The recent plunge in gold prices below $1500 an ounce has suddenly awoken, well, just about everyone. The “gold bugs” are yelling that it is a conspiracy theory by the Fed while the stock market bulls say it is a sign that the Fed has achieved its goal of creating economic growth. Unfortunately, both arguments, while great for headlines, are wrong...The simple truth is that...

Much has been written about the collapse in the prices of precious metals over the past week. Below are introductions to 9 articles that present different points of view as to what has happened, probably is still continuing and may continue to unfold in the weeks to come.

By its obvious and concerted attack on gold and silver, the U.S. government could not give any clearer warning that trouble is approaching. The values of the dollar and of financial assets denominated in dollars are in doubt. For Americans, financial and economic Armageddon might be close at hand....

Don't be fooled [by] the majority of investors getting caught up in this manipulated panic selling [of] their gold and silver mining shares for pennies on the dollar to chase the overbought equities. [You] could be capitulating at exactly the wrong time as this panic cannot continue for much longer.

Everyone personally holding physical gold and silver, as we have been recommending, has no margin call to meet and no reason to sell. This is a temporary situation, and it will pass. Now is not the time to panic, as that is the intent of the central planners/bankers in forcing gold and silver through strong support levels. Stay the course. To the extent you can, continue buying the physical metal.

Almost everywhere you look, there are signs that a financial avalanche has begun [and,] in many ways...[it] all is extremely reminiscent of 2008...so does that mean that a horrible stock market crash is coming as well? [Let's review] the 11 economic crashes that are happening RIGHT NOW [and query what might] happen for the rest of the year.

David Mcalvany (www.mcalvany.com) covers the reasons behind the major pullback in metals on April 12, and where they may go from here, in this most enlightening and re-assuring 8:14 minute video.

Many signs point to a plunge for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and major indexes rather than a continued climb. If history is ever a good indicator of forthcoming events, it is absolutely imperative that we pay attentions to these signs, and prepare for the worst. Here are a few reasons why the Major U.S stock indexes could see declines in the coming months.

We have been following analyst predictions for gold & silver mining stocks and precious metals streaming companies on Yahoo.com for some time now. In this article we document their current consensus price targets and take note of recent target changes where applicable.

Three indexes of the Federal Reserve...calculate and report statistical measures of financial stress in the U.S. economy on a regular basis...[and] all three have returned to their pre-recession levels last seen in May 2007. [What does that mean for stock market valuations? Let's take a look.]