Commentary: A bumpy period for gold may be ahead NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The recent decline in the price of gold has led some market commentators to the conclusion that gold is no longer performing the function for which it was bought: as protection against macro-economic uncertainty. If it was, goes the argument, the price would be rising as people continue buying. This reaction is unsu... read more

Spain recently became the fourth member of the euro to request a bailout since the beginning of the region’s insolvency crisis. The country stands to receive as much as 100 billion euros ($125 billion) in order to prolong the life of its current banking system. It is debt trying to fix more debt. “The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, es... read more

Macroeconomic Problems 1) The global banking system is functionally insolvent and will fail without exogenous policy action* * There is one, interconnected global banking system linked by global financial markets and coordination among currency boards and central banks * In the current banking system model, debts due tomorrow are serviced by newly-incurred debts today (which crea... read more

Eurozone finance ministers panicked this weekend and agreed to a preemptive announcement of a $125 billion bailout for the Spanish banks, bringing the grand total for bank bailouts to $600 billion when Ireland, Portugal and Greece are added. Money printing on this scale has only ever been good for precious metal prices by historical precedent. The bank bailouts are an example of money creati... read more

Eric Sprott told Silver Doctors that he sees no reason for precious metals' to be priced so low with the current global economic weakness. "All of the data speaks to huge volumes of physical gold being consumed, way beyond the ability of the miners to provide that gold, which makes me think the central banks are continuing to lease or to supply the gold into the market somehow," said Sprott.... read more

By Frank Holmes CEO and Chief Investment Officer U.S. Global Investors Gold has been the world's friend for 5,000 yearsFacebook’s highly anticipated initial public offering today helped the company raise $16 billion, a record for tech IPOs. It’s refreshing to see investor excitement rally around the stock, as the U.S. needs innovative businesses to thrive and attract capital. However,... read more

With each passing day, the banking crisis in Europe escalates. European banks are having their credit ratings downgraded in waves, bond yields are soaring and billions of euros are being pulled out of banks all across the eurozone. The situation in Europe is rapidly going from bad to worse. It is almost like watching air being let out of a balloon. The key to any financial system is confide... read more

[Gary Leibowitz frequently raises hackles in the Rick’s Picks forum with his mantra that business is great, stocks are underpriced, and -- at least for the time being -- the U.S. economy is going great guns. Who knew that he is also expecting a global depression that will last for more than a decade? In the guest commentary below, he explains why – but also why, with two caveats, gold is l... read more

By Jordan Roy-Byrne, CMT Normally catching a bottom is not difficult. Bottoms tend to occur instantly while market tops form during a process. Yet, I’ve found that bottoms of long-term significance do not occur instantly. Like tops, they take time to develop. For example, think about late 2008 to early 2009. Commodities hit their price low in December but the bottoming process began i... read more

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,652.50, EUR 1,257.71, and GBP 1,020.44 per ounce. Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,661.25, EUR 1,253.02 and GBP 1,024.70 per ounce. Gold fell $4.40 or 0.26% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,661.70/oz. Gold rose to over $1,670/oz in early US trading prior to selling capped price gains and the price then fell back to the $1,660/oz level. G... read more