This could be the year that gold prices hit a record. A massive move in gold, driven in part by declines in the U.S. dollar DXY, +0.33% and Treasury bonds TMUBMUSD10Y, +3.74% , excessive optimism in the stock market, and rising inflation, may help send prices above $1,900 an ounce this year, surpassing the all-time high from 2011. “Gold has been in a stealth bull-market phase for the past... read more

The world financial system is as dangerously stretched today as it was at the peak of the last bubble but this time the authorities are caught in a "policy trap" with few defences left, a veteran central banker has warned. Nine years of emergency money has had a string of perverse effects and lured emerging markets into debt dependency, without addressing the structural causes of the global... read more

* Dollar near 3-yr lows but equities shrug off shutdown * SPDR Gold holdings rose over 2 percent last week * Platinum hits highest since early September (Updates prices) By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Monday as the dollar wallowed near three-year lows following a U.S. government shutdown, although bullishness in the wider financial mar... read more

The bond market is in the process of making an important move, and stock traders are keeping a wary eye on it. On Thursday afternoon, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield crept close to 2.63 percent, a level it came near last year but has not really traded above since 2014. The yield was above 2.62 percent in afternoon trading Thursday. "The pain point comes at 2.63 percent, where everybody... read more

The Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire had gold coins called the aureus and solidus, but they also minted a popular silver coin called the denarius. One denarius was the daily wage for unskilled labor and Roman soldiers. Of course, in the late Empire, the aureus, solidus and denarius were all debased by mixing the gold and silver with base metals. The decline of the Roman Empire went... read more

 “Eric, the central bank fueled financial asset inflation has continued to bubble in to the new year, with many stock indices around the globe reaching new record levels day-after-day… Global Shock Near As Cracks Begin To Appear John Embry continues:  “The powers that be would have you believe that this reflects the growing strength in the global economy.  However, whatever grow... read more

Happy New Year to all of you! In last year’s roadmap, I forecast that 2017 would end with gold prices up and the dollar index down, both of which happened.  I underestimated the number of Fed hikes by one hike, but globally, average short term rates have remained around zero. That will be a core pattern throughout 2018. Central banks may tweak a few rates here and there, announce some... read more

- The dollar hit fresh four-month lows against other major currencies on Friday, as Thursday's downbeat U.S. economic reports continued to weigh and as investors eyed the release of key U.S. retail sales and inflation data due later in the day. The greenback came under pressure after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that initial jobless claims increased to 261,000 last week... read more

Dollar index hits lowest since September * Silver heading for first weekly drop in five weeks * Platinum hits 4-month high, set for 5th straight weekly gain - Gold prices rose for a third session on Friday to hit their highest since September, with a slump in the U.S. dollar helping drive bullion towards its fifth-straight weekly gain. Spot gold had edged up 0.5 percen... read more

  Gold never changes - only the world changes around it.   I can’t remember where I heard this quote, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.  Gold, as an asset class, has one of the richest histories of all the earthly assets ever to have value bestowed upon them by man.  As far back as we go in history, for which there is archaeological record, we find evidence of an infatuat... read more