October Blog Archives 2016

Gold last traded at $1,274 an ounce. Silver at $17.84 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices traded higher Monday amid growing election uncertainty and a flat dollar. U.S. stocks traded near flat line amid lukewarm corporate earnings as the renewed FBI investigation into the Clinton emails kept investors on edge.

Gold heading for best year in four in 2017: poll -Reuters
"Gold is expected to post its highest average annual price in four years in 2017, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, after bottoming out this year following three straight years of decline. The poll of 35 analysts and traders conducted over the last two weeks returned an average gold price forecast for 2017 of $1,331 an ounce....That reflects a stronger expected performance in the fourth quarter, when prices are expected to average $1,300....Silver prices are also tipped to bounce back this year and next, with the poll returning an average silver forecast of $17.50 for this year and $18.90 for next. That would be silver's strongest year since 2014."

Discover why right now is an excellent window of opportunity to stock up on physical gold to protect your wealth. Details in our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition

Why Current Asset Prices Are Dangerously Exaggerated -Pollock/Real Clear Markets
"Over the long term, real per capita household net worth in the United States has grown at about 2% a year....In shorter periods, when asset prices get inflated in a bubble, household per capita wealth appears to rise notably above this long-term pace-- but ultimately, bubble asset prices inevitably shrivel. When they do, many commentators claim that a lot of 'wealth' been lost by households. It hasn't, because the apparent wealth was not really there in the first place: it was an illusion of the bubble....From 1950 to 2000, growth in U.S. real per capita GDP averaged over 2% per year. This is consistent with a 2% growth in wealth per capita. But since 2000, real per capita GDP has grown less than 1% per year. Suppose the stagflationists are right, and this represents not a temporary, but a sustained downshift. Then it would be consistent with real per capita economic growth to move our trend growth in real net worth per capita down to 1%....If we measure from this new line, the current ZIRP bubble looks much worse - it has reached almost the same magnitude as the infamous housing bubble of a decade ago....The more you believe the stagflationist theory, the more you must conclude that current asset prices are dangerously exaggerated, the greater the bubble you must conclude that the central bank experiments have wrought, and the further we have to fall back to the trend."

Peter Thiel: 'What Trump represents isn't crazy and it's not going away' -CNBC
"Tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel amped up his support for Donald Trump on Monday, saying the billionaire businessman gets 'the big things' right despite 'offensive and inappropriate' remarks. 'No matter what happens in this election, what Trump represents isn't crazy and it's not going away,' he said, according to prepared remarks. 'He points toward a new Republican Party beyond the dogmas of Reaganism. He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking and reckons with reality....Thiel conceded that Trump is not the perfect candidate. But after decades dominated by asset bubbles and a Washington culture that has made many Americans feel disaffected and powerless, Thiel said Trump represents a new path....'Nobody would suggest that Donald Trump is a humble man,' Thiel said. 'But the big things he's right about amount to a much-needed dose of humility in our politics.'"

German Streets Descend Into Lawlessness -Zero Hedge
"During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. This is equivalent to 780 crimes committed by migrants every day, an increase of nearly 40% over 2015....Thousands of migrants who entered the country as 'asylum seekers' or 'refugees' have gone missing. They are, presumably, economic migrants who entered Germany on false pretenses. Many are thought to be engaging in robbery and criminal violence. Local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit and are unable to maintain law and order. 'Drug trafficking takes place right before our eyes. If we intervene, we are threatened, spat on, insulted. Sometimes someone whips out a knife. They are always the same people. They are ruthless, fearless and have no problems with robbing even the elderly.' — Private security guard."

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Gold last traded at $1,284 an ounce. Silver at $17.77 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose Friday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. U.S. stocks fell after the FBI announced reopening the Clinton email investigation amid downbeat consumer sentiment and mixed earnings reports.

FBI probing new emails related to Clinton case -CNBC
"The FBI is probing new emails related to Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey said in a Friday letter....'In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation,' he added....Stocks turned negative after the report of the new probe. Many analysts have said that markets were pricing in a Clinton victory in November."

There will never be a sound currency system -GoldSwitzerland
"Most people have no idea what money is. They believe that if they have 100 dollars or euros, that this represents real value as well as durability. Few people realize that their currency which they call money has nothing to do with real money at all. All paper currencies are ephemeral and return to their intrinsic value of zero. This is because reckless governments cling on to power by printing or borrowing endless amounts of fiat money in the hope that they will placate the people and buy votes. Fiat money as the name indicates, can never be real money. It is issued by edict and is not backed by anything but debt and liabilities. Power corrupts and money corrupts. It is a lethal combination which not only destroys people but also nations. And sadly, we have now reached a point in history when the unlimited amounts of fiat money that have been created will also destroy continents....One thing is certain. The current financial system will not survive because it is based on principles which are not sustainable. In such a defective system, there is no sound money. What is also certain is that gold, as the only real money, will continue to reflect the mismanagement of the world economy as the currencies in the next few years finish the move to zero."

In a newly-released interview, author and Swiss America Chairman Craig Smith explains the importance of understanding that physical gold alone is the ultimate “numeraire” - an economic term that represents an ultimate unit of account which serves as a universal plumb line for all financial transactions. The U.S. dollar is still falsely presumed to be the world's numeraire, based on the mid-20th century Bretton Woods Agreement which defined a U.S. dollar as 1/35th of an ounce of gold. Linking the dollar with gold once provided a gold standard for all other currencies because the dollar was fixed to a defined weight of gold. But today, with the U.S. dollar currently valued at 1/1284th of an ounce of gold, we have strong evidence the dollar is no longer a numeraire for anything! Yet somehow, the global financial markets appear to function and expand despite the widespread mispricing of money.

Kiss your cash goodbye? This year is set to be a turning point for credit -Marketwatch
"Is this the beginning of the end for cash? As consumers have increasingly used credit and debit cards and made purchases online and on apps, they’ve used less and less cash; in 2016, consumers will spend a greater amount on cards than they do with cash for the first time, according to the market-research firm Euromonitor International, which has been tracking consumer payments over the last several decades. In 2016, consumers worldwide will spend about $23.2 trillion in card payment transactions and $22.6 trillion in cash....There has already been pushback in some countries, including in Europe, from citizens who want to continue using cash in countries where governments have put limits on cash transactions."

The Debt Crisis Isn't Coming -- It's Here -Forbes
“There are a number of topics that have largely been glossed over this election cycle, but perhaps none more so than our mounting debt. We’re currently facing a $19 trillion national debt, which has doubled since Obama took office. And that doesn’t even take into account the strain our entitlement programs – namely Social Security and Medicare – put on the fiscal health of the country. Fox News’ Chris Wallace did his highlight this issue at last week’s final presidential debate. He posed the following to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: 'The one last area that I want to get into with you in this debate is the fact that the biggest driver of our debt is entitlements, which is 60 percent of all federal spending...'.... Both candidates struggled with the question, even though they knew it was coming."

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10.27.16 - Smith on the 'Overgoverned Age'

Gold last traded at $1,269 an ounce. Silver at $17.63 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose Thursday as downbeat economic data prompted dollar weakness. U.S. equities traded lower on weak corporate earnings as sovereign bonds around the world fell.

Gold climbs as downbeat economic data help slow dollar’s advance -Marketwatch
"Gold futures found a little traction on Thursday as weaker-than-expected orders for U.S. durable goods raised some uncertainty over an interest-rate hike before the end of the year and helped to slow down the dollar’s advance....Data on U.S. durable goods orders 'clearly missed the forecast,' said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets. 'This indicates weakness and a threat that the [Federal Reserve] may use this as an excuse to not to increase the interest rate.'....But downbeat economic data are 'clearly a threat for an interest-rate hike,' he said. 'The reality is that we are going to see a lot of volatility when the Fed will increase the interest rate, but if the economic heath is dire, then we have a serious problem.'"

Financial Chaos and Inflation is Coming -Craig Smith/AMTV - WATCH
Author and Swiss America Chairman Craig R. Smith sits down with AMTV host Christopher Greene to discuss the present economic situation, covered in his newest book, Money, Morality & The Machine: Smith's Law in an Unethical, Over-Governed Age. Smith explains why a nation's currency has consequences - and how bad money drives good morals out of our society. The result: the buying and selling of political and economic favors has replaced moral fortitude and personal responsibility. (Amazing free book offer!)

The World Is Out of Weapons -Bloomberg
"No one likes to admit defeat. But global policymakers, who continue to insist that there's more they can do to revive growth and inflation, are starting to sound like Monty Python's Black Knight, the limbless and mortally wounded warrior who threatens to bleed on his victorious opponent. The truth is that governments and central banks have very few weapons left -- and have probably lost any chance they once had of averting a prolonged stagnation. Clearly, the real economy hasn't responded as hoped to zero and now negative interest rates. A whole host of factors continue to depress personal spending -- high debt, stagnant incomes, unemployment and under-employment, and economic uncertainty....The kind of world that necessitates the government-sanctioned seizure of savings (through negative rates) and central banks creating money and dropping it on the population fuels uncertainty and fear for the future....By attempting to forestall the pain, leaders have only created a bigger headache for themselves."

The Industrial Recession Lives -HedgeEye
"The Industrial recession is very much alive. That's been our call for some time now and is backed up by today's Durable Goods data. But let's back up a bit. Here's a brief list of industrial economy indicators that are currently in their worst non-recessionary growth streak ever (yes, ever): Industrial Production, Capital Expenditure, Factory Orders. Add in recent commentary from executives in the Industrials sector (here and here) saying things like 'the industrial economy has not bottomed' and you've got all the evidence of need that we remain in an industrial recession."

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Gold last traded at $1,266 an ounce. Silver at $17.62 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices eased slightly Wednesday as short-term speculators took profits. U.S. stocks traded mostly lower amid oil price weakness and disappointing earnings from tech giant Apple.

This Tech Will Kill Cash -Daily Reckoning
"Still waiting on your deadbeat friend to pay you back for that lunch you shared two months ago? PayPal’s popular new payment app has a solution for you. The app is called Venmo - and it’s quickly becoming an everyday name in the mobile payments game. Venmo’s growing success makes PayPal the top dog in mobile payments. In the last quarter alone Venmo processed $4.9 billion in payments, the Wall Street Journal reports. And that’s not all. It’s well on its way to processing $20 billion by the end of the year. That’s a lot of coffee… Cash is dead. Whether you like it or not, currency is going digital. The days of pulling a wad of greasy bills out of your pocket are numbered."

Cash is under attack from virtually every side - government, banks and technology - as we explained in our 2014 book, Don't Bank On It! Use of cash could get you branded as a criminal. Capital controls are already being put in place to prevent bank runs. Get the full story in our 12-page White Paper: The Secret War on Cash.

Map: Here's where Obamacare premiums are rising -Washington Examiner
"The Obama administration announced Monday that Obamacare premiums will rise by an average 25 percent in the 39 states that use the federal insurance exchange instead of their own state marketplace....Check the map below to see the average increase in Obamacare premiums in your state. The increase or decrease shown reflects the average change for a 27-year-old buying the second-lowest-cost silver plan under Obamacare, which is the benchmark plan used to determine subsidy levels. (Most states that use their own exchanges won't show any data in the map below, as the increase applies only to those states using the federal government's healthcare.gov website. California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Minnesota provided data from their marketplaces.)"

The Boredom Before The Storm - Zero Hedge
"With all the surprising and/or disturbing things going on – Brexit, China’s soaring debt, US/Russia/China saber rattling, the, um, unique US presidential race, the cyber attack that shut down big parts of the US Internet – you’d think that an unsettled world would be reflected in skittish financial markets. Instead we’re getting the opposite, with stock price movements becoming more and more placid as the year goes on....So it’s a safe bet that 2017 will be in many ways a mirror image of 2016. US politics will be decided if not settled, government spending will stop spiking, and equities will return – possibly suddenly – to more historically normal valuations....And precious metals, because they attract fearful capital, should benefit from the coming anxiety spike. Last time around – after an initial plunge – gold, silver and the shares of the companies that mine them embarked on a multi-year run that made them the best performing assets of the decade."

Now is the perfect time to prepare your portfolio for 'the coming anxiety spike' next year. Discover why now is an excellent window of opportunity to protect your hard-earned money with hard-owned money in our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition

The Epidemic of Worry -Brooks/New York Times
"We’ve had a tutorial on worry this year. The election campaign isn’t really about policy proposals, issue solutions or even hope. It’s led by two candidates who arouse gargantuan anxieties, fear and hatred in their opponents. As a result, some mental health therapists are reporting that three-quarters of their patients are mentioning significant election-related anxiety....Worry alters the atmosphere of the mind. It shrinks your awareness of the present and your ability to enjoy what’s around you right now. It cycles possible bad futures around in your head and forces you to live in dreadful future scenarios, 90 percent of which will never come true. Pretty soon you are seeing the world through a dirty windshield. Worry dims every sunrise and amplifies mistrust....Many affluent people use money to buy privacy, and so cut themselves off from both the deep relationships that could give them purpose and the neighborly support systems that could hold them up if things go south....But the answer to worry is the same as the answer to fear: direct action....If you’re worrying, you’re spiraling into your own narcissistic pool. But concrete plans and actions thrust us into the daily fact of other people’s lives. This campaign will soon be over, and governing, thank God, will soon return."

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Gold last traded at $1,273 an ounce. Silver at $17.78 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices traded sharply higher Tuesday amid strong seasonal demand from India, Fed uncertainty and a flat dollar. U.S. stocks fell on disappointing earnings, weak consumer confidence and lower oil prices.

How One Billionaire Became A Gold Bug -Zero Hedge
'Hugo Salinas-Price, a hard currency advocate, and the founder of Mexico’s Elektra retail chain explains in the following guest post how he became a gold bug. 'I was born in 1932. As a little boy, I loved to play in my father's store after school hours, and one afternoon when I was perhaps eight years' old, one of the salesmen took two gold coins out of his vest pockets (men wore vests in those days)....A couple of years later, when my father was driving home after the store closed, he pulled out a lottery ticket from his coat and said: "This lottery ticket did not win a prize, but it did win a refund of $100 pesos. I'll give you the refund. What would you like to buy with the refund?" I unhesitatingly replied: "Buy me some gold coins!"....I went home with my gold coins, and promptly put them in my father's safe, to which he gave me the combination. They were really the only thing of value in the safe, and from time to time, I used to open the safe to examine the beautiful gold coins. So that's how I became a gold-bug at age 10....What happened to my little stash of ten $2 peso gold coins? I still have them, after all these long years - I am now 84. Slowly but surely, they are growing in value, and they are still obtainable today, in exchange for $1,523 pesos each as of this date. These are really $1,523,000 pesos if we take away the artificial revaluation of our Mexican money in 1993, when every $1000 pesos was converted into $1 "new" peso. So my gold coins went from $10 silver pesos in 1942, to $1,523,000 paper pesos in the course of about 74 years.'"

Will The Fed Go Dovish (Again)? -Hedge Eye
"Déjà vu. Fed officials are talking up a December rate hike yet again. Q: What's changed between today and the last time the Fed raised rates on December 16, 2015? A: Their overly-optimistic economic projections have been cut. (If this seems ridiculous.. it's because it is ridiculous.) Yellen and her team of academic economists have had to cut their forecasts to reflect U.S. economic reality. As you can see in the Chart of the Day (from today's Early Look), U.S. GDP growth (year-over-year) has been in steady decline from 3.3% in March 2015 to 1.2% in June. Meanwhile, the median Fed projection for U.S. economic growth in 2016 is 1.8%. Note: That's down from an estimate of 2.4% following the last Fed rate increase in December....So, GDP falling to 1.2% is reason to raise rates? Yet again, the Fed is disconnected from reality."

America’s biggest banks have announced their Venmo competitor, Zelle -Recode
"After months of speculation, America’s biggest banks tonight announced Zelle, a money-transfer app they are backing that will compete against PayPal, Venmo and Square Cash. The Zelle app is built atop a bank-owned payments network that connects the country’s five biggest banks - and others - including Chase, Citi and Bank of America. Users of Zelle are expected to be able to send money via their phones to recipients who will gain access to the funds immediately....Many money-transfer services are currently money-losing offerings. But PayPal, which owns Venmo, likes that the service is popular with millennials who 'Venmo' each other for expenses like shared meals and rent."

If you still doubt that governments and bankers worldwide have declared a 'war on cash' and that a cashless world is about to change your life in a bad way, we suggest reading TEN CONSEQUENCES OF A CASHLESS WORLD & THE SECRET WAR ON CASH.

Six Things to Consider About Inflation -Valuewalk
“As an economic term, ‘inflation’ is shorthand for ‘inflation of the money supply.’ The general public, however, usually takes it to mean ‘rising prices’ which is not surprising since one of the common effects of an increase in the money supply is higher prices. However, supporters of government policy often say, ‘If quantitative easing (QE) and its terrible twin, fractional reserve banking, are so awful, why have we got no inflation?’ To address this conundrum, there are six related factors that are noteworthy: Number One: we need to be clear about the terms we are using. Instead of talking about ‘inflation’ in the loose sense, as above, it is more accurate to speak of currency debasement, which is the real impact of fiat money creation by any means. Number Two: the above question overlooks the fact that the measures used in this process are inherently unreliable....Number Three: newly created fiat money must go somewhere - and so it goes into the grasp of its first receivers, the banks, the financial institutions, government institutions, and urban moneyed classes who least need it - widening the gap between rich and poor. Number Four: The European Central Bank (ECB) is no slouch when it comes to money creation out of thin air, and banks within the euro zone have therefore come to rely on it for survival. Number Five: In the same vein, you have no doubt heard reference to ‘helicopter money.’ This is a variant of QE favored by certain politicians who talk blithely about the need for ‘QE for the people.’ Number Six: the final point concerns the corrosive effect of the deliberate and utterly misguided suppression of interest rates which, if they were allowed to find their own market level, would represent the time-value of money, or what the private sector is prepared to pay for liquidity - either for spending now or saving for future spending.”

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Gold last traded at $1,263 an ounce. Silver at $17.60 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices traded mixed Monday amid rising uncertainty and a firmer dollar. U.S. stocks traded higher, getting a lift from merger announcements including AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner.

Mobius Says Gold Will Gain in 2017 as Fed Goes Slow on Hikes -Bloomberg
"Gold is set to advance by as much as 15 percent before the end of next year as the Federal Reserve goes slow on increasing interest rates and the dollar remains subdued, buoying bullion demand, according to Templeton Emerging Markets Group. 'The Fed is going to increase the rates by a little bit but not excessively and there is no guarantee that a rise in interest rates will put people off,' Executive Chairman Mark Mobius said in an interview at a Bloomberg event in Mumbai....Bullion has rallied 19 percent in 2016 as concern over the health of the global economy, loose monetary policies and the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union fanned demand....'The U.S. dollar is not that strong and may even decline,' said Mobius, who also highlighted prospects for increased central bank buying of bullion. 'So if that happens, gold gets more expensive.'"

Inflation: next year's ticking time bomb -Evans-Pritchard/Telegraph
"The last time sterling fell off a cliff we were in the midst of global financial crisis from 2007 to 2008. The currency shock sent inflation shooting up to 5.2%, abruptly squeezing on real living standards....This time the most vulnerable families will take the brunt as the cost of imported food, clothes, and fuel suddenly jump. A parting gift of the last Government was to freeze benefits for 11.5 million households until 2020....This is a political time bomb that will detonate next year when the inflation ‘pass-through’ from imports bites in earnest. It threatens to poison the already fractious national debate unless steps are taken to mitigate the damage....For central bankers, inflation is not the terrible specter it used to be. Most of the developed world is fighting secular deflation, the opposite and more dangerous enemy....Is it possible the UK will face rising inflation and recession at the same time? Unfortunately it is."

According to a growing number of astute economists, stagflation (slowing economy with rising inflation) is about to rear its ugly head in 2017. The truth is governments and central banks have had a very long love affair with inflation - especially the type of hidden inflation which we've seen in the U.S. over the last decade - thanks to the Fed's policy of "financial repression". But a day of reckoning always arrives. Now is the time to prepare your portfolio for an inflation spike next year. Read more in our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition

Major banks mark first-ever international trade using blockchain tech -Reuters/Yahoo
"The first cross-border transaction between banks using multiple blockchain applications has taken place, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo & Co said on Monday, resulting in a shipment of cotton to China from the United States....Blockchain is a web-based transaction-processing and settlement system whose efficiency banks say could slash costs....Led by a consortium of over 70 of the world's biggest financial institutions - called R3 - the banking industry has been researching ways to harness the speed, accuracy and efficiency afforded by blockchain....Wells Fargo's head of international trade services, Chris Lewis, said in the statement that his bank was committed to new technology. He also said 'significant regulatory, legal and other concerns remain to be addressed.'"

"We are witnessing the beginning of the end of money as we know it," says monetary expert Craig Smith. In his new book Money, Morality & The Machine, Smith explains why 'bad money drives out good money' as well as why bad money drives out good values in society. (Amazing free book offer!)

What The Media Missed About The $85 Billion AT&T-Time Warner Deal -Hedge Eye
"The headline news in mainstream media today is AT&T's offer to buy Time Warner for $85 billion over the weekend. Contextualizing the why behind the deal unlocks actual investing implications for investors. On that point, the media was decidedly silent. In this morning's Early Look, Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough compares the combining of two 'legacy telcos' to 'tying two rocks together and seeing if they float.' AT&T missed inflated Wall Street earnings expectations last Thursday. The stock is down about 7% since then, as investors were unimpressed by the deal and fled an industry in secular decline. Investors were right to head for the hills. At end of the cycle, there is always a flurry of mergers and acquisitions as companies buy other companies to pad their slowing financial results (see Q2 2007). Then the cycle falls off a cliff and the economy dips into recession. In other words, M&A is a classic late cycle indicator....In short, the AT&T/Time Warner is yet another example of past peak M&A and confirmation that the U.S. economy continues the trend of down, down, down."

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Gold last traded at $1,267 an ounce. Silver at $17.49 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices held firm Friday, despite a higher dollar on technical buying and bargain hunting. U.S. equities fell again, pressured by a strong dollar and disappointing telecommunications earnings.

Gold Bug Jim Grant Says The Fed Is Bluffing -Kitco
"The Fed is bluffing, and no matter what happens with interest rates, it might be best for investors to stick with gold, this according to widely known Fed critic and Wall Street pundit Jim Grant. Speaking with Kitco News, he argued that the gold price will not be driven by the next move by the Federal Reserve, although most recent gold price fluctuations have been the result of shifting rate hike expectations. Instead, 'it’s the revelation that we’re walking – or running – down the wrong path, and that we must regroup and formulate a monetary policy that’s based upon a lasting standard of value,' the popular newsletter publisher said. 'I think a bet on gold, to me, is actually an investment in monetary disorder. It’s not a hedge against it because we have monetary disorder; I think what us, gold bugs are waiting for is the spreading perception that we have monetary disorder.' To Grant, central bankers’ policies around the world will make investors either 'end in tears' or 'laughter,' depending on how people position themselves."

Memo to President Trump or President Clinton: The Gold Standard Made America Both Good and Great - The Pulse 2016
"Marc Levinson writing recently in The Wall Street Journal provides a very pessimistic view for the American Dream, 'Why the Economy Doesn’t Roar Anymore: The long boom after World War II left Americans with unrealistic expectations, but there’s no going back to that unusual Golden Age:...Ever since the Golden Age vanished amid the gasoline lines of 1973, political leaders in every wealthy country have insisted that the right policies will bring back those heady days. Voters who have been trained to expect that their leaders can deliver something more than ordinary are likely to find reality disappointing.' Levinson, whose column uses 'Golden Age' as its leitmotif, strangely fails to make the connection, or even explore, the fact that the era he calls the Golden Age correlated precisely with America (and the world) being on a form of gold standard, particularly the modified gold standard known as the Bretton Woods System. Bretton Woods was finally, formally, ended in 1973, the very year that Levinson points to as the end of the Golden Age....Whether Trump or Clinton wins, America’s economic success over the next four years — and their chance of re-election — will depend in large measure on 'It’s the economy, Smarty,' getting job growth and upward income mobility going for workers. To achieve equitable prosperity, the next president will need to be really smart about, rather than neglecting, monetary policy."

Wynn: Printing Money Degrades Living Standard, Causes Anger; Healthcare Goes Up, Product Doesn't Get Better -Real Clear Politics
"Casino magnate Steve Wynn expresses his disappointment at the lack of discussion of the economy during the course of the presidential election in an interview on Thursday's Hannity....Wynn said the printing of money by the U.S. Treasury under the guidance from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the national debt have not been properly addressed albeit a short segment at the final debate....'Our government is printing money and it's degrading the living standard of every person in America. It's the cause of frustration, anger and confusion.'....Wynn on healthcare: WYNN: 'I can tell you, after speaking to my 12 or 13,000 employees, that there is tremendous confusion and dissatisfaction with the cost of health care, all of my employees increased health care costs in spite of the fact the company picked up most of the increases but yet they have the same policy that they had before. They paid more money but did not get more coverage.'"

“Cheapening our dollar has been very expensive,” says Lowell Ponte, a former Roving Editor at Reader's Digest and co-author of the new book Money, Morality & The Machine: Smith's Law in an Unethical, Over-Governed Age. “This Great Debasement of our currency has replaced the American Dream of our Founders with a society based on political cronyism, European-like socialist welfare dependency on government, class and race warfare and violence, a decline in religious faith and moral values, a fading work ethic, soaring taxes, a $19.5 Trillion national debt, and a dollar worth only about 2 pennies of the purchasing power of a 1912 dollar.” (Amazing free book offer!)

Obamacare Premiums Up 30% In TX, MS, KS; 50% In IL, AZ, PA; 93% In NM: When Does The Death Spiral Blow Up? -Zero Hedge
"Congratulations are in order for those living in a handful of states whose premiums only rose 20%. The Wall Street Journal reports 'Rate Increases for Health Plans Pose Serious Test for Obama’s Signature Law'. Approved Hikes Just Under 20%: Colorado, Florida and Idaho, Approved Hikes 20% to 29%: Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland,Approved Hikes 30% to 49%: Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Mississippi, Texas, Approved Hikes 50% to 92%: Arizona, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Approved hikes 93%: New Mexico....Rep. Michael Burgess M.D., Rep. Tom Price M.D., and Rep. Phil Roe M.D., all doctors, say ObamaCare is About to Collapse."

Global Markets Stumble into a High-Debt, Low-Investment 2017 -Bloomberg
"There’s a scene in the 2004 movie Sideways where a sloppy, depressed Paul Giamatti gulps from the spit bucket at a wine-tasting bar. That’s probably worse than what International Monetary Fund chief economist Maurice Obstfeld had in mind when he said in October, while presenting the fund’s 2017 outlook, that ‘taken as a whole, the world economy is moving sideways.’....Describing where the rich countries stand almost a decade after the worst financial blowup since the Great Depression, Obstfeld said: ‘The crisis has left a cocktail of interacting legacies — high debt overhangs, nonperforming loans on banks’ books, deflationary pressures, low investment, and eroded human capital — that continue to depress potential investment levels.’ The problem? Years of disappointing growth have caused the public to worry that this is the new normal and that governments and central bankers have no clue how to make it better. Pessimistic consumers are holding back on spending, while businesses aren’t putting money into buildings, equipment, or software. Their reticence slows things down even more. Disappointment breeds more disappointment."

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Gold last traded at $1,267 an ounce. Silver at $17.54 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices steadied Thursday as the U.S. dollar was lifted by EU bank inaction. Stocks end lower as oil prices shed over 2%, consumer confidence fell and the European Central Bank stood pat on interest rates.

Fed risks repeating Lehman blunder as US recession storm gathers -Evans-Pritchard/Telegraph
"The risk of a US recession next year is rising fast. The Federal Reserve has no margin for error. Liquidity is suddenly drying up. Early warning indicators from US 'flow of funds' data point to an incipent squeeze, the long-feared capitulation after five successive quarters of declining corporate profits. 'We are seeing a serious deterioration on a monthly basis,' said Michael Howell from CrossBorder Capital, specialists in global liquidity. The signals lead the economic cycle by six to nine months. 'We think the US is heading for recession by the Spring of 2017. It is absolutely bonkers for the Fed to even think about raising rates right now,' he said....Stanley Fischer, the Fed's vice-chairman, conceded in a grim speech this week that the Fed has now run out of ammunition and that this 'could therefore lead to longer and deeper recessions when the economy is hit by negative shocks.'....A President Hillary Clinton could and certainly would flood the economy with fiscal stimulus if need be. Yet this takes time. There are few 'shovel-ready' projects, and Washington is a fractious place."

Democratic Landslide? What It Means For Investors -Hedge Eye
"Investors don't fully appreciate what could happen when the next president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017. With all eyes on Trump versus Clinton, pundits, politicians, and the investing public are sleeping on the ramifications of 2016 Congressional races. Whether it be raising the minimum wage, taxation, infrastructure spending or regulation, Democrats and Republicans differ radically on these issues....Hedgeye Director of Research Daryl Jones what this means in today's Early Look. Did you know, Jones writes, that which way the Senate tips will impact whether firebrand Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders becomes the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee (in the minority) or the Senate Budget Committee Chairperson? In other words, based on current polling, it's likely that the man who once described himself as a 'socialist' will oversee the drafting of Congress's annual budget. While it's interesting that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton currently leads the GOP's Donald Trump by +6.4% in Real Clear Politics polling, and fivethirtyeight.com gives Clinton an 85% probability of winning the election. The Congressional races are what we should actually be watching."

Hello Inflation, Central Banks Salute You -The Street
"Just like Caesar's gladiators, central banks might be in danger of meeting their end in the service of their master: inflation. And as the master has just joined the arena, the show can begin. Ever since the financial crisis, central banks all over the world have cut interest rates, bought increasingly risky securities and cooed in all the dovish tonalities available in order to push prices up again. This is because the world economy is creaking under the burden of huge debts, and the only way out of it other than straightforward debt forgiveness is massive inflation to erode it....In the Eurozone, inflation expectations are at their highest since early June; in the U.S., consumer prices saw their biggest rise in five months in September; in the U.K., inflation has already exceeded expectations, printing 1% for September vs. 0.9% forecast. This is where it becomes really dangerous for central banks."

Deutsche Bank to pay $38 million in U.S. silver price-fixing case -Reuters
"Deutsche Bank AG has agreed to pay $38 million to settle U.S. litigation over allegations it illegally conspired with other banks to fix silver prices at the expense of investors, according to court papers filed on Monday....The settlement had been expected since April, though terms had yet to be disclosed. In court papers, lawyers for the investors say the deal will likely be an 'ice breaker' that will serve as a catalyst for other banks to settle....The alleged conspiracy started by 1999, suppressed prices on roughly $30 billion of silver and silver financial instruments traded each year, and enabled the banks to pocket returns that could top 100 percent annualized, the investors said."

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Gold last traded at $1,269 an ounce. Silver at $17.66 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose Wednesday on technical buying and bargain hunting. Stocks traded mixed, helped by rising oil prices and cheery Fed data showing "moderate" economic growth.

Why gold will rise no matter who becomes the next U.S. president -Marketwatch
"Gold prices have enjoyed a hefty climb so far this year as the market continues to guess the pace and timing of the next U.S. interest-rate hike, but the battle for the U.S. presidency is set to take center stage as Election Day nears. And it doesn’t matter if Republican Party nominee Donald Trump or Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton moves on to be the next president of the United States - gold is likely to come out a winner, George Milling-Stanley, head of gold investment strategy at State Street Global Advisors, told MarketWatch....'There can be little doubt that a Trump victory would be disruptive in both political and economic terms, given that this is what the candidate has promised,' he said. 'I would expect gold prices to head higher on increased safe-haven buying in the event of a Trump victory.'....Gold probably wouldn’t see quite as dramatic a rise in the event of a Clinton win, compared with Trump, but Clinton as president is expected to have inflationary implications, which would imply higher gold prices as well, he said."

An Ominous Signal For U.S. Small Businesses -Hedge Eye
"As the U.S. economy continues to slow, the nation's banks are turning off the liquidity spigot on small businesses. An ominous factoid: The last time loan volumes to small businesses turned this negative (on a year-over-year basis) it was December 2007, the exact month the U.S. economy tipped into recession. Here are the key Chart of The Day takeaways from the Thomson Reuters/PayNet small business data via Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough in this morning's Early Look: 'Small Business Loan Volumes have gone decisively NEGATIVE on a y/y (year-over-year) basis'. The most recent print is down over -1.5% year-over-year and has been negative y/y in each of the last 3 months. The last time this index looked like this was DEC 2007'. If you run a small business look out. If you're an investor getting long equities into this economic slowdown, go look at returns from October and November of 2007. Those returns might scare some sense into you."

Apple's Next Goal Is Killing Paper Money Once and For All -Fortune
"Who needs cash, anyway? Apple CEO Tim Cook has an idea for the future - eliminating cash. Apple Pay could be the 'catalyst' that ultimately gets the world to switch from cash to digital payments, he told the Japanese news service Nikkei in an interview published on Monday. 'We would like to be a catalyst for taking cash out of the system,' Cook said. 'We don’t think the consumer particularly likes cash.'....It’s unclear how Apple could achieve Cook’s goal of eliminating cash. Apple Pay must be linked to plastic to work, and while smartphones and payment terminals are ubiquitous in the U.S., that’s not the case in most other countries. And even then, Apple Pay is only compatible with Apple’s own products, leaving the more than a billion people worldwide who use Android-based handsets out of luck."

In their 2016 book Money, Morality & The Machine: Smith's Law in an Unethical, Over-Governed Age, Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte begin Chapter Four, "The Money Changers" (page 91), by quoting Apple's Tim Cook saying “Your kids will not know what money is.” In their 2012 book, The Great Debasement: The 100-Year Dying of the Dollar and How to Get America's Money Back, Smith and Ponte explain (on page 218) Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's abandoned idea for “Google Bucks” as an alternative to government currencies controlled by central banks. In several other Special Reports Smith and Ponte discuss the government push for a “cashless” society. (Find out more with this amazing free book offer!)

The Fed’s Rate-Hike Dilemma: Damned if It Does, Damned if It Doesn't -Fiscal Times
"For the first time since the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve's luxury of time is running out.For years, a weak jobs market, tepid demand and low inflation allowed the Fed to drag its feet on ending its long experiment with ultra-easy monetary policy. That's changing now, and it's going to considerably increase the difficulty of setting policy through the rest of 2016 and into 2017. Adding to the pressure: The stakes could hardly be higher, with just 1-in-3 Americans satisfied with the state of the country, 58 percent saying that economic conditions are getting worse and heightened political divisions resulting in violent protests and fire bombings. But a Fed decision to continue to wait could unearth a terrible threat: Stagflation, the combination of economic stagnation and high inflation....While no one knows what the Fed will do at its December policy meeting, the realities on the ground suggest no matter the decision, it's going to be painful."

China Holdings of U.S. Treasuries Drop to Almost Four-Year Low -Bloomberg
"China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell to the lowest level since November 2012, as the world’s second-largest economy draws down its foreign reserves to prop up the yuan. The biggest foreign holder of U.S. government debt had $1.19 trillion in bonds, notes and bills in August, down $33.7 billion from the prior month, the biggest drop since 2013, according to U.S. Treasury Department data released Tuesday in Washington and previous figures compiled by Bloomberg....China sold an estimated $570 billion in foreign-exchange assets from August 2015 to August 2016 in an effort to keep the currency from plunging, according to an estimate by the U.S. Treasury released last week."

Craig Smith comment: The liquidity crunch is building steam. Keep in mind the Chinese are selling U.S. government debt and instead buying U.S. stocks as well as U.S. corporate and agency debt. Sounds like they want an actually piece of America, not just its government.

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Gold last traded at $1,262 an ounce. Silver at $17.63 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose again Tuesday amid rising inflation and a falling dollar. U.S. equities also rose as investors parsed through better-than-expected quarterly reports and inflation data.

This Expert Is Sticking to $1,900 Gold Call, $25 Silver -The Street
"Although gold prices have come under pressure the past few weeks, Monty Guild, founder of L.A.-based Guild Investment Management says he remains bullish, and is still calling for the metal to climb up to $1,900 an ounce within a two- to four-year time frame....'Technically, gold is at the end of its corrective phase; it could have one more wave down, maybe by a few bucks,' Guild said. He is forecasting the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by 25 basis points in December and then says, gold should hit $1,400 an ounce. Guild sees inflationary trends developing outside the U.S. and tensions in the Middle East as bullish factors for the yellow metal."

Craig Smith Comment: Gold is setting up for what appears to be a major move. The buying power of the U.S. dollar may be set to resume its long-term downward trend. Our 35-year position: gold is a long-term insurance policy against domestic and international economic uncertainty and devaluation of currencies. For the first time since Brexit, gold and silver prices are at attractive levels. (Read more in our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition)

How Debasing The Dollar "Devalues" Us -PR Buzz
"For thousands of years, governments have tried to get something for nothing by debasing their nations' money – by minting coins with less precious metal than before, or by printing paper money unbacked by gold, silver or productivity. Giving politicians the power to conjure such easy money out of thin air like this, said P.J. O'Rourke, is like giving whiskey, car keys and an unlimited credit card to teenage boys. It cannot end well. This is one big reason why the United States is in decline, writes monetary expert Craig R. Smith in his new book Money, Morality & The Machine: Smith's Law in an Unethical, Over-Governed Age. Bad money drives out good, wrote economist Sir Thomas Gresham in 1558 after King Henry VIII stole three-quarters of the silver in England's coins. People would pocket the old coins with more silver and spend the re-minted, less valuable coins. Gresham's Law points to another truth that Craig R. Smith, a frequent guest on Fox Business and other business media, recognized more than 450 years later – that bad money drives out good values in society." (Amazing free book offer! )

The crazy world of negative interest rates -Grant/National Review
"Why all the fuss about interest rates? Here’s Grant’s unanswerable answer: 'Interest rates are prices. They impart information. They tell a business person whether or not to undertake a certain capital investment. They measure financial risk. They translate the value of future cash flows into present-day dollars. Manipulate those prices - as central banks the world over compulsively do - and you distort information, therefore perception and judgment....GRANT: 'A negative rate of interest means that the lender pays the borrower and it would seem to defy common sense. You can think of interest as the reward for waiting - for laying aside something for tomorrow. Alternatively, you can view negative interest as the cost of impetuousness. Negative rates penalize thrift and reward consumption....FREEMAN: How long can that go on? GRANT: Until the world comes to doubt the creditworthiness of the U.S., or the integrity of the U.S. dollar....George Gilder correctly asks: Is money a measuring stick or a magic wand? The former is the correct answer."

5 Urgent Warnings From Big Banks That the “Economy Has Gone Suicidal” -Shtfplan
"The economy has gone suicidal....While the general population is obsessed with the details of the world’s most entertaining and bizarre election in American history, the big banks are gearing up for a deadly serious economic collapse....1. HSBC Issues 'Red Alert' Over Imminent Sell-Off of Stocks. The U.S. stock market is artificially propped up by the Federal Reserve, but their ability to stimulate the economy has worn off....2. I.M.F. Issues 'Stability Warning' Over Deutsche Bank. Germany’s – and Europe’s – largest investment bank is in the midst of a terrible crisis with its balance sheets, overloaded with toxic debt that is big enough to topple several continents....3. Bank of America Warns That a Recession is Imminent, and Unavoidable....4. Macquarie Group’s Leading Investor Warns That the Private Sector Will Never Recover From QE3… and the Age of Human Jobs Is Over....5. The Bank of International Settlements – the Central Bank of Central Banks – Warns of Chinese Economy Meltdown."

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Gold last traded at $1,256 an ounce. Silver at $17.47 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rebounded Monday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. U.S. stocks traded lower as investors digested corporate earnings, key economic data and remarks from a Fed governor.

The stock market is turning into a sloppy, ugly mess — and it could get worse -Marketwatch
"U.S. equities have been bouncing around lately. And the trend has been predominantly lower....In fact, the Dow and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.18% are on the verge of tallying three straight months of declines, with October shaping up to be the ugliest monthly fall since January - the month after the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in a decade....A number of analysts are pointing to the possibility of a big selloff in stocks, citing bearish technical patterns.... S&P Global Market Intelligence warned that earnings season is turning out to be a story of tepid growth, down 1.2% for the third quarter....Indeed, S&P 500 companies are expected to post their sixth straight quarter of declining earnings, according to FactSet data.... A stronger buck means reduced sales for U.S. multinationals when money is repatriated into dollars....Concerns about China’s economy have resurfaced."

Is the Fed's next decision on rates all about politics? -USA Today
"The U.S. central bank's Nov. 2 meeting is rife with juicy storylines, as the key question of whether they will boost borrowing costs for the first time in 2016 comes amid claims from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that the Janet Yellen-led Fed is playing politics with policy by keeping rates low to make President Obama look good and help rival Hillary Clinton win the election....Yellen has defended the central bank's independence, saying the Fed doesn't talk about politics at its meetings nor do politics play a role in its policy decisions....Futures markets are now pricing in just a 10% chance of a rate increase next month. Most of Wall Street bets are placed on December, when the odds of a rate hike jump to roughly 60%, according to CME Group."

Saudi Bank Stress Builds as Kingdom’s Cash Injection Falls Short -Bloomberg
"Saudi Arabia has work to do to ease pressure in the kingdom’s banking system. The interest rate banks charge one another for loans rose by the most since August on Sunday, extending a trend that’s slowing earnings and corporate borrowing in the world’s biggest oil exporter....Financial institutions in the Arab world’s largest economy are bearing the brunt of a halving of oil prices since 2014. Economic growth in the kingdom is slowing, curtailing bank deposits just as the government increases borrowing to help plug a budget deficit that last year was the widest since 1991."

She-riah law: Hillary kept Michael Savage on hate list -World Net Daily
"Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton determined not to lift a finger to persuade the United Kingdom to lift its ban on travel by talk-show kingpin and bestselling author Michael Savage in an email to her chief legal counsel Cheryl Mills posted by WikiLeaks. In addition, in a followup email, Mills explains the kind of ban imposed by the U.K. on Savage could happen in the United States under current law. The June 5, 2009, email with a subject line of 'Savage holding pattern and next steps,' is from Clinton herself from her private email account – hrod17@clintonemail.com – to Mills at her official State Department email address – millsscd@state.gov....Savage travel to the U.K. was banned by the government’s top homeland security official in 2009 along with terrorists and neo-Nazi murderers on the pretext that his views might provoke violence....'It’s interesting to me that here I am a talk show host, who does not advocate violence, who advocates patriotic traditional values – borders, language, culture – who is now on a list banned in England,' Savage said. 'What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me.'"

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Gold last traded at $1,255 an ounce. Silver at $17.44 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices traded steady Friday despite a stronger dollar. U.S. equities were lifted by upbeat bank earnings as investors digested weaker oil prices and the latest Fedspeak.

A recession is coming — so hide in gold, says influential investor Raoul Pal -Marketwatch
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, which asset is most mispriced of all? According to a Goldman Sachs alum who predicted the financial crisis in 2008, it’s gold. The precious metal should be a lot more expensive when the likelihood of a global financial collapse and a move toward negative interest rates is accounted for, says Global Macro Investor founder Raoul Pal, who now sees a U.S. recession within 12 months....'As we get to negative interest rates, gold is a good place to park your cash,' said Pal, who discussed his outlook with MarketWatch in a September interview and a follow-up conversation over email. 'I’m not a gold bug,' the former GLG Global Macro Fund co-manager - who is also watching the dollar closely - 'but this is the currency I would choose now.'....'All the really serious thinkers are interested in gold,' he said."

Bob Dylan, economist and financial adviser -Marketwatch
"When Bob Dylan sang that 'you’re gonna have to serve somebody,' the newest Nobel literature laureate wasn’t talking about the almighty dollar. In his 1979 hit 'Gotta Serve Somebody,' Dylan drawls to listeners that they may be construction workers or mansion dwellers; that they might 'be somebody’s landlord' and may 'even own banks.' No matter, Dylan continues: 'Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord/But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.'....Dylan seems to play the dual role of a marriage counselor and financial adviser when he sings: 'Her folks they said our lives together/Sure was gonna be rough/They never did like/Mama’s homemade dress/Papa’s bank book wasn’t big enough.' In this song, it’s a seeming indifference to money that comes through: he’s willing to embark on what others think of as a rough life without a 'big enough' stash of family cash. But it’s enough to get by, and apparently happily so....For all his hostility toward or indifference about wealth, one of the biggest takeaways from Dylan’s career may be the old saw that if you do what you love, the money will follow."

US Economy To Grow Just 1.4% In 2016 After Atlanta Fed Slashes Q3 GDP To 1.9%, Half Its Original Estimate -Zero Hedge
"There was much excitement when just two months ago, the Atlanta Fed revealed that its original Q3 GDP 'nowcast' was showing an economy growing at a whopping 3.8% - a welcome reprieve for an economy which has barely been able to 'rise above' a stall speed 1% GDP in the first half. Alas, since then things have deteriorated, and quite rapidly in recent days, because just one week after the Atlanta Fed slashed its GDP estimate to a series low of 2.1%, moments ago it just took it down to even less, or the lowest it has been to date, a paltry 1.9% and 50% lower than the original estimate....So taking all the data we have on hand as of this moment, which includes actuals of 0.8% and 1.4% for Q1 and Q2 GDP, together with the Atlanta Fed's 1.9% for Q3 and adding the latest estimate of Q4 GDP by the NY Fed, which as of this moment is 1.6%, we get that the US will grow at just 1.4% in 2016. Good luck with that rate hike Janet in a year in which the US economy will grow at the slowest pace since the financial crisis."

Don't Blow Your Retirement Nest Egg By Listening To Warren Buffett -Miller On The Money
"Mr. Buffett is giving seniors and savers bad advice. 'Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.' – Warren Buffett....The Buffett theory is based on maximizing your gains in an arena you are comfortable. It’s easy to say if you have a few billion to fall back on if you make a bad investment....Growth potential takes priority over dividend yield. You hope they will grow ahead of the inflation rate. This could also include, quality stocks, productive farmland, waterfront property and precious metals. I've shown readers how gold appreciated well ahead of the inflation rate during the Carter years. Owning some physical gold is a MUST....When in doubt, go safe! Diversify across sectors for additional safety."

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Gold last traded at $1,257 an ounce. Silver at $17.46 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose Thursday on China fears, a weaker dollar and equity prices. U.S. stocks fell as a possible Fed rate hike weighed on investor sentiment.

Gold prices rise as dollar, equities pull back -Investing
"Gold prices held on to overnight gains during North America's session on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar and global stock markets pulled back after surprisingly weak Chinese trade data raised fresh concern about the world's second-largest economy....China's September exports plunged, while imports unexpectedly shrank after picking up in August, suggesting signs of steadying in the world's second-largest economy may be short-lived....The downbeat figures triggered a fall in global equities and a drop in the U.S. dollar and gave a lift to safe-haven assets, such as gold and the yen."

Value's Last Stand -Craig Smith/CBN
"As we find ourselves mired in the uncertainty of an impending presidential election, we’re naturally reflective about the economy. Have we, in fact, recovered from the Great Recession?....Proponents of globalization tout barrier-free trade, cultural exchange and the unrestricted movement of worldwide capital while downplaying the hazards of porous borders, trade imbalances and the flood of low-wage migrant labor that is displacing scores of workers. As I outline in my new book, Money, Morality and the Machine, Brexit was the UK’s Declaration of Independence and reflects a deep mistrust of the political establishment and growing doubts about multinationalism. We, too, are controlled by a culture of political elitism that has over-taxed, over-spent, over-borrowed and over-regulated every aspect of our lives. Our borders are under siege, our trade deals are hurting American workers and our Fed is determined to keep interest rates artificially low....Gold is where real money began, and it may very well be where it ends. While global currency wars are clearly a race to the bottom; gold is a rush to freedom, independence, and universal purchasing power. In this age of political and economic elitism, gold is value’s last stand." (Limited free book offer!)

RED ALERT — get ready for a 'severe fall' in the stock market -Business Insider
"In a note to clients released Wednesday, Murray Gunn, the head of technical analysis for HSBC, said he had become on 'RED ALERT' for an imminent sell-off in stocks given the price action over the past few weeks....Gunn said the selling would truly set in if the Dow Jones Industrial Average were to fall below 17,992 or if the S&P 500 were to dip under 2,116. The Dow closed at 18,128 on Tuesday, while the S&P settled at 2,136. 'But should those levels break and the markets close below (which now seems more likely), it would be a clear sign that the bears have taken over and are starting to feast. The possibility of a severe fall in the stock market is now very high.' Watch out."

Where Will The Money Go When All Three Market Bubbles Pop? -Zero Hedge
"Everyone who's not paid to be in denial knows stocks, bonds and real estate are in bubbles of one sort or another....The only asset classes that are not in bubbles don't offer yields: precious metals and commodities are value plays or scarcity plays, but institutions that require a yield may not be able to shift much capital into these value/scarcity plays. Hot money, however, can buy precious metals, oil futures, bitcoin, etc....Where will the money fleeing deflating bubbles go? Since the stock, bond and real estate markets are all correlated, it's a question with no easy answer. What would $10 trillion seeking safe haven do to small asset classes such as precious metals, bitcoin, and tradable (liquid) sectors of the commodities markets?....If the bubbles in bonds, stocks and real estate all pop, what markets will be left that can absorb trillions of hot money sloshing around? the short answer is: none. The chaos that will arise as trillions of dollars, yen, yuan and euros, etc. try to crowd through the fire exits as the asset bubbles pop will be monumental, and the spikes in small asset class prices as the hot money floods in will be equally monumental."

UBS: Gold is setting up for a big comeback -Business Insider
"Gold is set for a comeback six to 12 months from now, according to UBS. As long as the Federal Reserve sees no reason to raise interest rates in a hurry, gold should do well, according to strategists at the bank's Chief Investment Office Wealth Management Research arm....'A slow moving Fed and a moderate pickup in inflation should push real interest rates deeper into negative territory in 2017,' Gordon and Staunovo said. 'Historically, this has acted as a powerful driver of higher gold prices.'"

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Gold last traded at $1,255 an ounce. Silver at $17.50 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices remained resilient Tuesday despite a stronger dollar on bargain hunting. U.S. stocks traded sharply lower, led by health care, as corporate earnings season began on a sour note and oil prices slipped.

Gold Realizes the Sad Truth... the Fed Screwed Up -Zero Hedge
"The Fed is Officially Screwed. The Fed has maintained rates too low for too long. Historically any time this has happened we’ve had an inflationary disaster soon after. The Fed claims to be data dependent, but if you’re talking about inflation data this is a lie. Core inflation hit the Fed’s 'target' of 2% back in October 2015. The Fed has hiked rates only once since then. And inflation is rising, NOT falling....Meanwhile commodities have bottomed from their 2014-2016 shellacking and are now moving sharply higher. The CRB index is up 21%....Gold is already picking up on it. Once this current correction ends, the precious metal will be clearing $1500 per ounce. We believe the next leg up is about to begin for Gold....From 1970 to 1974, Gold rose 550%. It then took two-year breather before beginning its second, much larger leg up. During that second leg, it rose over 900% in value. If Gold were to stage a similar move now, it would rise to over $10,000 per ounce."

Craig Smith Comment: Gold is setting up for what appears to be a major move. Although we don't focus on gold's price, the buying power of the U.S. dollar may be set to resume its long-term downward trend - wiping out a lot of our buying power. For many years I have maintained the FED's ZIRP policy has screwed up this whole "recovery" while also hampering growth. Now, with worldwide debt expanding at a far faster pace than world growth, the FED is so far behind the curve there is no way for them to catch up. We could see a 1970-1974 scenario repeat all over again; when President Richard Nixon and Fed chair Arthur Burns finally admitted the gold window must be closed, and by doing so sent the U.S. dollar into a 45-year tailspin and gold prices lurched upward to counterbalance the effects."

What's Behind U.S. Productivity's Worst Streak In 40 Years -Hedge Eye
"Productivity's Worst streak in four decades ... WHY? Most mainstream economists don't have a good explanation. In recent testimony before Congress, Fed head Janet Yellen lamented that productivity growth has been 'very, very low.' She called it a 'depressing finding.' We don't disagree. Here's our explanation: Jobs growth slows -> Number of Hours Worked falls -> Productivity slips -> GPD dips."

Ungovernable Nation, Ungovernable Economy -Charles Hugh Smith
"Not only will Fed policy not fix what's broken, it will actively make the structural problems worse....This is why the economy will be ungovernable: all the financial gambits that have been played to create the illusion of 'prosperity' have reached stagnation/decline. The key take-away is that the financial gambits - QE, zero interest rates, etc. - did not actually address the economy's structural problems. All the Federal Reserve and fiscal stimulus policies accomplished was to prop up the corrupt, stagnant engine of debt-serfdom, rising inequality and financial fragility. Lowering interest rates to zero simply removed the discipline imposed by interest....Asset bubbles are no substitute for the expansion of goods, services and wages....The Federal Reserve believes it can govern the economy by tweaking interest rates and bond purchases. The next four years will disabuse us of the illusion that the economy can be governed with monetary policies that have moved from maturity to stagnation and are about to slip into the decline phase: not only will Fed policy not fix what's broken, it will actively make the structural problems worse."

We agree. When financial manipulation occurs the laws of economics become distorted, creating an ungovernable economy. Assets become mispriced and investor confusion ensues. In Money, Morality & The Machine: Smith's Law in an Unethical, Over-Governed Age, the authors state, "Like character and reputation in an individual, currency is the mirror in which a nation reveals and sees itself, its character and integrity. Today’s U.S. dollar has no secure anchor or steady worth. It does not reliably serve as a unit of account, medium of exchange, or store of value. In truth, the dollar arguably is therefore not even really money. Physical money consisting of gold coinage will always be respected and accepted worldwide; because it is a pure, debt-free asset that can be held safely in your own hand. With gold in hands you're positioned to preserve your wealth for a lifetime as well as pass it on to the next generation."

Trump and Clinton Will Both Bring Disappointment -Samuelson/Real Clear Markets
"A reactionary is someone who wishes to return, usually unrealistically, to an earlier and more appealing era. We have two reactionaries running for president. Both peddle agendas that promise to re-create a reassuring past. We are being fed different varieties of nostalgia. Neither will work. Donald Trump is most explicit. He pledges to 'make America great again.'....To ensure the economy's revival, Trump would resort to the standard Republican cure for slow growth: massive tax cuts. These would cost roughly $5 trillion over a decade, reckons the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Of course, most of this is unlikely....As for the economy, Republicans talk casually about increasing annual economic growth to 3.5% to 4%, which is slightly above the 3.2% average from 1950 to 2015. But it's way above the recent average of 2%. Although raising it doesn't sound hard, it is. Part of the decline stems from the retirement of baby-boom workers; that won't change much....Turn now to Hillary Clinton, who - like Trump - is busy resurrecting the past and calling it the future. The Democratic political formula is unchanging: Create handouts that make more Americans grateful for and dependent on government. Clinton has proposed raising Social Security benefits, paying tuition for most students at state colleges and universities, funding universal preschool programs and helping parents cover child care costs....One irrefutable sign of this campaign's unseriousness is the virtual absence of any discussion of America's aging. In 1960, fewer than one in 10 Americans was 65 or over; now it's one in seven, and by 2060, the ratio may be one in four, says the Population Reference Bureau. This trend is unavoidable, but it is missing in action....There's a reactionary celebration of the past that, no matter who wins, has one sure consequence: disappointment."

**Swiss America will be closed Wednesday, October 12 in observance of Yom Kippur.**

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Gold last traded at $1,260 an ounce. Silver at $17.66 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices steadied Monday despite a firmer dollar. Stocks traded higher, following the second presidential debate, while investors digested a rise in oil prices.

America’s working class is falling behind -New York Post
"Have you ever wondered why so many of America’s working class feel left behind and cheated?....While this economy has been harsh to many individuals of all colors, races and ethnicities, the data in a study just put out by the Sentier Research highlight just how screwed over working-class white males with a high school education have been. Over an 18-year period, from 1996 to 2014, white males in the working class have seen their pay fall by 9 percent, according to the study, which looked exclusively at white males....So it’s not hard to see why the working class can relate to a pro-business billionaire like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. They may not like everything he says, but they are hurting and they want a change."

The Profit Cycle Peak Is In (An Economic Cycle Reality Check) -Hedge Eye
"The Chart of the Day above shows the peak in S&P 500 corporate profits (hit in the second half of 2014). As you can see, once the peak is in, there's no coming back as the top always predates the next recession (red bar in the above). As Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough wrote in today's Early Look (our daily morning newsletter to subscribers) Wall Street remains way behind the curve in understanding our call on the peak in corporate profits. But reality continues to be priced into markets. 'Last I checked Wells Fargo (WFC) still has to report their new business reality on Friday... And I guess that brings me back to trying to find a bottom in the US corporate profit cycle. As you can see in today’s Chart of The Day, it’s coming off its all-time highs. And… for those who tried to 'buy the bottom' during the last two economic cycle recessions (2000 and 2008), they better believe in the concept of cycles."

The global economy has entered unexplored, dangerous territory -Summers/Washington Post
"As the world’s finance ministers and central-bank governors came together in Washington last week for their annual global financial convocation, the mood was somber. The specter of secular stagnation and inadequate economic growth on the one hand, and ascendant populism and global disintegration on the other, has caused widespread apprehension....The International Monetary Fund’s growth forecast released just before the meeting was once again revised downward....Worse is the spreading realization that the central banks have little fuel left in their tanks....Publics have lost confidence both in the competence of economic leaders and in their commitment to serving broad national interests, rather than the interests of a global elite."

The global elite are now sweating bullets over the public's lost confidence in their misguided economic leadership and central bankers' negative interest rate scheme. A big wrench has been thrown in what authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte refer to as "The Machine". Learn more in the free summary of this vital new book set for official public release this week; Money, Morality & The Machine.

Banks ponder the meaning of life as Deutsche agonizes -Reuters/Yahoo
"It wasn't just Deutsche Bank that was grappling with big questions about the future at the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington last week. The German bank is scrambling to overhaul its operations as it faces a multi-billion dollar fine for selling toxic mortgage-backed securities in the United States....'This new world of low interest rates and even negative interest rates is something that is very difficult,' said Frederic Oudea, the chief executive of French bank Societe Generale. 'It is a game changer, not just for banks but for the whole financial industry,' he told an audience from the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a trade group for big banks that holds its annual meeting alongside the IMF....'The transformation process is still ongoing and it is painful,' said Alex Manson, global head of transaction banking at Standard Chartered Bank."

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Gold last traded at $1,256 an ounce. Silver at $17.55 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices stabilized Friday following downbeat jobs data. U.S. stocks fell on jobs report miss and volatile British pound trading.

Is the job market improving enough to keep voters happy? -Crudele/NY Post
"To be truthful, economic statistics aren’t all that important ahead of an election. People know in their gut what the economy is doing. And if the official numbers reported by Washington conflict with what peoples’ guts are telling them, voters will become angrier than if they were being told the ugly truth....Walter J. Williams, head of ShadowStats.com, says the best way to see how the job market is performing is by measuring the monthly percentage gains in 2016 compared with last year. For example, there were 1.73 percent more jobs in August 2016 than in August 2015....But the job market has slowed since the beginning of this year when April showed a 1.9 percent improvement over 2015 and March’s gain was 2 percent better than 12 months before....Even with that big drop-off, the looming question remains: Is the job market improving enough to keep voters happy?"

Where The September Jobs Were: Secretaries, Waiters, Retail And Social Workers -Zero Hedge
"While we already noted that the headline quantitative print in jobs, which rose by a seasonally adjusted 156K in September, was far weaker when observed from a quality standpoint, as a result of the surge in part-time jobs, the dip in full-time jobs, and the jump in multiple jobholders to the highest since the financial crisis, another question is which industries were hiring, albeit mostly part-time workers. Here is the answer: The most actively hiring sector was the otherwise stable 'Professional and business services' where employment rose by 67,000 in September and has risen by 582,000 over the year....Obamacare may be crushing the middle class, but it continues to 'create' jobs: Health care added 33,000 jobs in September....There was the old faithful: waiters and bartenders, aka 'Employment in food services and drinking places' which continued to trend up in September (+30,000) and has increased by 300,000 over the year....Finally, there was minimum wage retail trade workers, where employment continued to trend up over the month (+22,000)....In other words, more than half of the 156K jobs added in September went - once again - to minimum wage workers."

Fed Hike Shouldn’t Shake Faith in Gold, Says Mining Chief -Bloomberg
"A Federal Reserve interest-rate increase this year shouldn’t shake investors’ faith in gold, according to Australia’s second-largest producer. Bullion is trading near the lowest level in more than three months after slumping 3.3 percent on Tuesday, the biggest loss in over a year. Prices have tumbled on worries that central banks are poised to curb stimulus and that the Fed may be set to raise interest rates in December for the first time in 12 months as the economy improves. Still, any increase in U.S. borrowing costs needs to take into account that central banks have cut rates about 600 times since 2008, Evolution Mining Ltd.’s Executive Chairman Jake Klein said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s 'Daybreak Asia'. 'In context, conditions are still favorable for gold,' Klein said. 'I’m optimistic on the gold price, because we are in an environment where we have unprecedented low interest rates. It’s difficult to see rates rising a lot.'"

In a world of corrupt politicians and reckless central bankers, it is wise to own some of the only incorruptible money on earth - Gold, as authors Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte detail in their brand new book, Money, Morality & The Machine. (Request a Free Book Preview here)

Are the Central Banks Manipulating the Price of Gold? -Miller On The Money
"DENNIS: If the price is being manipulated, what do you say to readers asking about investing in gold? The central banks around the world continue to create money at an unprecedented pace, yet gold has not come close to it’s 2011 high....It’s time to call Ed [Steer, Ed Steer's Gold and Silver Digest] and ask for help....ED: There are two good reasons why you should buy gold today. This manipulation is keeping the price artificially low. This scheme has about run its course and those holding fiat money could suffer catastrophic consequences. When price management schemes end, they do so violently - in the opposite direction of the price suppression. Prices of gold and silver will be shockingly higher, while the buying power of the currency drops accordingly....DENNIS: One final question. The Federal Reserve is trying to create inflation with a target of 2%. Why not let the free market take over? Wouldn’t it help them reach their inflation target? ED: I agree, higher precious metal prices would do the trick nicely - and then some. If the powers-that-be wants higher inflation, then let commodity prices run; they’ll have all the inflation they could ever want. But playing the 'Gold Card' as I call it is also fraught with danger. Along with the guaranteed higher inflation comes the strong possibility that the entire world’s economic, financial and monetary system will go down the drain."

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Gold last traded at $1,253 an ounce. Silver at $17.34 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices retreated further Thursday as speculators bet on an upbeat jobs report and a Fed interest rate hike by December. U.S. stocks traded lower as investors looked ahead to a key employment report on Friday.

6 Reasons Why Fed Policy Will Push Gold Prices Higher -Hedge Eye
"So what happens to gold when the Fed actually raises rates? We think not much. The reason is that real-interest rates can’t really move much higher from here even if the Fed raises rates. In fact, there are many more potential drivers to the upside. 1. The Fed might increase its inflation target as already suggested by San Francisco Fed President John Williams. This means that real-interest rate expectations would become negative again even if the Fed actually raises rates; 2. We start to experience an acceleration in broad based inflation as opposed to Fed induced asset price inflation, pushing real rates back deep into negative territory; 3. The Fed keeps delaying rate hikes and taking guidance for terminal rates even lower as it has done for years; 4. Any hiccup in the economy and the Fed is forced to take rates lower instead of higher. Historically the Fed has lowered rates several percentage points to counter recessions. At 0.5%, that would require steep NIRP; 5. Any renewed QE or new form of unconventional monetary policy such as ‘helicopter money’ would push gold prices sharply higher; 6. A renewed surge in longer dated energy prices (which bottomed in 1Q16, and we don't expect these levels to be retested) but is likely only to materialize in a few years."

China’s Hidden Plan to Accumulate Gold -Rickards/Daily Reckoning
"China wants to do what the U.S. has done, which is to remain on a paper currency standard but make that currency important enough in world finance and trade to give China leverage over the behavior of other countries....China accomplished that last November when the IMF agreed to include the yuan in its basket of currencies. That officially happened just a few days ago, Sept. 30. The rules of the game also say you need a lot of gold to play, but you don’t recognize the gold or discuss it publicly. Above all, you do not treat gold as money, even though gold has always been money....Right now, China officially does not have enough gold to have a 'seat at the table' with other world leaders....But contrary to what you read in the blogs, gold won’t go higher because China is confronting the U.S. or launching a gold-backed currency. It will go higher when all central banks, China’s and the U.S.’ included, confront the next global liquidity crisis, worse than the one in 2008, and individual citizens stampede into gold to preserve wealth in a world that has lost confidence in all central banks. When that happens, physical gold may not be available at all. The time to build your personal gold reserve is now."

It’s official: US government ends fiscal year with $1.4 trillion debt increase -Valuewalk
“It’s official. The United States government closed out the 2016 fiscal year that ended a few days ago on Friday September 30th with a debt level of $19,573,444,713,936.79. That’s an increase of $1,422,827,047,452.46 over last year’s fiscal year close. Incredible. By the way, that debt growth amounts to roughly 7.5% of the entire US economy. By comparison, the Marshall Plan, which completely rebuilt Western Europe after World World II, cost $12 billion back in 1948, or roughly 4.3% of US GDP at the time. The initial appropriation for the WPA, perhaps the largest of Roosevelt’s New Deal ‘make work’ programs that employed millions of people, cost 6.7% of US GDP. And, more recently, the US $700 billion bank bailout at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis was the equivalent of 4.8% of GDP. So basically these people managed to increase the national debt by a bigger percentage than the cost of the New Deal, Marshall Plan, and 2008 bank bailout. What exactly did you get for that money?....They squandered it all. In fact, the 2016 fiscal year had the THIRD largest increase in government debt in US history.”

America’s ‘quiet catastrophe’: Millions of idle men -Washington Post
"The 'quiet catastrophe' is particularly dismaying because it is so quiet, without social turmoil or even debate. It is this: After 88 consecutive months of the economic expansion that began in June 2009, a smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14 percent. The work rate for adult men has plunged 13 percentage points in a half-century. This 'work deficit' of 'Great Depression-scale underutilization' of male potential workers is the subject of Nicholas Eberstadt’s new monograph 'Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis,' which explores the economic and moral causes and consequences of this: Since 1948, the proportion of men 20 and older without paid work has more than doubled, to almost 32 percent. This 'eerie and radical transformation' - men creating an 'alternative lifestyle to the age-old male quest for a paying job' - is largely voluntary. Men who have chosen to not seek work are two-and-a-half times more numerous than men who government statistics count as unemployed because they are seeking jobs."

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Gold last traded at $1,268 an ounce. Silver at $17.69 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices steadied Wednesday after a short-term dip offered the best buying opportunity in three years. U.S. stocks rose as investors parsed through a slew of economic data while watching surging oil prices.

UK consumers snap up physical gold after price slides under 1,000 pounds/oz -DailyMail
"Physical gold demand in London jumped after this week's price drop, dealers said on Wednesday, as consumers were tempted back to the market by the metal's technically-driven slide through 1,000 pounds an ounce....'We have an awful lot of clients who were waiting for a pullback in gold, so the phones have been busy here,' Sharps Pixley Chief Executive Ross Norman said. 'We're close to 1,000 pounds an ounce, (and) people want to get in at these levels.'"

Golden Opportunity -McCullogh/Hedge Eye
"Technically speaking (and oh boy do those 'technicals' drive emotion), yesterday was the biggest buying opportunity in Gold in the last 3 years. But why the panic in something that has generated such tremendous returns during the #GrowthSlowing panic of 2016? And why is it that everyone in perma bull SPY space understands the concept of buying dips in Amazon (AMZN) but can’t quite wrap their head around the investing exercise when it comes to buying either Long-term Bonds or Gold? As Jim Rickards advises in The New Case for Gold: 'Don’t try to time the panic; by the time it’s visible it will already be too late, and the small investor will not be able to get physical Gold. The prudent course is to buy Gold now, have it in a safe place, and when the Gold buying panic comes, you’ll be fine.' (pg 151)"

Forget too-big-to-fail, new concern is that many banks are too-weak-to-survive -Marketwatch
"A third of biggest banks in the world’s richest countries are so weak their problems could not be solved even by a recovery and rising interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report released Wednesday. About a third of European banks, with $8.5 trillion in assets, and a quarter of U.S. banks, with $3.2 trillion in assets, are in this too-weak-to-recover category, the IMF said....'This suggests the need for fundamental changes in both bank business models and system structure to ensure a vibrant and healthy banking system,' the IMF said in its update on global financial stability....'In some cases, weak banks will have to exit and banking systems will have to shrink,' the report concluded."

World debt hits $152tn record, says IMF -Financial Times
"The world is $152tn in the red - a record-breaking level of debt, according to the International Monetary Fund. The figure, more than two times the size of the global economy, comes from the fund’s latest Fiscal Monitor and is, officials claim, the most accurate measure of the world’s debt burden ever calculated. 'Global debt is at record highs and rising,' said Vitor Gaspar, director of fiscal affairs at the fund....Calls for what are often dubbed 'growth-friendly fiscal policies' have grown from the IMF and other multilateral institutions as concern has mounted that the world’s central banks have been left with too much of the burden to lift the global economy....'Excessive private debt is a major headwind against the global recovery and a risk to financial stability,' Mr Gaspar said. 'The Fiscal Monitor shows that rapid increases in private debt often end up in financial crises. Financial recessions are longer and deeper than normal recessions.'"

Craig Smith Comment: "World debt is now outpacing growth - that equates to debt-driven economies, not economies powered by growth. It's akin to you living off of your credit cards, until at some point your credit card company says you've hit your limit and cancels your credit until you pay down your debt. That is the world's economic position currently; unless real economic growth picks up, we will hit the wall."

The Fed finally accepts ‘slow growth forever’ -Marketwatch/ Kirk Spano
"I have been talking about slow global economic growth since I've been writing for MarketWatch — nearly five years now. In May 2015, when I expanded my thoughts a bit and wrote 'Global Growth Will Never Be the Same,' there was a lack of belief in what I was saying. Earlier this year when I dubbed the structural situation as 'slow growth forever,' I was outright mocked. Over the past few weeks, several members of the Fed have agreed with me about the deeper nature of slow growth. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Among the first people to see the structural slow growth situation was Larry Summers - the man who would have been Fed chief. Back in 2013, Summers noted that: 'In the past decade, before the crisis, bubbles and loose credit were only sufficient to drive moderate growth.' He went on to expand on his ideas that slow economic growth was a long-term trend with a column titled: 'The Age of Secular Stagnation.' With the Fed largely accepting 'slow growth forever,' it is vitally important to your portfolio that you do, too."

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Gold last traded at $1,269 an ounce. Silver at $17.77 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices slipped 3% Tuesday fueled by short-term speculation and weakness in the British Pound. U.S. stocks retreated following a report that the European Central Bank may wind down its quantitative easing program ahead of schedule.

Gold: Buy The Dip! -Craig Smith/Swiss America
"Gold prices are doing exactly what they should do as a pure asset, or numeraire. Today it takes less dollars to buy an ounce of gold because the dollar is stronger. However, in the U.K., today it takes more pounds to buy an ounce of gold than yesterday because the Pound is getting pounded. Gold prices fluctuate daily in various currencies, however the long-term buying power in gold is stable. Owning physical gold protects your wealth against those changes. Gold prices are still up 20% YTD. With all the world's central banks taking desperate measures to 'protect' the world from a depression, it's no wonder we're seeing dramatic movements in gold prices. Our 35-year position: gold is a long-term insurance policy against domestic and international economic uncertainty and devaluation of currencies. For the first time since Brexit, gold and silver prices are at attractive levels. Now owning gold is more important than ever for portfolio diversification and preservation of capital." (Read more in our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition)

Backlash to World Economic Order Clouds Outlook at IMF Talks -Bloomberg
"Policy-making elites converge on Washington this week for meetings that epitomize a faith in globalization that’s at odds with the growing backlash against the inequities it creates. From Britain’s vote to leave the European Union to Donald Trump’s championing of 'America First,' pressures are mounting to roll back the economic integration that has been a hallmark of gatherings of the IMF and World Bank for more than 70 years. Fed by stagnant wages and diminishing job security, the populist uprising threatens to depress a world economy that International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde says is already 'weak and fragile.' The calls for less integration and more trade barriers also pose risks for elevated financial markets that remain susceptible to sudden swings in investor sentiment, as underscored by recent jitters over Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG’s financial health."

Brexit fears send British pound to new 31-year low -CNN Money
"The British pound slumped to its lowest level in 31 years on Tuesday on fears that the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union will be bad for the economy. The currency fell to just above $1.27, lower even than in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum on June 23, when Brits voted to take their country out of the 28-member group. Brexit plans have begun to emerge in the last few days: talks with the EU will begin in early 2017, the exit will happen two years later, and the U.K. will give priority to controlling immigration. European leaders have made clear that if Britain does not allow free movement of EU citizens across its borders, it will lose some of its rights to access the free trade area....The U.K. economy has proved more resilient than expected in the wake of the EU referendum, but the sharp fall in the value of the pound and a big injection of money from the Bank of England have helped limit the fallout."

Buy Gold -McCullough/Hedge Eye
"This morning's market message appears to be buy more Gold. That’s been the playbook all year long. I see no reason to change that this morning with both the Pound and Yen signaling immediate-term TRADE oversold vs. a US dollar that should fade on another rate of change slowing in non-farm payrolls on Friday. GOLD: if you missed it this year, good spot to buy a currency with credibility vs. central planners."

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Gold last traded at $1,312 an ounce. Silver at $18.86 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices were under modest pressure Monday as an uptick in the U.S. manufacturing sector boosted the dollar. U.S. stocks traded lower on the first trading day of the fourth quarter amid bank worries and real estate weakness.

Some Deutsche Bank Clients Unable To Access Cash Due To "IT Outage" -Zero Hedge
"While it now seems that Friday's rumor of a substantially reduced Deutsche Bank settlement with the DOJ, which sent the stock price soaring from all time lows, was false following a FAZ report that CEO John Cryan has not yet begun the renegotiation process, and in the 'next few days' is set to fly to the US to discuss the proposed RMBS misselling settlement with the US Attorney General, Germany's largest lender continues to be impacted by the public's declining confidence, exacerbated over the weekend by a disturbing 'IT glitch.' ....There is also the threat of the bank's massive derivative book, which despite attempts of many pundits to gloss over, over the weekend none other than JPM admitted that that is what the markets will likely be focusing on for the foreseeable future: 'In our opinion it is not so much funding issues but rather derivatives exposures that more likely to trouble markets going forward if Deutsche Bank concerns continue.'....Making matters even worse, as Reuters and Handelsblatt reported, the bank suffered a further blow to its image this weekend with a third IT outage in the space of a few months on Saturday 'that prevented some customers getting access to their money for a short time.'"

To put the recent Deutsche banking scare in perspective, it is estimated that Deutsche bank - together with JP Morgan - holds over $42 trillion in risky derivatives. These bankers are risking the equivalent of half the world's entire annual GDP ($80 trillion) on derivatives - which Warren Buffet refers to as, "Financial weapons of mass destruction." The only possible way individuals can protect their savings from the growing risks of being wiped out is by owning assets that are indestructible, such as physical gold. Read our 2016 Gold Report - World Edition.

The Most Dangerous Woman in the World -O'Rourke/HedgeEye
"Is it a James Bond femme fatal? No. A US presidential candidate? No. With her comments today during a video conference with minority bankers after the close, Fed Chair Janet Yellen proved she is the most dangerous woman in the world. At the conference, a participant posed this question –'If the Fed had legal authority to purchase equities how would that option impact monetary policy if at all?'....Yellen's repsonse .... 'I should emphasize that while there could be benefits to the ability to buy equities or corporate bonds there would also be costs as well that would have to be carefully considered in deciding if that is a good idea.'....Today’s comments sound like the words of a Central Banker who would like to have this authority....Yellen once again admits to fueling the bubble in financial markets including equities when she said 'When we push down yields let’s say on Treasuries there is often and typically spillover to corporate bonds and to equities as well that those rates fall or that equity prices rise stimulating investment.'"

The Job Market Isn't as Good as Janet Yellen Thinks -Fortune
"People aren’t entering the labor force at higher rates. Janet Yellen may want to check her math. One reason the Federal Reserve Chair has used to justify keeping interest rates barely above zero is the fact that the labor force participation rate - or the share of Americans over 16 who are in the labor force - has risen over the past year....But as Neil Dutta, Chief Economist with Renaissance Macro Research points out, if you look at the actual flow data showing the number of people each month entering and exiting the labor force, the rate at which workers are entering the labor force is actually lower today than at any point over the last two years....So what’s going on here? It appears that people are just staying in the labor force longer than usual, perhaps older folks who may have retired under other circumstances."

Policing the Banks Is an Inside Job -New York Times
"Without robust whistle-blower programs, bank regulators are like beat cops who don’t have a working 911 system. Given the financial constraints that regulators operate under and the vast market they oversee, they need help to detect, investigate and prosecute violations of our banking system. Regulators and law enforcement officials need real-time information about what is occurring inside these vast institutions....Regulators were criticized for not prosecuting enough bankers for the financial crisis, but the truth is that they didn’t have the tools at their disposal to do so. With whistle-blower programs like the one at the S.E.C., more banking violations would be detected and stopped sooner. Bank executives would be discouraged from engaging in wrongdoing and would be more likely to self-report significant violations because the probability of detection would have substantially increased. Perhaps then, the much needed culture of integrity would take root in the banking industry."

In today's world of corrupt banking/political culture, can we really trust regulators to plug all of the major ethical holes before the next major scandal? In the words of Craig Smith and Lowell Ponte; DON'T BANK ON IT!

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