It should come as no surprise that gold and silver acted similarly, rising sharply during the early hours of the crisis and retreating as tensions abated.

Some financial commentators have speculated that bitcoin and other virtual currencies have captured a portion of funds that would have been invested in gold. I find it a bit ironic that people who invest in precious metals would even consider another fiat currency.

…At present we may be entering a period of relative stability on many economic fronts and, therefore, our focus is now trending more toward social upheaval and the resultant increase in tensions as the prime movers for the precious metals.

There is one last indicator that I believe may be the most important of all. That is the “Index of Leading Economic Indicators” (LEI), which is a compendium of those economic indicators that point toward future growth, and LEI has just reached historic highs, far exceeding previous peaks in 1999 and 2006.