Archaeologists have discovered a trove of engraved jewelry and gold artifacts in two Bronze Age tombs that could shine a new light on life in ancient Greece. The discovery was announced on Tuesday in Greece. The team had spent more than 18 months excavating and documenting their findings -- including a multitude of cultural artifacts and beautiful jewelry -- that could add to our understanding... read more

The U.S. Army plans to fund construction of rare earths processing facilities, part of an urgent push by Washington to secure domestic supply of the minerals used to make military weapons and electronics, according to a government document seen by Reuters. The move would mark the first financial investment by the U.S. military into commercial-scale rare earths production since World War Two�... read more

Gold prices inched up for a third session early Wednesday as uncertainty about international trade policy helped to buttress the yellow ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last policy statement and interest-rate projections of 2019. The U.S. central bank’s update will be released at 2 p.m. ET about a half-hour after gold settles for the session. Although no one is expecting significant shift... read more

December 9, 2019 One would have to place their trust in unicorns, sasquatch, leprechauns, and the tooth fairy to believe the current economic construct is sustainable. You also need to be woefully ignorant of history. In fact, there has never been a nation that engaged in massive debt monetization and did not eventually face hyperinflation, depression, and mass chaos. There is simply no such t... read more

(Bloomberg) -- Explore what’s moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast. Major central banks are set to keep pumping money into financial markets and economies next year, although at a slower pace than recently. The combined monthly balance-sheet expansion of the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Ban... read more

Policy-makers ignore Minsky’s lessons at their peril The 2008 financial crisis furnished markets with a painful lesson in ‘Minsky moments’, when asset prices collapse following a prolonged period of reckless speculative activity. US economist Hyman Minsky never tired of warning that extended bull markets always end in epic collapses. The prolonged period of exuberance that financial mar... read more

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is working on a new fiscal-stimulus plan, turning to a time-tested tool of Japanese policymaking. It’s a shame the country needs a new round of pump-priming, given one of Abe’s great achievements had been to shake loose the nation’s reputation as an economic failure. Now, an ill-advised consumption-tax hike is looming over his legacy. In October, when the levy to... read more

There’s no exact science to prepare for retirement. Most advisors will suggest you save at least 10% of your pre-tax income, but if all else fails, “something is better than nothing” tends to be the preferred thinking. While there’s no set rule to build your golden nest egg, Bankrate’s latest study found that 52% of Americans say they are behind where they should be in saving for reti... read more

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Federal Reserve, in its most recent semiannual report about risks to financial stability, concluded that there are no serious immediate threats. So does this mean we should relax? I definitely don’t think so. In my view, not only are two significant risks on the horizon, but both seem likely to be realized in the years ahead. As for short-term risks, the Fed’s r... read more

China is heavily exposed to the U.S. dollar, but now, with the risk of “decoupling,” Beijing is silently diversifying its reserves to reduce its dependence on the world’s largest reserve currency, analysts say. Ongoing trade tensions with the U.S. has “increased the risk of a financial decoupling” between the two largest economies, ANZ Research said in a recent report. The White Hous... read more