Money & Markets

It appears that market softness due to a slowing Chinese economy may already have affected precious and base metals quotes.

Fundamental information on gold and silver turned more to the bullish side this past month, and we can point to three particular items as the basis for that conclusion.

According to some experts, after the peak is reached, the production rate will slowly decline until it reaches near zero while the price shoots upward. At that point, we will have pretty much mined all the economic ore deposits that are present on the planet.

The combination of these two concerns—the drift toward socialism and the willingness to violate law—appear to me to be capable of raising the level of civil disorder to a point where such disorders could be positive influences on the price of gold and silver.

While many prospecting or mining operations don’t have sufficient profits to benefit from accelerated write-offs or even the full 100% “bonus” depreciation write-off, other options can be equally rewarding.

...one of our most important technical indicators, the “Dow/Gold Ratio,” may be giving off an important signal at this time, which we discuss briefly...

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.

…2017 was just the first year with a small increase after a huge drop off in exploration activity. It may take many years of future increases to get back to where the activity was in 2012, as projected increases in exploration spending are seen to be slow and steady.

Other economic commentators have joined in regarding the sounding of alarms. Retired Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul feels financial markets could drop a stunning 50%...

…we cannot ignore the fact that several of the most widely-followed and respected economic voices are now raising questions about the potential near-term development of a full-blown market panic.

One of the largest conundrums we would point out is the matter of rising interest rates starting to take place in several nations.