Silver Editorials & Commentary

I first warned about the impending bust of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) when I wrote “Abe Pulls Pin on JGBs” back in January of 2013. In that commentary I laid out the math behind a collapse of the Japanese bond market and economy stemming from the nation’s...

It should be clear now to most precious metals observers that gold and silver price manipulation is just as common to the metals as it is to every other asset class. And equally evident should be the realization that resolution will not come from organized efforts....

With the Federal Reserve continuing down the tapering path, and the S&P 500 nearly flat for the year, it is becoming obvious that 2014 will be more difficult for investors than 2013. A more difficult year means a more stressful year. Stress can be thought of as...

The strategy I’m writing about today is one of my favorite, guaranteed moneymakers. These are trades we can all easily make, requiring no capital outlay and guaranteed to make a profit or you don’t make them. What’s the catch? We might occasionally find ourselves...

The U.S. stock market indexes lost 0.6-1.3% yesterday, moving away from their long-term highs once again, as investors reacted to some geopolitical news concerning Russia-Ukraine conflict, among others. However, the S&P 500 index remains in a month-long...

That 2013 was a year when equities ruled supreme is now well recorded history. Generally speaking, expectations at the end of the year were that 2014 would be more of the same.

“Bernanke Enjoys the ‘Fruits of the Free Market,’” or so we’re told in a Reuters headlinefrom March 4 about the former Fed chairman’s 40-minute speech in Abu Dhabi for which he received, ahem, $250,000. In the Reuters author’s defense, he was only quoting a DC...

There is a lot of talk now about a flattening of the yield curve. This talk has been among the most intense right here at the website you are reading at this moment. A flattening curve is commonly viewed as bad for gold, and according to Mark Hulbert, is an...

In a 1991 episode of Seinfeld, as Kramer pleaded with Jerry to install illegal cable he uttered: Man, it’s the 90s. It’s Hammer Time! Some analysts on Wall Street are drawing similarities to the 1990s, a period marked by extraordinary returns in the stock market and...

There are two ways a nation can use economic growth to reduce budget deficits. The first method is to participate in economic growth, with a growing economy increasing tax collections. A second method is to raise taxes so drastically that they consume all economic...

President Obama set the chattering classes abuzz after his recent unilateral announcement to raise the minimum wage for newly hired Federal contract workers. During his State of the Union address in January, he sang the praises for his decision, saying that “It’s...

Assume we asked the general investing public: Are rising prices more likely to occur during an economic expansion or during a recession? The vast majority of responses would be “during an economic expansion”, which tells us economic growth and inflation are tied...

The U.S. stock market indexes lost between 0.2% and 1.1% on Friday, as investors took profits following higher open. However, the S&P 500 index has managed to reach yet another new all-time high at 1,883.97, slightly exceeding its march 7 high of 1,883.57. The...

It’s hard writing about the old monetary metals. Mind you I’m still quite bullish on gold and silver, but I understand the frustration gold and silver investors feel over the past three years. Looking at the price of silver (Blue Plot below) with its step sum (Red...

A common argument for dumping the Euro is that it is overvalued, and that the ECB (European Central Bank) is unwilling to correct this so-called “problem.” This overvaluation is regularly cited as being over 10 percent against the dollar. The Swiss central bank...

The good news is: The major indices recovered most of their losses of the previous week. The negatives: The new high indicators continue to reveal a pattern of declining highs.

2014 has been a real barn burner of a year for stocks so far. Down a tad, up a bit. Down a chunk, up a sliver. Down for two days, up for a few weeks. Here's what that noise looks like and you can take a guess at what's likely next.

Silver is more speculative than gold and continues to under perform which implies more weakness for the intermediate term.

After an unusual blow-out 2013, the U.S. stock market has gone nowhere so far this year. Down for January, back up for February, and sideways for March, the Dow is 1% below its record high reached at the end of the year, and thus down 1% for 2014 so far, while the S...

The New Chairperson of the Federal Reserve showed off her dovish feathers after the latest meeting of the FOMC. Ms. Yellen abrogated the threshold of 6.5% on the unemployment rate as the starting point for short term rate hikes and replaced it with amorphous and...

Investors and observers watching the drama unfold in the Ukraine should not be surprised at the short price action of the precious metals, mainly gold and silver. Throughout the crisis (and as matter of record with practically every other crisis) the metals are...

Janet Yellen’s press conference Wednesday brought a Fed rate increase into the market’s field of vision. Intermediate Treasuries (IEF) have dropped 1.08% this week. When bond prices fall, interest rates rise. Rising interest rates are typically a good sign for the...

The U.S. dollar moved higher against major currency pairs after better-than-expected initial jobless claims data. Earlier today, the Department of Labor showed in its report that initial claims for jobless benefits in the week ending March 15 rose by 5,000 to 320,...

I had planned to write today about Janet Yellen’s first FOMC meeting but what’s the point? Because this is her first one, all markets have been scripted in ironclad fashion to portray “the picture.” The picture of health, stability and “all is well.” Another $...

There is about 6700 metric tonnes of gold stored 80 feet below street level on the bedrock of Manhattan, in the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve. None of this gold is owned by the New York Federal reserve, they are merely the custodians for the US treasury (...

Everyone expects Janet Yellen to be a rolling over, inflationist stooge just like they did Ben Bernanke. Bernanke came on board after Alan Greenspan had taken the Fed Funds rate up to around 5% if I remember correctly. Inflationists and gold bugs thought they had...

Using past data for clues to future prices should only be one of the tools that investors/speculators use when deciding whether or not to invest in a given asset or asset class. Many technicians or analysts look back to prior price performance as a hint for what is...

Some have asked our view on Bitcoin, and my response is simply—I view these things from a Free Market perspective. I have often stated that “The Market knows more than any of us”. I would not want to be labeled a hypocrite by stating my conviction that the “real”...

Many Wall Streeters argue the Fed is tired of doing the heavy lifting as politicians continue to avoid tackling the issues of the day. Another popular argument is the Fed’s quantitative easing program failed and they have little desire to bail out the markets and...

On Tuesday, crude oil gained 1.60% after information that a pipeline connecting Oklahoma storage with Gulf Coast refineries will be open sooner than previously expected. Thanks to this news, light crude rebounded, finishing the day above $99 per barrel.

In Monday’s article, we outlined the expectation for Wednesday’s Fed meeting, which centers around a change to their forward guidance. Tuesday’s economic data supports an ongoing “low rate” pledge.

Yesterday, we warned that the Fed was playing a dangerous game with inflation. Today, we want to take note that the Fed is in fact just one of the Central Banks doing this.

A critical element for investors to consider is that the Fed is not forward thinking when it comes to monetary policy. Indeed, if we reflect on the last 15 years, we see that the Fed has been well behind the curve on everything.

“Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the Earth…If you wish to remain slaves of the Bankers and pay for the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits (fractional reserve lending/fiat money].” What a chilling...

China’s slower economic data points and a surplus in copper and iron ore drove many commodities lower this week, while gold rose. In the short term, until the copper and iron ore surplus is liquidated, or absorbed at a slower pace, the base metals market will likely...

The Fed has signaled in recent weeks that the threshold for altering their bond tapering schedule is high. Therefore, the market expects another round of tapering this week. The focus has shifted to forward guidance. In the current economic environment, forward...

When I started working for Doug Casey almost 10 years ago, I probably knew as much about investing as the average Joe, but I now know that I knew absolutely nothing then about successful speculation. Learning from the international speculator himself—and from his...

I sometimes feel that the economy is living out the Hans Christian Andersen’s fable called “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. He wrote the story back in 1837 about a vain emperor who hired a couple of charlatans that promise to make him the finest robes out of invisible...

A looming bear market in U.S. Treasuries characterized by falling prices will inevitably galvanize the attention of conservative investors worldwide (ie Central Banks, the wealthy, Pension Plans and Insurance Trust Depts…and of course CHINA). Consequently, they will...

Last June when tidbits about a would-be future ‘taper’ of T bond purchases (QE) were popping up in the media NFTRH 241 (June 2, 2013) put forward a theory that a tapering of bond monetization could begin to act as a delivery mechanism for inflation, with banks and...