the MACD decline was a good thing, as gold bug sentiment was reined in and the over bought, over frothy status was worked off, letting the stock market puff out its plumage and suck the herd back in, confidence-wise. Full Story
The debt ceiling agreement that came over the weekend will raise the ceiling by $2.1 trillion – enough to get this issue off the political table until January 1, 2013, which was Obama's desire. The House called the bill the Budget Control Act. It was the budget out of control act. It is 74 pages long. No one in Congress had time to read it. Typical. Full Story
Maybe this time is going to be different for gold. In late 2008 gold and silver prices slumped along with global stockmarkets. Yesterday the yellow metal jumped to an all-time high of $1,661 as stock markets took a big hit. Full Story
The double dip is one of the worst phenomena of an on-going recession. When an economy double dips, the losers of the first dip who were confident enough to enter into a small recovery are wiped out, thus setting the course for a very long second leg in an economic crisis. Full Story
Were we perhaps too hasty in condemning the debt-ceiling bill? Evidence surfaced yesterday that it may not be such a bad piece of legislation after all. First, stocks took their steepest dive in recent memory, sending the Dow Industrials 266 points lower. It was like watching a little brat who enjoys setting the curtains on fire and torturing toads get a good spanking. Full Story
India is set to fund bailouts in financially-stricken Europe, marking a dramatic role reversal from 20 years ago when it went knocking on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a balance of payments crisis. Full Story
A concept investors had much time to ponder is the long run value of investment capital. To calculate seemingly abstract concepts, investors have very simple answers. The rule of 72 gives us a guideline for the doubling of money, and net present value calculators are now found on every computer with a spreadsheet program. Full Story
By: David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research - 2 August, 2011
At any point during the recent negotiations in Washington over the debt, did you seriously think for even a second that the U.S. was about to default? Of course, in time the U.S. government (along with many others) will default. However, they are highly unlikely to do so by decree or even through the sort of legislative inaction recently on display. Rather, it will come about through the time-honored tradition of screwing debtors via the slow-roasting method of monetary inflation. Full Story
By: The Energy Report and Geordie Mark - 2 August, 2011
Because of ongoing nuclear power development in China, Africa and the Middle East, uranium prices could bounce back to pre-Fukushima levels of $70/lb. in 2012, says Geordie Mark, a research analyst at Haywood Securities. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Mark says that instead of waiting for prices to rebound, some mining companies are moving ahead with regulatory and construction projects to drive value. Full Story
The ongoing debate in Washington prompted increased Fear Trade activity in gold this week. The issue over raising the federal borrowing limit caused the yellow metal to remain around its all-time high of $1,600 per ounce this week. Full Story
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives gave a green light to President Barrack Obama’s debt ceiling agreement with the Republicans. Today, the Senate will most likely confirm the deal. The final compromise includes $2.4 trillion cuts over the next decade and the rise of the $14.3 trillion debt limit. Full Story
The building blocks of a gold price parabola are slowly being put into place. Today, I want to show you how the stock market plays into the parabola. Both the Dow industrials and the transports have both lost upwards momentum and are on the cusp of crash season (the months of September and October). The remaining public stock market investors took an axe chop to the “crisis is over” face, with President Obama’s statements that America’s government stood on the doorstep of default on its debt. While default has been avoided for now, the incident has killed public interest in flowing liquidity into the stock market. Full Story
At this point, you can no longer bank on a rising tide to lift your boats. Although a quick look at the TSX Venture Index chart may appear attractive, it hides the costly dilution that has happened over the past few years. All is not lost though. This is still the TSX Venture and there are massive gains to be had. However, since we’re long past the “easy money” period, you have to take less risk and keep more cash on hand for when corrections do come. And it’s now more important than ever to stick to junior resource stocks you love, with solid management, sizeable assets, and strong development plans, and shares that offer very high rewards for the risks involved. Full Story
A public update from GoldOz on global events and the Australian gold sector is long overdue. Please forgive my absence it was due to travel and time constraint. The debt ceiling is the big news this week and for several weeks behind us. The consensus is that the deal to raise the limit by at least $2.1T and cut spending by $2.4T over ten years is a compromise and this is no surprise. The US credit worthiness is under question and so is their status as an AAA rating which is only shared by 16 other countries. The ratings agencies wanted a $4T increase in the debt ceiling to stave off another repeat of this circus before the next election. Full Story
By: Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante - 2 August, 2011
That's it? This is the deal? This is what they've been supposedly fighting over for months? We'll get to the exact details in a moment but let's start by doing a fantasy comparison of the same "cuts" being made in a format that the regular man on the street can understand. Full Story
By: Rick Ackerman and Doug Behnfield - 2 August, 2011
All very Japanese. Except for the fact that while Japan has labored through its credit collapse for the last 20 years, during the first 17, the global economy was expanding like mad. Even though Japan was the third largest economy, their depression did not rub off on the rest of the world. That is unlikely to be the case this time for many reasons. The United States is big enough to precipitate a global slowdown. And events in Europe, the Mideast and China seem to be contributing to deflationary forces as well. We must think beyond the debt ceiling debate. Resistance is futile. The fiscal drag is coming, albeit with the delay that Thomas Jefferson and the boys had in mind. S&P will not downgrade us, since one more stupid mistake like that will put them out of business. Meanwhile, a Deal, however incomplete, will not mean a stock market rally of any magnitude because paying the piper is not a growth strategy. Full Story
South Korea's central bank bought 25 tonnes of gold over the past two months in its first purchase in more than a decade, saying the time was ripe to boost its gold holding. The central bank of Asia's fourth-largest economy said that, with prices hovering near historic highs. Gold looked less lucrative as an investment but it was the right time to buy gold because its foreign reserves had risen above $300 billion. Full Story
By: The Gold Report and Brent Cook - 1 August, 2011
Brent Cook, editor of the Exploration Insights newsletter, likes to spend his days winnowing out junior companies on the verge of making discoveries. But when he noticed a disconnect between the skyrocketing gold price and the low valuations of some larger mining companies, he jumped on it. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Cook details which types of miners will be the beneficiaries of this continuing trend. Full Story
The world's investment community, including besieged private investors, is reeling at the twin terrors of sovereign financial breakdowns on both sides of the Atlantic. Gold has responded by rising nearly $150 in less than a month under heavy global demand. No sooner does the dust settle in Europe than something is kicked up in the United States, or vice versa, complicating the decision-making process and narrowing the options. We thought it would be interesting to catalogue in one place the best quotes on gold going over $1600 -- the thought-provoking, the witty, the profound (not necessarily in order of preference). Full Story
By: Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital - 1 August, 2011
By supposedly compromising to raise the debt ceiling, Congress and the President have now paved the way for ever higher levels of federal spending. Although, the nation was spared the trauma of borrowing restrictions, the actual risk of default existed solely in the minds of Washington politicians. But the real crisis is not, nor has it ever been, the debt ceiling. The crisis is the debt itself. Economic Armageddon would not have resulted from failure to raise the ceiling, but it will come because we succeeded in raising it. Full Story
Now that the latest round of quantitative easing (QE) has ended, it’s time to take stock of whether inflation or deflation is likely to gain the upper hand going forward. The Fed’s monetary stimulus efforts of the last three years have done nothing to help what is arguably the biggest symptom of long-term deflation, namely the housing market. It’s important to recall that the final “hard down” portion of the 60-year cycle of inflation/deflation cycle began with a collapse of real estate prices. The real estate bear market has been the chief evidence of deflation in the U.S. for the housing market prior to the crash represented the biggest form of savings for most Americans. Full Story
By: Dr. Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman - 1 August, 2011
One might think that the recent drama over the debt ceiling involves one side wanting to increase or maintain spending with the other side wanting to drastically cut spending, but that is far from the truth. In spite of the rhetoric being thrown around, the real debate is over how much government spending will increase. Full Story
Virtually nothing is being written these days on the few long-term warrants associated with gold and silver mining companies. I suppose that is to be expected given that there are only 22 such warrants and they are associated with only 19 companies in total. That is unfortunate because those who are in the know can take advantage of the significant leverage warrants generate in a bull market over investing in physical gold and silver, precious metals company stocks and mutual/exchange traded funds. What am I talking about – and which warrants am I referring to? Let me explain. Full Story
Vacancy rates here in Denver are as low as they’ve been in more than a decade, pushing rents sharply higher even as the housing market continues to slump. This reportedly is happening all over the nation as tightened mortgage-lending rules move home ownership beyond the reach of millions of would-be buyers. Many of today’s renters could probably have qualified for mortgages under the loose standards that obtained just a few years ago. These days, however, even if they could get their hands on the money, a growing number of would-be homeowners are passing up the American dream in order to avoid the hassles and expense that come with it. So many are doing this, in fact, that they’ve even sparked bidding wars for rental units in Colorado and elsewhere. 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. Charles Goyette, The Dollar Meltdown Harry S. Dent Jr., The Great Depression Ahead Full Story
The inspiration to write this post was to clarify some issues with the costs of mining silver. I believe many of the investing public has mistaken what is termed as the “CASH COST” as the real cost of mining silver. According to the Silver Institute in 2010, the cash cost from primary mine production was $5.27 an ounce. The Silver Institute gets their info from the World Silver Surveys produced by GFMS. I have had an email exchange over the past several months with one of their metal analysts on various topics. I recently asked permission to reproduce their Cash Cost graph for this post, and was told I could do so for $1,500. Full Story
Perhaps the debt ceiling should be renamed the "national debt target," for it seems Washington is always trying to reach it. One could say it's their only reliable, time-tested achievement. And without fail, upon reaching their national debt target, they promptly extend it further in order to discover how quickly it can once again be attained! Full Story
By: Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante - 31 July, 2011
You sure don't see too many idiots on TV talking about green shoots anymore... whatever happened to that? After two years of "recovery", does anyone see anything like a recovery in any of the unemployment figures (the blue line being reality and the red line being the government propaganda)? Full Story
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - 31 July, 2011
The first House passed a $16.7 trillion cut, cap and balance bill calls for a cut in the fiscal September 1st budget for 2012 and a balanced budget amendment that goes into effect in five years. Why five years, so they can amend it in a couple of years? This is truly political theater. This has little to do with the budget and everything to do with political powers. Worse yet, unless it meets the President’s approval, he will veto the bill. Full Story
By: John Mauldin, Millennium Wave Advisors - 31 July, 2011
The GDP numbers for the second quarter came in, and there is no way to spin them as anything but ugly. And the revisions were worse. We simply have to take a few pages to look at them. And, as I noted last Monday in the Outside the Box, I met with some ten Senators Monday afternoon (as well as Congressmen in the morning), plus a lot of staff. Getting ten Senators in a room for 90-plus minutes is not so often done. I will report in this week’s letter about our conversation and my impressions. Full Story
The week was owned once again by talk of a debt ceiling. The markets didn’t like it and had a pretty hefty fall and annulled any bullish pattern they had. Now we’re seeing 200 day averages being tested or close to it for most major US indices. Full Story
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