December Blog Archives 2016

December Blog Archives


12.31.15 - 2016: BACK TO BASICS

Gold last traded at $1,060 an ounce. Silver at $13.85 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks traded mixed Thursday and were on track to end a volatile year about where they began. Meanwhile, precious metal prices were steady despite a stronger U.S. dollar.

Happy 2016! Swiss America will be closing early on New Year's Eve and will reopen on Monday, January 4th.

A Cashless Society? -Daily Pfenning
"The biggest story that I’m doing research on right now, is the one coming from Sweden and Denmark, where cash is supposedly being eradicated...So, for those of you keeping score at home on this story… 95% of all retail sales in Sweden are cashless… Hmmm, interesting, eh? And in Denmark, the gov’t has actually stated that they have a goal of 'eradicating cash' by the 2030… YIKES… Of course this could all play nicely in the sandbox of the calls for a collapse of the financial system that James Rickards and others are calling for… Without a horde of cash outstanding to have to deal with, then a country could adjust the bank records easily to the new money system that comes after the collapse of the financial system…"

Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith writes, "If they abolish cash, the last line of independence and privacy will be gold, the ultimate currency." In 2016 we strongly recommend getting back to economic basics - which means putting aside some emergency cash and stocking up on physical gold and silver as wealth insurance. To better understand why governments worldwide have declared a "war on cash" read THE SECRET WAR ON CASH.

chart Next Time Your Financial Advisor Tells You To Buy Stocks, Show Them This Chart -Zero Hedge
"Earlier today, we noted that while the market was surging last week, the smart money was selling....But something even more surprising emerged when looking at the detailed breakdown of how the 'smart money' has been flowing. As Bank of America clarifies, when explaining where its $0.7 billion in weekly outflows came from, 'net sales were chiefly due to institutional clients last week' and adds that institutionals 'have sold stocks for eight consecutive weeks'! And then something even more surprising emerges when looking at the YTD breakdown of flows: while hedge funds and private clients (retail) have largely offset each other over the past year, the former selling $2.8BN and the latter buying $2.2BN in 2015, something odd has taken place at the institutional level: starting in early January, the largest financial institutions - mutual funds and various other asset managers - have unleashed an unprecedented selling spree for 11 consecutive months, which has brought their total outflow to $26.8 billion. Which leads to another question: if institutions are actively dumping stocks, perhaps mom and pop investors should show the following chart to their financial advisors, who directly or indirectly work for these institutions, and ask them: why should they be buying, when the counterparty they are buying from is, most likely, this very same financial advisor?"

Are We Wrong About the Coming Depression? -Bonner/Daily Reckoning
"The extraordinary lightness of near-zero-cost money encourages gambling, speculation, mergers and acquisitions (at a record in 2015), and other financial legerdemain. This creates a kind of financial forked tongue. Asset prices tell us that 'all is well' while the economy tells us that it is not. Where this leads is anyone’s guess. Our guess is that the contradiction will be resolved by a stock market sell-off, deflation, and depression....For more than 20 years, America’s central bank has loosened early and often, bringing the cost of borrowing all the way down to nearly nothing at times....In our view, the Fed is not tightening too early, as some analysts believe. It is tightening too late."

We agree with Mr. Bonner that Fed manipulation of interest rates and trillions in stimulus pumped into the economy since 2009 have created mispriced assets in relation to the stagnant economic growth, as explained in The Biggest Bank Heist in History.

Ted Cruz’s Push for Gold Is a Very Good Idea -The Pulse 2016
"On December 28, CNN’s Heather Long wrote 'Why Ted Cruz’s gold standard push is a bad idea.' Ms. Long can’t really be faulted for relaying the conventional wisdom. Yet one wishes CNN would expand its sources on this subject - a topic likely to recur in the presidential contest - to include expert gold standard proponents such as Reagan Gold Commissioner Lewis E. Lehrman, publisher Steve Forbes, financier Sean Fieler (chairman of The Pulse’s parent organization), George Mason University economics professor Lawrence White, or even myself, probably the most prolific writer in the contemporary mainstream financial and policy media on the gold standard....The classical gold standard, empirically speaking, has the best track record, in practice, over decades and even centuries, of creating a climate of equitable prosperity in which workers and median family incomes best thrive."

Read The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver to learn the wisdom of restoring a personal gold standard in 2016.

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12.30.15 - SMART MONEY SELLING STOCKS, BUYING GOLD

Gold last traded at $1,059 an ounce. Silver at $13.84 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell Wednesday as oil prices dropped sharply following a rise in U.S. crude inventories. Gold finding its footing as the year closes.

Smart Money Not Buying The Santa Rally -Smarter Analysis
" Last week, when the S&P rallied 2.8%, the smartest money in the room sold. At least, that’s what happened according to BofA’s equity and quant team, which provides a weekly snapshot of what its clients do in any given period. Here are the details: 'BofAML clients were net sellers of US stocks for the second week, in the amount of $0.7bn. Net sales were chiefly due to institutional clients last week, who have sold stocks for eight consecutive weeks. Private clients were also small net sellers for the second week. Hedge funds were the sole net buyers...'"

When your downside risk exceeds your upside potential in any investment market, it's time to get out. Such is the case with the highly manipulated U.S. stock market.

Billionaires Betting Big on Gold in 2016 -Motley Fool
"One big name that's been shifting into gold is Stanley Druckenmiller. And as of the end of the third quarter, he was one of the top 10 holders of SPDR Gold Trust...Druckenmiller was the chief strategist for George Soros, a name you've probably heard of....Another big name that's still got a stake in the barbarous metal is John Paulson and his hedge fund group Paulson & Co. According to regulatory fillings, the 9.2 million or so shares of SPDR Gold Trust his company owns are worth around $900 million at recent prices. Moreover, he has noted that gold has a place in portfolios as insurance against the unexpected...That sentiment is backed up by Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates. He's been quoted as saying, 'If you don't own gold, you know neither history nor economics.' Basically, gold is the insurance play, which is what Paulson has been saying."

We agree with Druckenmiller, Paulson and Dalio - the best reason to own physical gold is not as an 'investment', but rather as wealth insurance. We also agree the best to time to buy gold is right now. Learn more about gold, the only asset that's not someone else's liability here: The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

2016 Gold/Silver Forecast -Seeking Alpha
"Investment demand for physical bullion is perhaps the biggest story in precious metals for 2015. Mints and refiners spent much of the 2nd half of the year unable to keep up. Investors had to contend with higher premiums and delivery delays, finally getting some relief now as the year draws to a close....Today precious metals sell for well below than their all-in production cost. Primary producers of gold and silver will deliver less to market in 2016 given that a great many miners currently take a loss on every ounce they sell....Delivery defaults are possible in the futures markets. The explosion of leverage in COMEX gold futures bears watching in 2016....Should ideas like reinstituting gold backing for the dollar gain serious momentum in the 2016 presidential campaign, the metals markets could perk up."

Gold to shine as 'funny-money' fails -Forbes
"'A currency, to be perfect, should be absolutely invariable in value,' David Ricardo wrote in 1816. The gold/silver complex was how humans achieved this ideal, in the practical world. By the late 19th century, this was resolved down to gold, and gold alone. The reason we don’t have a gold standard system today is not because it doesn’t work - people don’t do things that 'don’t work' for four millennia - but because people have other goals for their currency. They want the currency to be their primary tool of economic manipulation. The funny-money advocates hate gold, because it prevents them from doing so....Gold’s track record, as a standard of value, is awesome. But, for as long as people believe that manipulation of the economy via currency distortion is the royal road to prosperity, people will shun the idea of gold-based money. I think that today’s funny-money arrangements will have a crisis before too long; a crisis painful enough that it might change people’s minds."

Author and Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith warns in his latest Special Report What's Next For The Dollar? that the dollar will soon peak and then begin its descent. "The U.S. dollar will not go down gently," says Smith.

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12.29.15 - A WORLD OF WORRY

Gold last traded at $1,068 an ounce. Silver at $13.93 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Stocks advanced 1% Tuesday as oil prices rebounded and traders looked ahead to the end of a shortened New Year's week. Meanwhile, precious metal prices steadied despite a stronger U.S. dollar.

A Crisis Worse than ISIS? Bank “Bail-Ins” Begin -Global Research
"While the mainstream media focus on ISIS extremists, a threat that has gone virtually unreported is that your life savings could be wiped out in a massive derivatives collapse. Bank bail-ins have begun in Europe, and the infrastructure is in place in the US. Poverty also kills. At the end of November, an Italian pensioner hanged himself after his entire €100,000 savings were confiscated in a bank 'rescue' scheme. He left a suicide note blaming the bank, where he had been a customer for 50 years and had invested in bank-issued bonds. Some 130,000 shareholders and junior bond holders suffered losses in the 'rescue.'....Once your money is deposited in the bank, it legally becomes the property of the bank....In short, the goal of the bail-in scheme is to place losses on private creditors. Alternatives that allow them to escape could soon be blocked."

In their groundbreaking 2014 book, DON'T BANK ON IT! monetary expert Craig R. Smith and futurist Lowell Ponte show why it has become illogical and hazardous to your wealth to trust your money to today's increasingly vulnerable and unsafe banks.

The Whole World is on Edge -Financial Times
"In 2015, a sense of unease and foreboding seemed to settle on all the world’s major power centers. From Beijing to Washington, Berlin to Brasília, Moscow to Tokyo - governments, media and citizens were jumpy and embattled....This kind of globalized anxiety is unusual. For the past 30 years and more, there has been at least one world power that was bullishly optimistic. Yet at the moment all the big players seem uncertain - even fearful....The global gloom makes the international political system feel like a patient that is still struggling to recover from a severe illness which began with the financial crisis of 2008. The patient is vulnerable, however. Another severe shock, such as a major terrorist attack or a serious economic downturn, could spell real trouble."

America has reached a tipping point this year. In their latest book, WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM, authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte explain why Americans are so anxious as the new year approaches, "Today we are now suspended between two dreams....the American Dream of individual freedom and liberty and the un-American, Progressive Dream of collectivism and bigger government."

2016 Is An Easy Year To Predict -Zero Hedge
"No year is ever easy to predict, if only because if it were, that would take all the fun out of life. But still, predictions for 2016 look quite a bit easier than other years. This is because a whole bunch of irreversible things happened in 2015 that were not recognized for what they are, either intentionally or by ‘accident’. Things that will therefore now be forced to play out in 2016, when denial will no longer be an available option....2016 will be the year when a lot of ‘underlying wealth’ evaporates. Trillions of dollars already have in the commodities markets, but, again, our media don’t tell us about it, or at least they frame it in different terms. They use deflation to mean falling consumer prices, but then insist on calling falling prices at the pump a positive thing. Without recognizing to what extent those falling prices eat away at the entire economy, and at society at large."

US home prices rise 5.2% in October -CNBC
"Tight supply of homes for sale is pushing home prices ever higher again - with annual gains swelling in most major markets. Home values in October were 5.2 percent higher than October of 2014, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions. Price gains were even larger in the nation's top 20 housing markets, at 5.5 percent annually. San Francisco, Denver and Portland, Oregon, had the highest year-over-year gains, with all three showing home values in October 10.9 percent higher than one year ago."

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12.28.15 - PREPARED FOR THE NEXT CURRENCY CRISIS?

Gold last traded at $1,069 an ounce. Silver at $13.92 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks slumped again Monday in quiet, holiday-thinned trading as oil prices retreated. Meanwhile, precious metal prices drifted lower as the U.S. dollar inched higher.

The Year Nothing Worked: Stocks, Bonds, Cash Go Nowhere -Bloomberg
"The idea behind asset allocation is simple: when one market struggles, it’s OK because an investor can jump into another that is thriving. Not so in 2015. In fact, if you judge the past year by which U.S. investment class generated the largest return, a case can be made it was the worst for asset-allocating bulls in almost 80 years, according to data compiled by Bianco Research LLC and Bloomberg. With three days left in 2015, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 2.2 percent with dividends, cash is up less, while bonds and commodities show losses. 'The Fed stimulus lifted all boats, and then the Fed withdrawing the stimulus is holding the boats down,' Jim Bianco founder of Bianco Research said by phone."

As Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte have pointed out in their last six books and numerous white papers, the Federal Reserve's zero interest rate policy has created near-zero economic growth, near-zero investment returns and a growing world of mispriced assets. Learn more by reading The Biggest Bank Heist in History.

gold chart What Gold Does in a Currency Crisis -Seeking Alpha
"Along with the currencies of most other commodity-exporting countries, the Canadian dollar has been in near-freefall lately....Gold, meanwhile, has been sucked down with the rest of the commodities complex, falling hard since 2013. But only in US dollars. For Canadians, with their weak domestic currency, gold has been behaving just fine. It's up 17% in C$ terms over the past two years and looks ready to rally from here...Protection from currency trouble is why people own it, and why in the vast majority of places its owners are very happy."

Paper currency crises tend to rotate among nations. This year Canada's currency is in crisis. In previous years it's been; South Africa (1992), Mexico (1995), Indonesia (1997), Russia (1998), etc. Physical gold ownership is a simple way to protect wealth because gold is a global store of value currency. Today's artificially overvalued U.S. dollar helped push gold prices down 10% in 2015, but this trend is likely to reverse in 2016. Read more: The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears -NY Times
"Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic...Not everyone is cheering. Sweden’s embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes. Last year, the number of electronic fraud cases surged to 140,000, more than double the amount a decade ago, according to Sweden’s Ministry of Justice....Older adults and refugees in Sweden who use cash may be marginalized, critics say. And young people who use apps to pay for everything or take out loans via their mobile phones risk falling into debt....'Big Brother can watch exactly what you’re doing if you purchase things only electronically,' said Jacob de Geer, a founder of iZettle, which makes a mobile-powered card reader."

DON'T BANK ON IT! (pages 22-24) scooped the New York Times on this story by 15 months...."Welcome to Tomorrowland. The cashless society is almost a reality in Sweden. Only three percent of transactions there are done using cash, and most of these are small - for cups of coffee or snacks...The new age of banking and currency, as this book will reveal, in many ways puts your money at much more risk than ever before in human history."

Big Banks Now Admit Fed's 'Massive Manipulation' -Zero Hedge
"Essentially central banks, by unfairly inflating asset prices have compressed risk like a spring to unfairly tight levels. Unfortunately, the market is aware the price of risk is not correct, but they can’t fight it, and everyone is forced to crowd into the same trade. By manipulating markets they have also reduced investors’ inherent conviction by rendering fundamentals less relevant. The result is that risk is not fairly priced based on fundamentals but rather is better explained by investors not wanting to stand in front of central banks as they embark on QE."

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12.24.15 - A CHRISTMAS POEM

Gold last traded at $1,075 an ounce. Silver at $14.36 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks traded mixed in sparse Christmas Eve trading Thursday. Meanwhile precious metal prices rose on year-end bargain hunting and a weaker U.S. dollar.

SATC MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SWISS AMERICA!
Our offices will be closing early on Christmas Eve and will reopen on Monday, December 28th. Best wishes to all of our readers from the staff and brokers at Swiss America. Thank you for allowing us the privilege and honor of serving you this last year. Below is an annual Christmas poem by Art Cashin, senior CNBC analyst. We hope it brings a few smiles. May we all take some time to reflect on the blessings of 2015.

2015 CHRISTMAS POEM: "Resist Ye Grinch Feelings" -Art Cashin/CNBC

‘Tis two days before Christmas
and at each brokerage house
The only thing stirring
was the click of a mouse

Down on the Exchange
the tape inches along
Brokers bargained and traded
as they hummed an old song

The Fed turned data dependent
or so they would claim
Yet they hiked in December
though the data looked tame

KC took the series
and the Pats grabbed the Bowl
While American Pharoah
had the Crown as his goal

Our girls took the World Cup
they were just over-joyed
And we found us a new star
who was named Carli Lloyd

Letterman, he retired
and he quick grew a beard
And so did Paul Ryan
I'm thinking that's weird

The Pope came to visit
and he drew quite a crowd
And hundreds of selfies
he even allowed

The Broadway play - "Hamilton"
as a show caused a flap
They've a sold out box office
with Founding Fathers who rap

Yet there's still Cosby and Kim K
they still don't bring us cheer
But it's Christmastime, Alice
And Santa is near

So stop looking backwards
have a cup of good cheer
And kiss you a loved one
raise your hopes for next year

And amidst all the trading
Christmas themes we will heed
And share our good fortune
with families in need

And tomorrow they’ll pause
as we wait on the bell
To sing a tradition
a song for old “Nell”

Don’t let this year’s problems
impede Christmas Cheer
Resolve to be happy
throughout the New Year

And resist ye Grinch feelings
let joy never stop
Put the bad at the bottom
keep the good on the top

So count up your blessings
along with your worth
You’re still living here
in the best place on earth

And think ye of wonders
that light children's eyes
And hope Santa will bring you
that Christmas surprise

So play ye a carol
by Mario Lanza
Unless you are waiting
to celebrate Kwanzaa

Hanukkah’s over
And Ramadan’s long gone
Different folks, different holidays
yet each spirit lives on

Whatever your feast is
we hope you all still
Find yourself just surrounded
by folks of goodwill

Thursday, as the bell rings
hark to your heart’s call
And as Santa would shout
Merry Christmas to All!

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12.23.15 - RESTORING A GOLD STANDARD

Gold last traded at $1,068 an ounce. Silver at $14.29 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks advanced Wednesday amid mixed economic data, led by gains in energy and materials stocks. Meanwhile, precious metal prices steadied as the U.S. dollar rose.

Smart Money: Never More Bearish on Stocks -MarketWatch
"Smart money is betting against the bulls in a huge way. When it comes to investing in the stock market, the crowd is often wrong at extremes. A contrarian’s delight....Friday’s readings marked the first time in history with more than three put options for every call. The record didn’t last long. On Monday, it rose to 3.3 options for every call....To put it in perspective, between 1999 and 2014, the reading broke past two puts for every call just 15 days."

gold standard Ted Cruz backers plan $1 million push on gold standard -CNN
"The Lone Star Committee, a new organization filed under section 527 of the tax code, is planning to flood New Hampshare airwaves with radio ads highlighting Cruz's plans for a sound dollar. Cruz broached the gold standard in his well-regarded showing at the CNBC debate two months ago...'Instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold,' he said on stage, agreeing with Rand Paul that the Federal Reserve is a series of philosopher-kings.'"

We support local and national efforts to restore sound, gold-backed money in our nation. In the meantime, we believe putting yourself and your family on personal gold standard is the best way to preserve wealth. In Swiss America's 2016 Real Money Perspectives newsletter RIGHT ON THE MONEY author Jim Rickards explains why Gold is the Once and Future Currency.

U.S. States With More Takers Than Makers -Forbes
"Does your state have more takers than makers? California has a powerful economy, with 14 million private-sector jobs. It also has burdens: welfare recipients (12.6 million), generously paid government employees (2.1 million) and people collecting government pensions (1.3 million). Add up the numbers. There are 114 clients drawing from the government for every 100 people chipping in by working outside the government and paying taxes. We’re calling this the Feedme Ratio. Six states have a number over 100....New York is on the list of at-risk states, with a Feedme Ratio of 108. New Mexico is in the worst shape, with 143 government clients for every 100 private-sector workers. The three other states with Feedme Ratios over 100: West Virginia at 116, Mississippi at 111 and Arkansas at 103."

OPEC Sees Crude Oil Falling for Rest of Decade -Bloomberg
"OPEC said demand for its crude will slide to 2020, though less steeply than previously expected, as rival supplies continue to grow. The organization will need to pump 30.7 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, OPEC said Wednesday in its annual World Oil Outlook. That’s 1.7 million barrels more than projected a year ago, and 1 million less than the group pumped in November. The forecast underlines the struggle faced by the OPEC as it seeks to defend market share against a surge in output from rivals such as the U.S. and Russia....Brent crude futures touched an 11-year low of $36.04 a barrel on Dec. 21."

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12.22.15 - 2016: BULLISH ON GOLD!

Gold last traded at $1,074 an ounce. Silver at $14.31 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks rose Tuesday in thin holiday trading amid an oil rebound and revised Q3 GDP data. Meanwhile, precious metal prices steadied as the U.S. dollar weakened.

Something 'enormously rare' is happening in gold -CNBC
"'What really had my interest was the CFTC reports that came out last week indicating that the commercials, as they're called, who are normally enormously net short, are almost net long,' said Dennis Gartman, the editor of the Gartman Letter. 'The fact that commercials are effectively net long and the public is abundantly out - that is a reason to be abundantly in.' According to Gartman, in the 'enormously rare' instances that commercial interests shift their participation to the long side, its an indication that 'real' bull markets have begun. 'So after a 4 1/2 year bear market, it's time to be bullish,' Gartman told 'Fast Money' traders Monday. 'I got longer of gold late last week, and if we get above $1,085 I will get longer.'"

Physical gold is debt-free worldwide money (and currently undervalued) which provides an excellent buying opportunity. Call 800-289-2646 to discuss which gold coins have the most to offer today. Read more: The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

A Year Of Epic Face-Plants On Wall Street -HedgeEye
"Make no mistake. Wall Street had a terrible 2015. This year's consensus playbook was an absolute mess....Let's take a quick run through some of this year's scorecard: Year-end S&P targets have come up well short of consensus' 2208 figure. Energy and financial stocks - supposed 'must own' sectors - got train wrecked and are down 26%. Stratospheric U.S. economic growth estimates of around 3%-plus have been consistently confounded by economic reality. Meanwhile, Wall Street completely missed commodity-price deflation, (which has also run contrary to the Fed's prediction that it would all be 'transitory'). The CRB index of commodities is down more than 20% this year."

Top 10 business stories of the year -Associated Press
"China's economy lost some luster and its leaders their aura of invincibility. A commodities boom went bust, spreading pain from Texas oil fields to Indonesian coal mines. Seven years of near-zero interest rates ended in the United States, while easy money kept flowing elsewhere. Volkswagen cheated on emissions tests. And the rise of Uber intensified a debate about the definition of an employee....China's sharp slowdown was chosen as the top business story of 2015 by business editors at The Associated Press, followed by the plunge in energy prices."

Free markets reducing global poverty -USA Today
"Amid stories of terrorism, government incompetence and corruption, mass migration and economic stagnation, there’s actually some good news: Global poverty has fallen below 10% for the first time ever....For most of human history, of course, extreme poverty was the norm. People worked hard to get - if they were lucky - three meals a day and clothes on their backs. Deaths from sickness and violence were common. Globally, we’ve changed that 'normal condition' by the spread of free markets and free inquiry, which have led to a global growth in knowledge and skills that has made almost everyone rich by human historical standards."

As Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte explain in WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM, countries that adopt free market capitalism tend to produce more wealth and the people there generally have a higher standard of living. But in countries that turn away from free markets and resort to socialist policies and centralized government planning, we see more poverty and a generally lower standard of living. America is at a tipping point in 2016 and must decide between the American Dream and the Progressive-Socialist dream.

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12.21.15 - GOLD IS A FUNDAMENTAL BUY

Gold last traded at $1,080 an ounce. Silver at $14.32 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks managed to hold on to slim gains Monday, despite falling oil prices. Meanwhile, precious metal prices rose over 1% on a weaker U.S. dollar.

Gold & Silver Prices Will Surge On Fundamentals -Zero Hedge
"Gold and silver prices will skyrocket in the future based on the fundamentals, not technical analysis. Not only will fundamentals be the important factor in the future, they have also been the leading indicators over the past 50 years....Now, while it’s true that the many of the gold and silver analysts (including this independent analyst) under estimated the level at which the Fed and Central Banks could prop up the Greatest Ponzi Scheme in history… it’s better to have ones precious metal insurance a bit early than late....Investors waiting for bottoms and corrections in paper assets via technical analysis will wish they spent more time focused on owning physical precious metals."

We believe owning physical U.S. gold and silver coins today is no longer a luxury, but rather a vital safety hedge for you and your loved ones. Learn more by reading The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

banks Borrowers' rates rising, but savers' rates aren't -USA Today
"The nation's largest banks, in response to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates from about zero to a range of 0.25% to 0.50%, have already started raising their prime lending rates....Banks did not, however, increase interest rates on savings accounts or certificates of deposit, nor should consumers expect to see any increases on deposit products in the near future. Why won't banks raise interest rates on savings accounts and CDs anytime soon? One, the rates on such products are not tied directly to the federal funds rate. And two, bank margins were razor thin in the zero interest-rate policy world."

Not so long ago, bank accounts felt secure and paid several percent interest. This encouraged the virtue of thrift and generated savings that built a solidly-prosperous America of opportunity. Today we live in a very different world - a world in which your bank account now pays you almost nothing and has been suddenly transformed from a low-risk asset to high-risk asset. Learn more by reading The Biggest Bank Heist in History.

Fed Is Driving America Toward Recession -Real Clear Markets
"With evidence mounting that America is hurtling toward another recession, the Federal Reserve moved last week to tighten monetary conditions. Their action is the economic equivalent of America using a jumbo jet filled with passengers for a kamikaze attack on an ISIS decoy. In this case, the jumbo jet is the U.S. economy, and the decoy is inflation....Someone has to stop the Federal Reserve from taking 322 million Americans along with them on their monetary kamikaze missions. The results produced by the Fed's 100% discretionary, make-it-up-as-we-go-along monetary policy (which started in 2001) have been disastrous. Republican presidential candidates should be making reining in the Fed a top campaign issue for 2016."

Progressives favor Socialism over Capitalism -The Nation
"Now democratic socialism is trending. Bernie Sanders says of socialism: 'Do they think I’m afraid of the word? I’m not afraid of the word.' And a growing number of Americans share his view. A May YouGov poll found Democrats evenly divided in their favorable views of socialism and capitalism: 43–43. By October, YouGov found that 49 percent of Democrats viewed socialism favorably, while approval of capitalism had fallen to 37 percent. The magazine Jacobin was so overwhelmed with inquiries about socialism that editors rushed to prepare a full-color booklet, 'The ABCs of Socialism.'"

Will the American Dream survive the assault by Progressives/Socialists in 2016?

"Nearly 100 years of Progressives teaching class warfare has taught slackers to believe they are entitled to money taxed from the rich and the middle class who somehow cheated them out of a better life," write Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte in WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM (p. 107).

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12.18.15 - STOCKS SINK, BUDGET BULGES, GOLD RISES

Gold last traded at $1,053 an ounce. Silver at $14.11 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell sharply for a second day Friday following the Fed's symbolic rate hike. Meanwhile, precious metal prices rebounded over 1% amid bargain hunting and a weaker dollar.

Dow Dumps 500 Points From Yellen Lift-Off -Zero Hedge
"Just in case yesterday's weakness was mistaken for 'well, it's just stabilizing before the next leg higher,' US equity markets are pooping the bed this morning with the Dow down over 500 points from its post-Yellen highs, FANGs plunging red, credit collapsing, and bond yields slumping. Between the widely watched quad-witching, Fed policy error concerns, and the utter failure of the Bank of Japan's efforts to save the world, global stocks and bonds are flashing red warnings for the end of centrally planned markets."

Read Craig Smith's column on the Fed's too-little-too-late rate hike: Don't Bank On Yellen's Fed.

GOLD Gold is still going to $5,000 -CNBC
"On CNBC's 'Futures Now' Thursday, Peter Schiff stood behind his previous call that gold will reach $5,000. 'It's still going to go there,' said Schiff when he was asked about his uber-bullish prediction. 'I don't think there's that much downside [in gold] because I think most of this is already built into the price,' he added. According to Schiff, regardless of what Fed Chair Janet Yellen says, the U.S. economy is 'rapidly going into a recession,' which will inevitably trigger the central bank to retract the rate hike and reinstate gold as the safe haven asset it once was....'They're going quickly have to reverse course next year. They are going to bring rates into negative territory ... and they're going to do QE4 and it's going to be bigger than ever.'"

Today gold has lots of upside potential and very limited downside risk for investors, as Schiff noted. But for those more concerned with the return OF their money than the return ON their money, gold is a buy at any price, because it serves as portfolio wealth insurance. Learn more by reading The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

House Passes Spendthrift Bill, Lifts Ban on Oil Exports -Fox Business
"The House on Friday passed a $1.15 trillion bipartisan spending bill that would keep the government funded through September and lift a 40-year-old ban on oil exports. In a 316-113 vote, a coalition of more centrist Democrats and Republicans passed the spending bill that would avoid a shutdown when the government's current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. ET on Dec. 23. The Senate is expected to pass the bill later Friday, combined with a $622 billion package of tax cuts that cleared the House on Thursday. President Barack Obama is expected to sign both bills into law....In exchange for lifting the four-decade ban on exporting crude oil, for instance, Democrats secured measures extending wind and solar tax credits and reauthorizing a conservation fund for three years."

Dear grandchildren: Please forgive us for this bipartisan agreement to live yet another year beyond our means. We long for the day when our political leaders have the courage to finally cut back on spending, because... "When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall," as Rick Rule says.

Book Review: 'Common Sense Nation' -Tamney/Real Clear Markets
"In Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea, the Claremont Institute's Robert Curry impressively lays out the thinking that gave us the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Federalist Papers, and in doing so, reminds us how much better off we'd all be if we had never strayed in the first place. As Victor Davis Hanson puts it in the book's foreword, Curry believes that the 'roots and traditions of the Founding Fathers should once again become common knowledge to contemporary Americans.' No argument there....Curry stresses throughout that the American Enlightenment emerged from the Scottish one. It was rooted in the moral sense, but also common sense. Curry quotes Scottish philosopher Francis Hutcheson: 'our moral sense is an endowment of our human nature.'"

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12.17.15 - DON'T BANK ON FED FORECASTS

Gold last traded at $1,049 an ounce. Silver at $13.70 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks declined Thursday as oil prices dipped below $35 a barrel. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar rallied on Fed rate hike news.

Don't Bank On Yellen's Fed -Craig R. Smith, Swiss America
"After listening to Fed Chairman Janet Yellen's statement justifying the increase in interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, I am convinced her ability to contradict herself rivals that of President Barack Obama. After nearly seven years of the Fed's experimental zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) here is what we now have to show for it ... Less than 2% GDP economic growth ... Home ownership has dropped 3.6% ...Student loans have increased 103% ... Consumer debt has increased 34.6% ... Big banks are now 30% bigger ... The Dow stock index is up 96.3% ... Government debt up 96.3% to $18.8T ...Labor participation rate is far below 'historic norms' This is not robust recovery so often promised to our nation by both Janet Yellen and her predecessor, Ben Bernanke." Full story ...

Read more about the Federal Reserve's connections to Wall Street and big banks in WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM

debt Congress' half-trillion dollar spending binge -Politico
"Rand Paul thinks the national debt is the 'greatest threat' to America’s future. Donald Trump warns that the nation is at risk of becoming 'a large-scale version of Greece.' And Marco Rubio says the debt will 'shackle future generations.' But on Capitol Hill this week, just hours before they jet away for the holidays, the GOP-led Congress is going on a $680 billion spending spree - none of which will be paid for by budget cuts or other tax offsets. And all of which will be added to the national debt, according to budget watchdogs....The cost, combined with the interest the U.S. would pay after borrowing the money to pay for it, would rise to $830 billion and undo much of the savings squeezed from painful automatic spending cuts called the sequester, according to MacGuineas’ group."

Who Really Benefits From The Rate Hike -Paul Craig Roberts
"The Federal Reserve raised the interbank borrowing rate by one quarter of one percent or 25 basis points. Readers are asking, 'what does that mean?' It means that the Fed has had time to figure out that the effect of the small 'rate hike' would essentially be zero....A different way of putting it is that the 'rate hike' favors banks sitting on excess reserves over banks who are lending to businesses and consumers in their community. In other words, the rate hike just facilitates more looting by the One Percent."

Gray Shadow Over Baltimore Police Trial -Lowell Ponte
"Last April Baltimore erupted in rioting over the death of Freddie Gray, a heroin dealer and recidivist criminal in this once-great city where today one of every 10 residents is a drug addict. The trial of the first for six police officers charged in Gray's death from injuries while riding in a police vehicle ended in a mistrial on December 16th as a jury deadlocked over the fate of officer William Porter, who now may face a second trial. The accused police should never have put on trial in this corrupted city, where the state's attorney refused to recuse herself despite being elected with a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Gray family's lawyer. The officers should have granted a change of venue so jury members would not be afraid to acquit out of fear that the local mob of Gray activists might attack them, their families or homes.” Full story ...

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12.16.15 - FED LIFTS RATES

Gold last traded at $1,076 an ounce. Silver at $14.24 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks shrugged off falling oil prices after the Fed symbolically lifted interest rates for the first time since 2006. Meanwhile, precious metal prices rose and the U.S. dollar traded lower.

Fed Pulling Life Support From Bull Market -Bloomberg
"For a bull market in stocks that has been doubted and derided virtually from the day it began 6 1/2 years ago, the time has come to walk alone. Barring a shock, investors are about to find out how much stocks are worth in the absence of Federal Reserve support that has helped restore $15 trillion to share values since 2009. Policy makers are poised to boost interest rates for the first time since 2006 today, ending a campaign of stimulus that helped stoke what could become the second-longest American rally on record next year....Investors face one of the biggest tests of the post-crisis era as the Fed prepares to raise rates at a time when profits are in decline. Such a combination hasn’t occurred in five decades."

In WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte devote Chapter 9 (Unreal Economics) to discussing the Fed's zero interest rate policy.

rate hike Fed raises rates by 25 basis points, first since 2006 -CNBC
"After seven years of the most accommodative monetary policy in U.S. history, the Fed on Wednesday, as widely expected, approved a quarter-point increase in its target funds rate. The new target will go from 0 percent to 0.25 percent to 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. Most members expect the new rate to coalesce around .375 percent before the next hike, according to a chart showing individual member expectations. The FOMC's post-meeting statement said, "The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative after this increase, thereby supporting further improvements in labor market conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation."

CNN turns GOP debate into aggravating snoozefest -Washington Times
"Once again, in the name of 'fairness,' the media has utterly swindled the GOP. By keeping the stage crammed with a couple of actual front-runners and cluttered with has-been also-rans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, debate moderators are managing to do what once seemed impossible: Boring voters even though real estate mogul Donald Trump is still on the debate stage....Instead of a substantive debates with actual front-runners, we get these shoutfests with nine people, each one wasting their microphone time to complain about getting short-shrift or barking at one another over irrelevant details."

Author and futurist Lowell Ponte explains a bold move which could have made last night's GOP debate historic, instead of a yawner.

Evidence Higher Minimum Wages Kill Jobs -Wall Street Journal
"The movement to raise the federal minimum wage has become ever more ambitious. In 2013 proponents deemed $9 an hour acceptable; today the demand is for $15. Economists point to a crucial question: Will a higher minimum wage reduce the number of jobs for the country’s least skilled workers? President Obama says 'there is no solid evidence that a higher minimum wage costs jobs.' On the contrary, a full and fair reading of the evidence shows the opposite. Raising the minimum wage will cost jobs, particularly those held by the least-skilled....Among the many studies supporting this conclusion is one completed earlier this year by Texas A&M’s Jonathan Meer and MIT’s Jeremy West, which reaffirmed that 'the minimum wage reduces job growth over a period of several years' and that 'industries that tend to have a higher concentration of low-wage jobs show more deleterious effects on job growth from higher minimum wages.'"

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12.15.15 - THE END OF THE BUBBLE?

Gold last traded at $1,061 an ounce. Silver at $13.77 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday on an oil price rebound and flat inflation ahead of expected Fed rate hike Wednesday. Meanwhile precious metal prices inched higher despite a stronger U.S. dollar.

Deflation Confounds Fed's 'Transitory' Storytelling -HedgeEye
"Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough ran through some of the deflationary data in a note to subscribers earlier this morning: 'The 19 Commodity CRB Index hit a fresh 2015 low of 174 (-24.3% YTD) yesterday, so you’re going to see one of the many dead-cats that have bounced this morning...The Fed calls these falling prices 'transitory.' Transitory? Don't forget that the Fed's forecasts are wrong around 70% of the time. Deflation proof? Take a look at the 0.0% CPI month-over-month this morning."

deflation The End Of The Bubble Begins December 16th -David Stockman
"Having judged that a 25 bps pinprick is warranted, the Federal Reserve will then plant itself firmly in front of the great flickering dashboard in the Eccles Building. There it will repose to a regimen of 'watchful waiting', scouring the entrails of the 'incoming data' to divine its next move....Yellen and her posse better pray for a monetary Tonto because they are riding headlong into an ambush in the canyons of Wall Street. To wit, they cannot possibly raise money market interest rates - even by 75 bps - without massively draining liquidity from the casino....Can the third great bubble of this century survive a Fed that finally wants to get off the zero bound after its way too late, but can’t do it anyway without a massive crash inducing cash drain from Wall Street?"

In WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte devote Chapter 9 (Unreal Economics) to discussing the impact of the Fed's zero interest rate policy experiment and the likely economic outcome.

Baltimore braces for trouble as jury deliberates -Reuters
"City officials and schools in Baltimore, a city hit by rioting earlier this year, braced for the possibility of more violent protests as a jury on Tuesday deliberated the case of a police officer charged in the death of a black detainee....Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was opening an emergency operations center and pleaded for calm. 'Whether you agree or whether you disagree with the jury's ultimate verdict, our reaction has to be one of respect in Baltimore's neighborhoods,' she said."

Read the latest news on the Baltimore police trial outcome at facebook.com/thefuturelookslikebaltimore

Are Republicans "Cruzin" for a Crack-up - or Victory? -Lowell Ponte
"With voting in the 2016 presidential contests soon to begin, is the Republican Party headed for a train wreck?....A gambit by Texas Senator Ted Cruz might prevent this GOP disaster....The gambit would be to propose that in 2016 the Republican Party should do as our British cousins do – offer voters not just a President and Vice President, but an entire 'shadow government,' while daring Democrats to do likewise. Here's one way the stylish Senator Cruz could offer this: 'If I am chosen to hold high the Republican standard, we will be offering the American people an entire team of talent ready and able to win for America, restore our prosperity and position of leadership in the world.'....In effect, Cruz would be offering the supporters of many candidates a win-win opportunity."

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12.14.15 - SHOULD BONDHOLDERS BE WORRIED?

Gold last traded at $1,063 an ounce. Silver at $13.69 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks struggled Monday as crude oil prices fell below $35, then rebounded, ahead of Fed rate decision on Wednesday. Meanwhile, precious metals drifted lower amid speculation an interest rate hike might boost the U.S. dollar.

40-year oil export ban may soon be lifted -CNN
"Today, the world has too much oil - thanks largely to the American shale oil boom. That's why crude oil prices have crashed below $35 a barrel and a gallon of gasoline is on the verge of falling below $2 per gallon. There's growing momentum to kill the restriction and a deal could be reached before the end of the year as part of a broader spending and tax bill that's making its way through Congress....In other words, there is no longer an oil scarcity that justifies keeping it at home."

chart Wall Street fund shutdown sparks fears of bond market crisis -Sunday Times
"Investors are fleeing the bond market after the shutdown of two high-profile funds intensified fears of a fresh credit crisis. The closure of the two New York funds last week spooked investors who were already fretting about the expected increase in US interest rates - the first for a nearly a decade. Third Avenue Management barred investors from making withdrawals from a $788m fund that invests in company debt, and Stone Lion Capital did the same with a $400m credit fund. Third Avenue is the biggest retail fund to shut its doors since the 2008 crash, raising fears of a rout in the riskier parts of the bond market."

Chairman Craig R. Smith's comment: Imagine the shock of discovering you cannot withdraw any money from your investment fund or bank. Ultimately, all banks, bonds and funds are holding paper promises to return an individual's "investment". All bonds and funds also share the same risk of total financial loss. Bloomberg.com today reported another high-yield credit fund, Lucidus Capital, plans to shutdown.

"Bonds are a graveyard for the dying dollar," said Dr. Franz Pick in his classic 1987 book, The Triumph of Gold. Gold is money, not an investment held and managed by Wall Street speculators. Despite all the ups and downs of 2015 gold has remained relatively steady and stable. Learn more here: The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

Junk bond fund illiquidity -Reuters
"New York-based Third Avenue Management is blocking investors from withdrawing their money from a near $1 billion junk bond fund as it tries to liquidate the fund in the biggest failure in the U.S. mutual fund industry since the Primary Reserve Fund 'broke the buck' during the 2008 financial crisis. The demise of the fund is sure to renew fears that less liquidity in the corporate bond market will cause more volatility, especially as the Federal Reserve leans toward raising interest rates next week for the first time in a decade....'Third Avenue is extremely disappointed that we must take this action.'"

The Uncounted Trillions in the Inequality Debate -Wall Street Journal
"The Federal Reserve recently estimated total household net worth in the U.S. to be about $80 trillion, including real estate and financial assets. And data from the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finances imply that the top 10% of households by net worth hold about 75%-or $60 trillion-of this total. The bottom 90% of households therefore have a net worth of about $20 trillion. But the true picture is hardly as stark as critics of inequality claim, because it leaves out the large amount of wealth held in the form of future retirement benefits from Social Security and Medicare....A wise approach would be to slim down today's Social Security pay-as-you-go system and supplement it with universal investment-based personal retirement accounts."

In WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte devote an entire chapter to discussing "Retirement's End," listing 12 troubling facts about Social Security and Medicare. Here is fact #2. "No matter how much you pay into Social Security, the high courts have ruled that no money is set aside in your name. Social Security has no legal obligation to pay you anything – although you will have an obligation to pay into this system."

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12.11.15 - INTERNATIONAL GOLD RUSH

Gold last traded at $1,075 an ounce. Silver at $13.88 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday after an IEA warning of a global oil glut and China's currency devaluation announcement. Meanwhile, precious metal prices rose on bargain hunting and a weaker U.S. dollar.

The Federal Government’s Vegetative Universe -Fox Business
"'They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau.' -Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy (1944) The end run around Congress’s power to legislate is gaping wider. It includes presidential and federal authority exercised not just through executive orders, but a circus mirror of rules, guidance documents, memoranda, bulletins, manuals, circulars, public notices and other agency proclamations....The consequence of the vegetative universe is complete lack of accountability to the American taxpayer."

The foundation of restoring the American Dream is restoring self-government, not central government; as explained in WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM

gold China Goes for Gold, Central Bank Expands Reserves -Wall Street Journal
"With the precious metal at multi-year lows, China and several other countries including Russia have been scooping it up. After six years of disclosing nothing about its gold reserves, the People’s Bank of China surprised markets in July by announcing that its holdings of the metal had risen by more than 50% since 2009 to 1,658 metric tons. The central bank has been steadily scooping up more gold since then, with its reserves climbing another 5.1% to 1,743 metric tons at the end of November....China’s move to buy more gold this year may have been driven in part by its successful push to have its currency, the yuan, accepted as a global reserve currency by the International Monetary Fund. With more gold in the central bank’s coffers, investors could have more confidence in holding the yuan, analysts said."

Gold creates economic confidence - for individuals and central banks - because it is real, global, universal money. All other paper currencies require economic confidence. Wise men (and women) are stocking up on physical gold and silver right now at today's ultra low prices. How about you? This year consider giving the gift of financial confidence, Gold, to your loved ones? Learn more here: The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

12 Economic Facts to Ruin Investors’ 2016 -ThinkAdvisor
"Given his timing, you might be inclined to say that GMO co-founder and portfolio specialist Jeremy Grantham seems to be channeling Ebenezer Scrooge in his latest quarterly letter to investors. 'Wishful thinking and denial of unpleasant facts are simply not survival characteristics,' the portfolio manager wrote in the his letter to GMO investors, posted Wednesday....[Economic Fact] #1. U.S. Wages Are Lousy - 'For the 50 years I have been in America, Businessweek and The Wall Street Journal have been telling us how incompetent at business the French are and how persistently we have been kicking their bottoms…and as far as I can tell, we have generally accepted this thesis.' His first slide, though, shows that France’s median hourly wage has risen 180% in 45 years. Meanwhile, Japan is up 140%, and 'even the often sluggish Brits are up 60%,' he notes. The 'killer' is the U.S. median wage. 'Dead flat for 45 years!' explained Grantham."

Living a Lie -The Burning Platform
"The lies we tell ourselves are only exceeded by the lies perpetrated by those controlling the levers of our society. We’ve lost respect for ourselves and others, transforming from citizens with obligations to consumers with desires. The love of mammon has left our country a hollowed out, debt ridden shell of what it once was....By falling for the false materialistic narrative of having it all today, millions of Americans have enslaved themselves in trillions of debt....The Fed has continuously debased the currency and politicians have promised voters freebies while waging never ending wars of choice, creating a warfare/welfare empire of debt totaling $18.7 trillion with unfunded promises of $200 trillion."

A New Type of Terror Emerges in America -Bloomberg
"Since September 11, 2001, the death toll from extremist Islamic-inspired terrorism in the U.S. stands at 45, including the 14 people killed on Dec. 2 by the husband-and-wife shooters in San Bernardino, Calif....San Bernardino represents the sort of threat emanating from the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq that the FBI has been warning about for the past year: Rather than just trying to persuade Muslims in Europe and the U.S. to join the fighting in the Middle East, Islamic State has shifted to calling on sympathizers to commit violence at home."

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12.10.15 - PROGRESSIVES PUSH CLASS WARFARE

Gold last traded at $1,072 an ounce. Silver at $14.11 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks climbed as investors shrugged off a persistent oil slide that sent crude prices to multiyear lows. Precious metal prices were steady despite a stronger U.S. dollar

Massive insider selling spurs market concerns -CNBC
"Corporate insiders have been selling their shares at near-record levels, and according to some, this could be a sign for outside investors to start selling as well. Investment research firm TrimTabs reported on Wednesday that insider selling reached $7.6 billion for the month of November, the fourth-highest monthly level on record. For some this may be an alarming indicator, as corporate insiders tend to have more knowledge than public shareholders on the inner workings of the company, and what may drive stock prices up or down. 'If you're a high net worth individual and the market's up 100 percent over the last four years, you should be diversifying,'..."

We think every investor and U.S. citizen (not just 'a high worth individual') should maintain a diversified portfolio which includes physical gold as wealth insurance. To learn more read The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

class warfare 50% of Americans in the Middle Class -Wall Street Journal
"The middle class is no longer the majority in America. That’s the finding of a Pew Research Center report released Wednesday detailing how incomes and wealth have changed in the U.S. over more than four decades. Pew dubbed this a possible tipping point in the long erosion of the U.S. middle class, but in reality the division of Americans’ income pie has looked roughly the same for the last five years....A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in January found that 47% of respondents considered reducing income inequality an absolute priority for the government to pursue this year..."

"Nearly 100 years of Progressives teaching class warfare has taught slackers to believe they are entitled to money taxed from the rich and the middle class who somehow cheated them out of a better life," write Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte in WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM (p. 107).

Fed Rate hike flies in the face of a bad job market -Crudele/NY Post
"The US economy is growing at only a 1.5 percent annual pace in the last quarter of 2015....If you put that 1.5 percent together with the growth rates during the other three 2015 quarters - 2.1 percent in the third quarter, 3.9 percent in the second and 0.6 percent in this year’s first three months - you get average growth for the whole year of only 2.025 percent....If these were normal times, the Fed wouldn’t even be thinking of increasing borrowing costs with the economic expansion that slow. The Fed would be risking a recession. But these aren’t normal times."

Security and Liberty -Stossel/Fox Business
"NSA Spying: government has stopped gathering Americans' phone records. Does this mean we're now more vulnerable to terror? Senator Rand Paul, whose filibuster helped end the program, says no. He says, 'government investigated [the program], and found that no terrorist case has been thwarted through this.' Home Grown Government: Another way terror threatens our freedom? It causes government to grow. After 9/11, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and the widely loathed TSA. DHS has already almost doubled its spending since its creation, and now both Democrats and Republicans say we need to give them more money! We don't. DHS already assigns itself tasks that have little to do with what most people consider 'homeland security.' It polices movie piracy, counterfeit NBA merchandise, and teaches nightclub strippers about sex trafficking."

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12.9.15 - STOCKS DEFLATE, DOLLAR DUMPS

Gold last traded at $1,076 an ounce. Silver at $14.18 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks traded lower Wednesday as investors digested falling wholesale inventories and declining oil prices. Meanwhile precious metal prices steadied as the U.S. dollar fell sharply.

The Dollar Is Dumping -Zero Hedge
"The USD is getting pummeled this morning (following China's 'devaluation' to the weakest Yuan since 2011 overnight) as all the majors are bid against the greenback. USD Index is now below the post-ECB lows from last week... The USD is now at its weakest since early November."

According to Bloomberg News, "Anyone looking for the dollar to surge after the Federal Reserve lifts interest rates has a short memory. The U.S. currency strengthened an average of almost 9 percent during the six to nine months prior to the past three rate-rise cycles. After that, it's been a downhill ride, with the six-month drop averaging about 6 percent.” Author and Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith warns in his latest Special Report What's Next For The Dollar? that the dollar will soon peak and then begin its descent. "The U.S. dollar will not go down gently," says Smith.

deflation Fed's Rocket Ship Turns Into a Hoverboard -RealClearMarkets
"The expected rate hike this month has long been referred to as 'liftoff' for the Fed, an image that suggests the very beginning of a process that eventually puts a spacecraft into orbit. But, in this case, liftoff will be far less dramatic. I believe the Fed's rocket to nowhere will hover above the launch pad for a considerable period of time before ultimately falling back down to Earth....This current 'recovery,' engineered by the largest monetary experiment in history, that has left us with trillions of dollars of new debt that we will likely never be able to repay, is quickly running out of what little steam it had....I believe that when it comes to gold, commodities and currencies, we may be headed into a 'buy the rumor, sell the fact' market that might turn the tables on the trends of the past four years."

China and Japan Continue to Liquidate US Treasury Holdings -24/7 Wall St.
"November marked a record month for China in terms of the pace of its liquidation of foreign exchange reserves. The People’s Bank of China reported on Monday, December 7 that foreign exchange reserves, which mostly consist of U.S. Treasury debt, dwindled by another $87 billion in November. This constitutes a stunning 2.5% drop in one month....At this rate China’s foreign exchange holdings will be liquidated within nine years....Why the sell-off? Central banks tend to sell foreign currency when their own domestic currency is under too much selling pressure."

U.S. Taxes, Spending, Deficit All Up -CNSNews
"The federal government taxed more, spent more, and ran a bigger deficit in the first two months of fiscal 2016 than it did in the first two months of fiscal 2015, according estimates the CBO published yesterday. The increase in federal spending in the first two months of fiscal 2016 was largely driven by increased expenditures on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 'The federal budget deficit was $200 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2016, the Congressional Budget Office estimates,' said the report. 'That deficit was $22 billion larger than the one recorded during the same period last year.'"

1 in 5 Americans will die in debt -Marketwatch
"Fully 21% of Americans say they don’t think they will be able to pay off their debts -- including their car, credit cards, student loans and mortgages -- in their lifetime, according to a survey of more than 1,000 adults by CreditCards.com. That’s up from 18% last year. The number of Americans who say they’ll die in debt may be on the rise for a number of reasons, including the fact that household debt levels are increasing and that people still have unease about the economy, says Matt Schulz, a senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com."

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12.8.15 - MARKETS SLIDE WITH OIL

Gold last traded at $1,075 an ounce. Silver at $14.11 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks slid further into the red Tuesday as sharp declines in oil and energy prompted investors to take profits. Meanwhile, precious metal prices rose on a weaker U.S. dollar.

Central banks cannot control inflation -Telegraph "A new paper by the Bruegel Institute argues that central banks have lost their ability to control inflation. At the moment, that doesn’t matter very much, because prices are generally stable. But (and it’s a big 'but') if we can’t control inflation on the way down - and it appears we can’t- what makes us think we can control it on the way up? Once prices do finally tick up, it may turn out to be impossible to stop them. And that is worrying....By now it should be clear to everyone that the ability of central banks to control inflation has disappeared."

Truth is, the ability of central banks to control the economic recovery has also disappeared. To understand why the Fed is now cornered, read The Biggest Bank Heist in History.

oil prices Why $20 Oil Is A Possibility -Zero Hedge
"The day of reckoning has arrived for the oil price with the head and shoulders pattern I have been tracking for two months finally being completed in recent weeks. It became a rather drawn out affair with markets awaiting the outcome of the OPEC meeting of 4 December where OPEC elected to stay the course and do nothing. With WTI closing at $40 and Brent on $43 on Friday both are testing support levels....Should this support be broken then another major down leg is to be expected to the vicinity of $20. I can see nothing in the numbers presented below to provide hope that $40 may hold. The market remains over-supplied and awash in oil. Lower price is required to remove supply from the market."

The ISIS Trail of Death -NBC
"Since October 10, ISIS and its sympathizers around the world have killed at least 525 people in six attacks in six countries outside its so-called caliphate. American counterterrorism officials say that of the six attacks, three were directed by ISIS from its territory in Syria and Iraq and another two were so-called 'announcement' attacks - local ISIS elements revealing their existence in dramatic fashion. Though one of the two people who carried out the final attack, the massacre in San Bernandino, swore allegiance to ISIS, officials are still determining the extent of any relationship she and her husband might have had with the terror group."

Interplanetary Gold Rush? -Phys.org
"In a first, President Barack Obama signed legislation at the end of November that allows commercial extraction of minerals and other materials, including water, from asteroids and the moon. That could kick off an extraterrestrial gold rush, backed by a private aeronautics industry that is growing quickly and cutting the price of commercial space flight....The US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 says that any materials American individuals or companies find on an asteroid or the moon is theirs to keep and do with as they please."

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12.7.15 - GOLD'S POWERFUL ATTRACTION

Gold last traded at $1,075 an ounce. Silver at $14.33 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks slid lower on falling oil prices Monday, pushing the Dow into negative territory for the year. Meanwhile, precious metal prices stabilized.

Oil at Lowest in Almost Seven Years -Fox Business
"Oil prices fell to their lowest in nearly seven years on Monday after OPEC's meeting ended in disagreement over production cuts and without a reference to its output ceiling, while a stronger dollar made it more expensive to hold crude positions....For the first time in decades, oil ministers dropped any reference to the group's output ceiling, highlighting disagreement among members about how to accommodate Iranian barrels once Western sanctions are lifted....U.S. crude was down $1.12 at $38.85 a barrel, a drop of nearly 3 percent."

gold Gold at multi-year lows is attractive - EconMatters
"The surprising tone of the precious and industrial metals price action of Friday in the face of the US Dollar strengthening and oil getting hammered on OPEC news was interesting to say the least....After putting in the low for the year on Thursday morning of $1,045 per troy ounce, Gold finished Friday at $1,084 on the February 2016 futures contract. Gold has been hovering right around the $1,060 - $1,070 level for the last two weeks, and even if this is just short covering, somebody forced some shorts to cover. Maybe financial markets and the Metals markets are starting to realize a ‘One and Done’ rate hike by the Federal Reserve isn't the end of the world. And given the $18 Trillion and climbing in US Debt facing central bankers at the Fed they are going to have to be doing a whole lot of 'monetizing' or in layman's terms currency printing for the foreseeable future so Gold and other Metals look attractive here at multi-year lows."

Author Craig R. Smith writes, "Gold and silver are respected and accepted worldwide because they're pure, liquid, debt-free assets which can still be held privately in your own two hands. Owning physical gold and silver coins today also positions you to preserve your wealth for a lifetime; as well as for the next generation." To learn more, read The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

Is The Fed Finally Being Forced To Consider Main Street? -ZeroHedge
"To help Main Street, the Fed must stop incentivizing speculation over investment and end policies that have shifted wealth and income to the top of the wealth pyramid. Main Street's woes are largely structural: the high cost of regulations, the soaring cost of healthcare insurance, the artificial-scarcity costs imposed by cartels enforced by the federal government and the pressures generated by globalization and automation. The Fed can't solve those problems, but it can certainly stop enriching the already-super-wealthy at the expense of the rest of us."

Obama speech sets stage for 2016 campaign -CNBC
"President Barack Obama's primetime address guarantees that terrorism and Muslim relations will be central to the 2016 election campaign, possibly eclipsing the economy as the top issue as the primaries begin in two months....And Obama may have done Republican candidates a favor by breaking little new policy ground in Sunday night's speech and spending at least as much time lecturing Americans on what not to do as on how he planned to keep people safe....The president's approval rating on combating terror was already at a low point of 40 percent in a Washington Post poll taken before the San Bernardino attack and it's not likely to rise now."

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12.4.15 - PART-TIME JOBS BOOST MARKETS

Gold last traded at $1,084 an ounce. Silver at $14.52 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks rose sharply Friday, lifting indexes back to break even for the year. Jobs data showing part-time employment is rising. Meanwhile precious metal prices rushed higher amid speculation the U.S. dollar has now topped out.

Gold Jumps Most Since April -Bloomberg
"Gold traders are taking the long view, spurring enough optimism in the market to drive the biggest price gain since April. While a government report showing gains for U.S. jobs reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month, bullion investors saw past the headline numbers. The underemployment rate crept higher, reflecting a rise in the number working part-time for economic reasons, one of Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s favorite measures of labor-market slack. That spurred hope for gold bulls that the pace of tightening will be slow."

The window of opportunity to buy gold below $1,100 an ounce may close quickly this month. Don't put it off. Call Swiss America at 800-289-2646 to discuss why gold is still the buy of a generation. Discover The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

America's Part-Time Jobs Boom -Zero Hedge
"On the surface, the December jobs number was better than expected, adding a 211,000 jobs at least according to the Establishment survey. However, a less pretty picture emerges when looking at the Household survey, and specifically the composition of full-time vs part-time workers. This is what the BLS said about the composition of job additions from the Household Survey: The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased by 319,000 to 6.1 million in November, following declines in September and October. Furthermore, this 319K increase in part-timers for economic reasons more than accounts for the total increase in employed workers according to the Household survey, which rose by 244K to 149,364,000. Charted, it shows that the November jump was the highest since September 2012."

chart

Strong job growth a sign of weakness -Marketwatch
"The U.S. economic expansion turns 6 1/2 years old this month, making it one of the longest on record. It is also the weakest expansion of the post-World War II era....In fact, job growth has been so consistently strong that the average monthly increase in nonfarm payrolls of 203,000 seems out of step with an economy limping along at an average 2.1% pace....Given the anemic growth in the labor force - 0.2% since the recession ended compared with an historical average of 1.5% - it doesn’t require that many new jobs to bring the unemployment rate down....Solid job growth is a reflection of lousy productivity growth."

Strengthening the American dream through families -AEI
"It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the state of American society. Poverty is widespread. Steady, well-paying jobs are scarce. Economic inequality is high and mobility is low. Fewer adults are getting married, meaning more children watch their parents break up....A new report from the AEI/Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity may offer them a way forward....The report’s authors jointly endorsed several ideas that work within these constraints: 1) 'Promote marriage as the most reliable route to family stability and resources.' 2) 'Promote parenting skills and practices'....3) 'Promote skill development, family involvement, and employment'....Finally, in light of research showing how much children benefit from involved fathers in infancy and beyond, the authors urge expanding parenting programs to enroll new and expectant fathers as well as mothers."

The foundation of restoring the American Dream is restoring self-government and family-government, not central-government. Chapter 10 of WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM is titled "A Third Dream" which discusses today's raging "dream war" with Progressivism. The chapter starts with this classic quote ... "Government is the great fiction through which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. They forget that the State lives at the expense of everyone." – Friedrich Bastiat, French political philosopher

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12.3.15 - GOLD SHINES AMID 'UNREAL ECONOMICS'

Gold last traded at $1,061 an ounce. Silver at $14.07 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell Thursday on weak manufacturing data and Fedspeak of a December rate hike ahead of Friday's jobs report. Meanwhile the U.S. dollar fell sharply - as the euro strengthened on EU rate cuts - helping to push precious metal prices higher.

No, we're not crazy for buying gold -CNBC
"Give the gold bugs credit: They're resilient. Even in the face a steep price swoon and a variety of other factors that seem to be lining up against the yellow metal, true believers have been stepping in to buy physical gold at a robust pace....The U.S. Mint said it sold 97,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in November, marking a 185 percent monthly jump and a 62 percent gain from the same period in 2014, Reuters reported....The move is likely to result in washing out some of the weaker-conviction owners who have gold through exchange-traded funds - the most popular is the SPDR Gold Trust - and the rush in by those with higher conviction who are more likely to hold the actual metal."

Physical gold is the world's ultimate currency, store of value and wealth insurance policy in today's unreal financial world. Read more in The Timeless Truth About Gold & Silver.

reality Fed Fights Economic Reality -HedgeEye
"It's been a gangbuster year for economic storytelling. Unfortunately, most of the tall tales told have failed to come close to anything resembling reality. We like a good yarn as much as the next person. But Fed Chair Janet Yellen's rate hike perpetuating speech before Congress today obfuscated so many key facts about what is actually happening in the U.S. economy that we thought we should set the record straight."

Chapter Nine of our latest book, WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM, is titled "Unreal Economics" because it exposes the Federal Reserve's prosperity mirage and the illusion of value they've created and used to grow the Federal government over the last seven years.

US Services Economy Crashes - Obamacare Blamed -Zero Hedge
"ISM Services crashed from 59.1 to 55.9 (drastically missing expectations) hovering near its lowest since April 2014. Weakness is across the board with Business Activity, New Orders, Employment, Backlog, Exports and Imports all down. Why is the service economy slipping? Simple, the 'Affordable Care Act impacting our business, reducing revenue while increasing cost of care ... reducing revenue while increasing cost of care. Several states consolidating medical/behavioral providers which have impacted existing business negatively.' (Health Care & Social Assistance)"

Euro Jumps After ECB Rate Decision -Fox Business
"The euro was on track Thursday for its largest daily gain since late August after the European Central Bank disappointed investors by unveiling a less-intensive package of stimulus measures than investors had expected. The central bank cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points, a smaller cut than many expected, leaving it at minus 0.3%....In other currency trading, the dollar weakened against the yen , euro and the pound after a disappointing reading on U.S. service-sector growth."

Cutting government down to size -Washington Times
"Government spending has ballooned to about 40 percent of GDP. It could be halved to 20 percent of GDP by reducing government spending as a share of the economy just 2.5 percentage points each year for eight years. This can be done: Postwar Democrats reduced government spending by 75 percent in just three years....Scaling back government to core constitutional functions requires the courage to oppose entrenched interests and establishment elites. Democrats were up to the task after World War II. Now Republicans need to show that they are also up to the task."

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12.2.15 - KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

Gold last traded at $1,053 an ounce. Silver at $14.00 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks fell sharply Wednesday after the Fed affirmed jobs and inflation data support a rate hike in December. Fedspeak helped to boost the U.S. dollar.

New Bailout Rule Expands Fed's Power -WallStreetOnParade
"Yesterday, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted 5-0 to approve a new rule that was required under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation to rein in the type of vast, secret, and below-market-rate lending the Fed engaged in during the 2007 to 2010 financial crisis. But rather than rein in its hubris, the Fed seems to have gone out of its way to emphasize that it has the power to make loans to 'persons,' not just financial firms whose illiquidity might pose a threat to the nation’s overall financial stability. We seem to have devolved from a central bank whose job it was to set monetary policy to a central bank with added supervisory oversight of Wall Street banks, vast emergency lending powers, a whopping balance sheet of its own of over $4 trillion..."

The Fed's grand experiment in zero interest rates has failed to stimulate jobs, the economy or much of anything except big banks - which are now 30% bigger than in 2008, according to The Biggest Bank Heist in History.

american dream Losing faith in the American Dream -Washington Post
"It's about as hard for a 20-something worker to find a job today as it was in 1986. The economy is growing at a slightly slower pace, but not by much. And yet young workers today are significantly more pessimistic about the possibility of success in America than their counterparts were in 1986, according to a new Fusion 2016 Issues poll reported in conjunction with the Washington Post - a shift that appears to reflect lingering damage from the Great Recession and more than a decade of wage stagnation for typical workers. That rise in pessimism among millennials is concentrated among white people. It is most pronounced among whites who did not earn a college degree. In the three decades between the surveys, pollsters found, share of young Americans overall who said the American Dream 'is not really alive' grew sharply from 12 to 29 percent. Among white people, it nearly tripled from 10 percent to 29 percent."

To better understand how to revive the America dream in the hearts of our young people read, WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT LOOKS LIKE BALTIMORE: AMERICAN DREAM VS. PROGRESSIVE DREAM.

Watch for U.S. recession next year, Citi says -Reuters
"The outlook for the global economy next year is darkening, with a U.S. recession and China becoming the first major emerging market to slash interest rates to zero both potential scenarios, according to Citi. As the U.S. economy enters its seventh year of expansion following the 2008-09 crisis, the probability of recession will reach 65 percent, Citi's rates strategists wrote in their 2016 outlook published late on Tuesday. A rapid flattening of the bond yield curve towards inversion would be an key warning sign."

Cities Need To Encourage Entrepreneurship, Not Class Warfare -Investors.com
"Urban America's problems of poverty and joblessness are real. Progressives have been elected to address those problems, but their simple big-government solutions - updated but essentially the same as those tried in the past - are almost sure to fail. We need a more forward-looking urban-policy approach. While many agree that entrepreneurship is good for cities and their residents, little consensus exists about what policymakers can do to promote it, especially in high-poverty areas....For free-market supporters, a better way to help urban entrepreneurs is regulatory relief....One way to tackle regulatory relief would be for cities to set up one-stop shopping for business permits."

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12.1.15 - A GOOD TIME TO BUY METALS!

Gold last traded at $1,065 an ounce. Silver at $14.08 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: U.S. stocks rose Tuesday amid rising auto and technology sales despite downbeat ISM manufacturing data. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar drifted lower and precious metal prices steadied.

How Uncle Sam chases away US jobs -NY Post
"The Treasury Department released new rules last week to stop the steady stream of American companies relocating overseas to reduce their tax bills. But instead of fixing the cause of the problem - one of the highest corporate-tax rates in the world - the government is creating new ones by introducing retroactive penalties that undermine the rule of law. Indeed, over the past four years, nearly 100 US companies have moved to or opened new operations in Ireland....And over the past 20 years, Ireland has attracted more foreign direct investment dollars from America than Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. Why? One big draw is that Irish firms pay a corporate tax rate of just 12.5 percent, compared to a 35 percent statutory rate in the United States."

Boone A Good Time To Buy Gold And Silver? -Forbes
"Most people who want to speculate want to buy something going up. The best time to buy, however, is when something has stopped going down....An investor isn’t looking to ride the next wild thing and doesn’t mind capital lying about waiting so much. This is especially true for the precious metal investor. I use the word investor loosely because precious metals are, in reality, insurance, so there is an element of negative returns about holding them. This and the strong probability that commodities are a negative sum game, takes the edge off locking money up in silver and gold. Technicals aside the two big questions to decide on holding gold and silver are: 1) Do you think something catastrophic is likely happen in the next 5-10 years? 2) Do you believe your currency will be heavily debased in the next 5 years? If you think that either 1 or 2 is probable then you should hold a good chunk of your wealth in precious metals."

"If your home or auto is not demolished this year, are you going be disappointed because you didn’t collect on your insurance? I don’t think so. In fact, I’d be thankful! Insurance protects us from major catastrophes and gives us peace of mind....The purpose of my gold is to protect my assets from a crisis. Truth is, gold is not an investment at all, it’s real money!" -Pat Boone, REAL MONEY INSURES WEALTH

On The Edge Of Financial Destruction -Egon von Greyerz, KingWorldNews
"Stock markets worldwide are now in the final stages of a secular bull market. Bulls of this magnitude are not killed off easily, especially when they are being fed with paper. Thus we could see the current strong trend in markets continue for yet a few weeks. But once the bear trend starts in earnest stocks could fall 75-95% in real terms over the next few years. At the same time gold will resume its long term uptrend in 2016. Thus in order to preserve wealth for coming years, investors should exit the stock market and hold gold and some silver. Gold could easily gain 1,000% in the next few years as stock crash. Desperate central banks will try to save the world by printing unlimited amounts of paper but they will fail."

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