Gold, Silver & Other Commodities

Central banks continue to gobble up gold driven by an effort to minimize exposure to the U.S. dollar, especially by countries like Russia and China.

A few years back I published an article that itemized what 148 supposed experts of the day were predicting for the future price of gold and as it turns out none of them – not one – knew what they were talking about. By trying to do so they were all playing a fool’s game, a game reserved for the brave but foolhardy.

The chart below measures the performance of spot gold versus the S&P 500 Index versus during 11 crisis periods since 1985. Gold returned an average +6.4% compared to -21.7% for the S&P 500 for these 11 crisis periods.

Many articles make reference to the price of gold costing x dollars per “troy" ounce (i.e. ozt). Why is the term "troy" used? And what do the terms "karat" and "carat" mean?

We're not going back to a gold standard - anywhere - any time soon! Here are three simple reasons why not.

Inflationary periods are highly unjust. They undermine the ethics of hard work and thrift. They destroy solidarity, lead to widespread hardship and often to social unrest. Gold, in contrast, has been the best hedge as investors seek to protect themselves against the large purchasing power losses of inflated currencies.

I remain very bullish on this sector, and the recent rally is likely just the beginning of a multi-year move higher in the gold mining space.

Silver has been in a descending triangle over the past 8 years but looks to be nearing completion. This suggests a large move in Silver is near.

Gold is trading at its highest level in more than 5 years and is likely on the verge of a major break out that should elevate prices of the yellow metal much higher. Here's why.

These charts tell me that, even though gold is still down from its 2011 peak, investors continue to value it as an attractive store of value.