Gold & Silver

The internet is awash with analysts who believe that gold is going to $7,250+forecasting crystal ball and as low as $725 and that silver is going down to $12 or higher than $120. Such pundits (Roubini, Sinclair, Rickards, Willie and Edelson to name a few) grab a lot of attention in the media but are their prognostications worth paying attention to or are they just a lot of hot air?

The “year that was” brought mostly disappointment to precious metals bulls. Silver prices fell for the third straight year but when we finally see a major rotation out of stocks and into precious metals, silver has the potential to lead on the way up just as it has led on the way down. Let me explain why.

In spite of the positive change of behavior we have seen in gold and silver this past week with strong closes and increased volume - both attributes of buyers in more control than sellers - the weekly trend remains down. While we now see some steps in the right direction - a higher swing high - the market needs to prove itself and once that happens there will be ample opportunities to participate in the paper market.

For relevant analysis of gold prices, the so-called "fundamentals" provide scant help. What is required is an understanding of the macroeconomic drivers at play. This article addresses 9 such factors.

As a gold bull I want to believe that gold is going to start moving higher from here, but unfortunately I think the odds remain stacked against this, and that we will see further downside before the bull market resumes. I will first go through the reasons why I think this is the case and I will then discuss how to play this.

We do not engage in any “predictions” of what the market will do as it is an exercise in ego and folly, and a waste of time. One need only go back to those who are making predictions for 2015 and read what was predicted for 2014 for proof. All we can say is that little can be added to what has already been said and that is that the trend remains down in gold, and until there is evidence of a strong reversal, this market continues to move along the Right Hand Side of a weak Trading Range.

We choose to focus on the charts because a reflection of developing market activity tells the most accurate and current story. It is not a promising one heading into 2015, however, but it is reality, and to expect anything else will lead to the same disappointments of 2013 and 2014. Forget the ego-driven predictions that have all proven wrong again and again, and deal with what is - and this article deals with what is by looking at the charts.

The movie Goldfinger, in which James Bond stops a plot to radiate the U.S. gold at Fort Knox, may actually turn out to be more truth than fiction. Why? Because there is speculation that some radioactive gold made its way into U.S. Treasury Gold Reserve. Let me explain.

You have no doubt read countless articles on the price of gold costing x dollars per "troy ounce” or perhaps just x dollars per "ounce" but the difference between the two measurements is significant. For that matter, what’s the difference between a 24 karat gold ring and an 18 karat gold ring? Let me explain. Words: 963

12 short months ago, the immediate future looked like a lock yet 2014 turned out to be a pretty good year for the powers that be and the economic theories that animate their behavior. 2014 should not have happened, but it did, and now the sound money community is left trying to figure out what it missed and, crucially, whether what happened refutes the sound-money/gold-bug case, or simply delays it. This article has the answer.