Silver Editorials & Commentary

The Federal Reserve has injected billions of dollars of freshly printed money into the global financial system via quantitative easing (QE). If you understand how QE works in the real world, it is difficult to overstate the role it has played in juicing the stock...

The prequel to this commentary summarized the anti-climactic ending of the U.S. Debt-Ceiling Farce, and the fraudulent non-reaction to this circus by the Western financial system in general, and Western credit-rating agencies in particular.

The good news is: The NASDAQ composite (OTC) closed at a multi year high on Friday while all of the other broad based indices closed at all time highs. The negatives - The chart below covers the past 6 months showing the S&P 500 (SPX) in red and a 10% trend (19...

The “good news” is that the latest Act of “The U.S. Debt-Ceiling Farce” has mercifully ended, and the curtain has come down on this puppet-theater. The bad news is that it ended (absurdly) with a mere three-month reprieve – before we get literally an instant replay...

A month ago the market seemed to be setting up for an intermediate-term correction. On the month-old chart below we can see a bearish rising wedge accompanied by negative divergences in price, breadth, and volume. Our comments at the time: "We expect the SPX to...

The Fed's capabilities to engineer changes in economic growth and inflation are asymmetric. It has been historically documented that central bank tools are well suited to fight excess demand and rampant inflation; the Fed showed great resolve in containing the fast...

The ultimate lynch pin for the silver market is the flow of physical metal to support ongoing price suppression. The flow of physical metal is mostly an illusion nearly equal to (and in some ways parallel with) the perceived strength of the paper currencies used to...

I continue to read pieces in the media claiming the QE should not be stopped because it will hurt the recovery. I don’t understand this claim because there is literally no historical evidence that QE creates jobs in the first place.

During the past 12 years silver prices have bottomed, rallied sharply, collapsed, and then languished for a year or more. The patterns are not identical, but there are obvious similarities as shown in the following chart. (Note that it is a weekly line chart, from...

This Columbus Day there were protesters against the shutdown, but even more against how the US government and how it is running. It's no longer Democrat versus Republican as the media makes it appear. Both parties have been found untrustworthy in their...

We use the term “reserve currency” when referring to the common use of the dollar by other countries when settling their international trade accounts. For example, if Canada buys goods from China, it may pay China in US dollars rather than Canadian dollars, and vice...

This in of itself is a strange claim as technically we hit the debt limit back in May and have been resorting to “extraordinary” measures since then. I don’t recall anyone in at the Treasury talking about the importance of the “debt ceiling” then, do you?

Markets tend to be a bit obsessive. In recent months, traders shifted from taper-gate to familiar political posturing in Washington, D.C. The next obsession may be earnings.

As far as the metals go, I’m pretty sure that the key reversal on the 28th of June was it. But again, time will tell. I mean everyday they trade above that shows that that was the bottom. We’re at $22 oz. on silver which is a far cry from the $18.37 oz. or whatever...

The good news is: New lows have remained at non-threatening levels. The negatives: The chart below covers the past 6 months showing the S&P 500 (SPX) in red and a 10% trend (19 day EMA) of NYSE new highs (NY NH) in green. Dashed vertical lines have been drawn...

We are now into a second week of a partial Federal Government shut-down, which is causing considerable concern, centred on the Government’s ability to finance its debt and pay interest without a budget agreed for the new fiscal year. Should this continue into next...

Gold just isn't working as advertised as Washington flirts with disaster... THERE'S no denying that precious metals are falling even as the US debt-limit deadline draws so near, you can see that it's wearing a wig. In fact, the mere hint of a short-term fix to avoid...

The whole Debt-Ceiling Farce is a totally artificial, totally contrived event. As explained previously, the entire concept of a “debt ceiling” (for the world’s largest/greatest Deadbeat Debtor) is itself entirely absurd. Thus the shut-down of the U.S. government is...

Without getting into a dissertation on Stockholm syndrome, it can be summed up as a psychological condition where hostages come to have feelings of empathy and/or sympathy towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. This is also a common...

The popular take on the current debt ceiling stand-off is that the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party has a delusional belief that it can hit the brakes on new debt creation without bringing on an economic catastrophe. While Republicans are indeed kidding...

Each day more conspiracy theories are becoming conspiracy fact. From Enron to Madoff, the NSA to LIBOR, these scandals were "known" years before being acknowledged or embraced by officials or the mainstream media.

It is an amazing and concise illustration of how, contrary to popular opinion, the borders of political entities are anything but permanent. In a historical perspective, nations and national boundaries tend to have as much permanence as a double cheeseburger placed...

In what is BECOMING the deadliest game of CHICKEN since the August 2011 US debt ceiling Showdown, we are at the doorstep of part II. In a game of chicken, two cars rush headlong towards each other to see who veers off first. Occasionally, neither driver does and...

The markets are finally beginning to realize that the debt ceiling debacle, economic contraction in the US, housing bubble 2.0 bursting, China slowdown, Japan stagflation and European banking crisis are not good for stocks.

The markets are beginning to realize that the major political parties learned very little during the 2011 debt downgrade talks. Our leaders seem to be headed down the same road again. The early reaction from the street was that the Yellen announcement’s timing is...

With 98% of the politicians getting re-elected time after time, no matter what they do, including convicted felons, it should be obvious that elections do not act as term limits. The US debt, not including unfunded liabilities, is over $17 trillion dollars. The...

Chinese investors should be back on the “gold buying job” today. To understand why that is, please click here now. Twice a year, Chinese citizens celebrate “Golden Week”. Businesses are generally closed, and workers spend time with their families.

US stocks generally remain on bullish trends in all time frames. Further, the Debt Ceiling (and Government shutdown) theater seems to be playing out in the usual way that these events play out; the stock market has been correcting in an orderly way and seems to be...

Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson weighed in on the budget and debt ceiling gridlock in Washington and offered a solution last week by saying, “I hate the whole concept of a debt ceiling”. He also indicated that putting a legal limit on our nation’s borrowing...

In this Weekend Report I want to continue looking at the precious metals stock indexes and the consolidation patterns that have been building out since the June low. The reason I’m spending so much time looking at this possible consolidation area is so you can get a...

The stock market is finally beginning to show signs that the bull market may be coming to an end. Before I go into the stock market though, I want to discuss the dollar because I think currencies are going to be integrally tied to the topping process.

The reason for posting a new Silver Market update at this juncture is that we appear to be at an optimum “buy spot”, for gold, silver and Precious Metals ETFs and stocks, as both gold and silver have dropped back in recent weeks to mark out the Right Shoulder low of...

The central bankers have no rudder, adrift in a sea of fiat, taking everybody with them. Witness Cyprus and Greece being forced to walk the plank. Those who choose to stay on this Ship of Fools will suffer the same fate, even worse as the growing panic emboldens...

The good news is: Like the week before, last week, the secondaries outperformed the blue chips and there was no build up of new lows. Last week was just an extension of the week before. New highs continued to deteriorate while the secondaries outperformed the...

It’s that time of year when I remind you of the stock market’s remarkable history of making most of its gains in the winter months, while if there is a problem it usually hits in the summer or fall months. Most investors know it as ‘Sell in May and Go Away’.

The Rydex Ratio has reached a level where it is telling us that sentiment is too bullish, and that stock prices are vulnerable.

There is a rising probability that the problems facing the world’s central banks will come to a head by mid-November 2013. Below is some background and explanation.

Oddly, and thanks in part to the rise of the precious metals ETF's, large investment and banking institutions have continued to dispense with all manner of recommendation, analysis, and commentary.

The futures were tame this morning until the U.S. Treasury issued a statement warning of “a large, adverse, and persistent financial shock” if the U.S. were to default on its debt obligations. The ominous statement did little to break the stalemate between the major...

As a media entity for whom “subtlety” is generally a dirty word; Bloomberg can be remarkably indirect when tasked with delivering an unpalatable message about its Friends. After merely a few weeks of (manipulated) price-weakness in the precious metals sector; these...