Latest Gold & Silver Price News
US Mint Is Not Raising Prices on Most Silver Eagles (But Market Forces May)
Money Metals Exchange has seen a large surge in demand for silver American Eagle coins in recent days. The word on the street was that a hefty $13 price increase was coming, and many wanted to get their coins before prices rose. The news of a price increase isn’t wrong. It’s just that it won’t directly impact anyone except those people buying high-priced coins in specialty packaging directly from the U.S. Mint. The Mint is not currently raising prices on the bullion strike version sold to wholesalers. The uncirculated silver Eagles that bullion investors buy by the millions are not included among the coins subject to the current round of […]
The Fed’s Quest for Higher Inflation: What Could Go Wrong?
The Federal Reserve is warning investors in no uncertain terms that higher rates of inflation are coming. Yet markets, for the most part, have disregarded that warning. Bond yields, for example, remain well below 2% across the entire duration range. Stock market valuations continue to reflect a sanguine outlook for inflation. And crude oil futures suggest limited upside pressure on prices. It seems the Fed has a credibility problem. In August, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the central bank would begin targeting an inflation “average” of 2%. By the Fed’s measures, inflation has been running below 2% in recent years. So getting to a 2% average in the years […]
Coin Scammers Strike Again, Get Slammed with Unprecedented Government Lawsuit
Bad actors within certain segments of the retail precious metals industry continue to prey on people who are looking to acquire gold and silver bullion. Regulators in 30 different states recently joined together with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and filed an unprecedented federal lawsuit and enforcement action against a company accused of operating a large-scale precious metals fraud scheme. The company, Barrick Capital (a.k.a. Chase Metals, Metals.com), is accused of targeting mainly elderly customers through traditional and social media. Once they were identified as prospects for buying gold or silver, the victims were apparently subjected to aggressive sales tactics from boiler-room phone banks, pressured to liquidate stocks in their […]
Trump’s Covid Infection, Bailout Negotiations Raise Uncertainties
Precious metals markets are advancing this week as a massive new stimulus bill makes its way through Congress. On Thursday evening the House of Representatives passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill on a party line vote. It’s a big deal whenever Congress commits to spending that kind of cash, especially when it’s money that has to be borrowed into existence. These days, though, it’s not that unusual for Washington to dole out trillions of dollars at a time. The bill in its current form will almost surely die in the Republican-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, negotiations on a compromise bill are expected to continue. Both the White House and Democrat leaders […]
Debate Debacle: What Biden and Trump SHOULD Have Been Asked
Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden won’t go down as a great moment in the annals of American democracy. That much both camps, as well as independent observers of the chaotic spectacle, can agree upon. The post-debate debate over whose interruptions or insults were most egregious totally overlooked the glaring failure of moderator Chris Wallace to ask any substantive questions about the country’s unprecedented financial predicament. Record budget deficits? Unsustainable debt growth? Open-ended Federal Reserve currency creation? None of these topics that bear down starkly on America’s financial future were even brought up! Whoever occupies the Oval Office for the next four years will have to […]
DOJ Gives Epstein-like Slap on the Wrist to JPMorgan Chase
Gold and silver investors may have little in common with Jeffrey Epstein’s teenage victims or violent “Black Lives Matter” rioters, but there is one issue upon which they might all agree. Our system of justice often fails. Department of Justice officials refuse to apply the rule of law fairly. Their dereliction of duty is crushing confidence and generating outrage. Last week, the DOJ ended the criminal prosecution of JPMorgan Chase bank, settling for a $1 billion fine. No high-level executives will be sent to prison, and the bank’s trading privileges will not be limited in any way. Bank executives will simply write a check equivalent to less than 3% of 2019 net […]
Why Did Precious Metals Get Clobbered This Week?
Precious metals markets got clobbered early this week as gold and silver broke down from their high-level consolidations. Strength in the U.S. Dollar Index seemed to be the catalyst that got the selling going. Once key technical levels got breached, the selling intensified. Gold prices fell below the $1,900 level on Wednesday. Meanwhile, silver plummeted below $24 an ounce and traded as low as $22 on Thursday before recouping some of those losses by the end of the trading day. Some of the volatility seen in metals and equity markets in recent days is attributable to the failure of Congress and the White House to agree on a new stimulus […]
Gold and Silver Are Still Locked and Loaded… Don’t be Out of Ammo
In military terms, the phrase “locked and loaded” refers to “locking” a magazine or cartridge into a firearm and loading a round into the gun’s chamber. A variant is to “lock the safety” and then load a magazine into the weapon. The analogy in his essay is that from a technical (chart) standpoint, the price of gold and silver are building energy to the point that they are getting closer and closer to breaking out of a consolidation pattern and beginning the next impulse in the bullish sequence of higher highs and higher lows. The pullback this week does not negate the outlook for higher prices in the coming weeks […]
Beware of These Faulty “Inflation Protected” Investments
The Federal Reserve last week reiterated its commitment to an unprecedented inflation-raising campaign. Specifically, the Fed aims to push the inflation rate above 2% for an extended period. The risk for investors is that central bankers succeed in their mission to depreciate the currency more rapidly – perhaps even more rapidly than intended or acknowledged in the official (understated) inflation data. Inflation is a corrosive force that eats away at the real value of savings and investments. It is perhaps the biggest threat looming on the horizon for millions of retirees who have been steered into assets marketed as “conservative” – such as dollar-denominated money market accounts, bonds, and fixed […]
Central Banking Cartel Promises ZIRP Until at Least 2023
Gold and silver investors who were hoping Wednesday’s FOMC meeting would be a catalyst for a major breakout move were largely disappointed. The metals complex didn’t see an immediate boost from the Federal Reserve’s dovish policy meeting. Still, the central bank’s commitment to an accommodative monetary policy is set to play out not just over the course of a week, but of years to come. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it would continue to hold its benchmark interest rate near zero. That came as no surprise. However, the extent of the Fed’s commitment to avoid any rate hikes in the future raised the eyebrows of many veteran observers of […]
Chaos 2020: Will Markets Melt Down If No One Concedes the Election?
As pundits weigh in daily on who has the edge in this year’s political horserace, investors want to know how the election will affect their pocketbook. It could affect it in a big way. A major disruptive threat looms in the 2020 election like no other in recent history. It’s not that one candidate or the other would be uniquely bad for markets. Wall Street could be okay with either a Trump or a Biden victory, albeit probably for different reasons. Both candidates are by now totally familiar. And despite their significant policy differences, either Trump or Biden would be tolerable from the standpoint of America’s biggest corporations – many […]
Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Warns of 10% Inflation
Over the past month, gold has traded in a range with support around $1,900. Bulls have made a couple unsuccessful attempts to retake and hold above the $2,000 level following the sharp plunge below it on August 11th. But we are likely to see a more decisive move in the gold market one way or the other in the days ahead. The near-term outlook for precious metals markets may be determined by where the U.S. Dollar Index heads next. It has been basing out since August after trending lower earlier in the summer. The Federal Reserve Note appreciated modestly against foreign currencies ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting […]
China Unloads Dollars as Gold Tests Support
Since posting new record highs in early August, the gold market has consolidated above $1,900/oz support. A close below the $1,900 level would carry bearish implications for the near term. Alternatively, a move back above $2,000/oz would likely be followed through to the upside with a rally to fresh highs. Silver, in turn, could be expected to run to new multi-year highs above $30/oz. These breakouts will happen eventually. The relentless mega trend of dollar depreciation (i.e., inflation) ensures hard money will gain value versus fiat Federal Reserve notes. The question is whether a deeper correction occurs first… or the major trend accelerates. Inflation rates may be set to accelerate […]
Gold & Silver Shine as Fed Targets Bondholders for Capital Losses
As the tech-heavy stock market indexes sold off on Thursday, many investors were forced to re-think their positions. For the past few months, mega cap technology companies like Apple, Amazon, and Tesla have led the market higher. Yesterday they led the market lower. Now the question is: Where can investors look for leadership going forward? As would be expected during big down days for equities, gold held up relatively better. For the week, though, gold, silver, and platinum prices are all down. Palladium has certainly shown leadership within the metals space in recent years. But despite this week’s gains, palladium prices still sit below their highs from February. And despite […]
