During the past month, two of our favorite sources of fundamental information for the precious metals markets have issued their summary reports looking ahead to the coming year.

For “hard money” advocates, this has been a remarkable month. Gold has risen by more than $100, silver has begun to surge, and the headlines are full of news items quite capable of raising public concerns to crisis levels.

After six years of primarily sideways action, gold broke decisively to the upside by breaking above strong resistance between $1,350 and $1,400 by soaring to near $1,450 before correcting moderately.