Every time someone tells me they are buying gold because of inflation fears, I cringe. First, I don't see a risk to higher inflation and, second, even if we have high inflation, don't count on gold as a hedge. Here's why:

Is there a one-to-one positive correlation between the price of gold and the U.S. public debt? Yes and no. Let me explain.

Virtually everyone has become convinced that the dollar is going to 110, 120 or even 160. Folks when everyone is thinking the same thing … then no one is thinking. Here’s the thing. Almost no one is prepared for the dollar to drop. Everyone is convinced the dollar is going higher, and everyone is positioned long. Everyone is on the same side of the boat. When that happens invariably the boat tips over so here’s what I think is going to happen.

Dividend Paying Stocks are Not a Safe Substitute for Bonds! Ever! DIVIDEND PAYING STOCKS ARE NOT A SAFE SUBSTITUTE FOR BONDS! EVER! EVER! Did I write that big enough? Maybe not. Let’s try again: DIVIDEND PAYING STOCKS ARE NOT A SAFE SUBSTITUTE FOR BONDS! EVER! EVER! Here's why.

An in-depth report on global innovation has been co-released by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization covering a total of 141 countries that make up 98.6% of global GDP. The report uses innovation inputs and outputs to create an overall Global Innovation Index with a score for each country. Rather than comparing all countries together, we decided to look at Canada and the United States to see which of the 49th parallel neighbours is the most innovative country. Here it is!

The Economist infographic below shows how much people in households around the world allocate to different expenses such as food, housing, recreation, transportation, and education.

The next time you spend your cash, take a moment to reflect on the history of the bill or coin in your hand as depicted in today’s infographic illustrating 33 fascinating facts about U.S. currency (notes and coins).

While the correlation between bonds and stocks tends to increase during economic turmoil, gold usually becomes negatively correlated with other asset classes in such times. This means that the diversification benefits of gold are maintained and may even increase in during severe crises. Let me explain further and provide some caveats.

Instead of obsessing over the timing of eventual interest rate hikes to contain inflation, it may be more useful observing the slope of the yield curve to see where the economy and the stock market are headed.

Here are ten basic gold-market realities that are either unknown or ignored by many gold ‘experts’.