Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio kept his faith in the two biggest exchange-traded funds backed by gold, even as an investor exodus sent prices of the metal tumbling. As of June 30, Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates maintained its 3.9 million shares in SPDR Gold Shares, the largest bullion-backed ETF, and 11.3 million in iShares Gold Trust, the second-largest, according to a regulator... read more

China is printing more foreign money as it seeks to expand its influence on the global economy. Money printing plants across the country are running at close to full capacity to meet an unusually high quota set by the government this year, multiple sources from the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation told the South China Morning Post. Chinese yuan notes made up "a small proportio... read more

Do “financial services” include banking? Not according to the Trump administration, whose new rule, issued Wednesday by the Treasury Department, argues there is a difference — and then cites the alleged difference as a means of extending lucrative tax breaks to the banking industry. The new rule represents more than semantic hairsplitting and hands a huge windfall to the banking industry.... read more

The gap between the rich and the poor in America has ballooned over the last several decades. In 2015, the top 1% of Americans made 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent — an increase from 2013, when they earned 25.3 times as much, according to a recent study released by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C. think tank. A family needed an annual inc... read more

Getty Warren Buffett’s indicator points to a top-heavy market. By Shawn Langlois Social-media editor The eight best stock-market indicators are all flashing warning lights — some yellow, others a shade or two closer to red — and the takeaway is that returns are looking pretty grim over the next decade, according to Mark Hulbert, a longtime MarketWatcher and founder of the... read more

Swelling government debt levels are shaping up to be the biggest economic challenge for President Donald Trump, a problem that could spill into the stock market. This week's Treasury Department announcement that it would have to increase the amount of bond auctions over the next three months was a low-key reminder that the government IOU is only getting bigger and will start influencing intere... read more

Investors in gold need not fear that bitcoin will replace it as the preeminent global store of value. That is the implication of a recent study by Eric Budish, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. The National Bureau of Economic Research published the paper—“The Economic Limits of Bitcoin and the Blockchain”—in June. Budish, in effect, argues that bitcoin is destine... read more

Even though the gold price increased in 2018, the top gold miners production declined while costs continue to escalate. Output at three of the top gold miners in the world fell in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year. With rising costs due to higher energy prices, on top of decreasing production, the top gold miners free cash flow declined precipitously in 2018. While... read more

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has refused to recognize the country’s hyperinflationary problem and has no plan to address it, a former finance minister, who served under the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, said in an interview. The South American nation’s annualized inflation topped 46,000 percent in June, and the IMF estimates it will surge to... read more

Despite tweets from President Donald Trump with such claims as “Tariffs are the greatest!” a growing number of companies are starting to feel the burden of the White House’s trade war. Dealing with the fallout from the president's tough trade tactics is dominating the conference calls company executives typically hold following the release of their earnings results. Tariffs have been men... read more