After Brexit, there has been a growing number of voices within the European Union and among various nationalistic groups arguing that English should be replaced as the official language since now only Ireland and Malta retain English.The loudest quarter calling for a change has come from the French who, not surprisingly, want their own tongue to become the lingua franca of the EU.  Eric Zemmo...Read More

Dear reader,Almost exactly a year ago, oil prices went negative $40.Today, with crude trading at $60, you're hearing lots of opinions as to what's next."Electric car revolution" ... "reopening economy" ... "end of commute" ... "start of travel season" ... bullish ... bearish ... who's right? ... who's wrong?We get the challenge -- and our friends at Elliott Wave International are ready to offer yo...Read More

Years of neglecting its critical metal supplies is catching up with the United States, as demand for the raw materials needed to build a new green economy that rejects fossil fuels gears up.US President Joe Biden just announced a $2.3 trillion infrastructure spending package aimed partially at shifting the US transportation system from gas and diesel-based to battery-powered, and more support for...Read More

Brazilian iron ore pellet producer Samarco, a 50:50 joint venture between Vale and BHP, on Friday April 9 filed a petition for bankruptcy protection under a Brazilian court as a "last resort" to restructure its liabilities, both parent companies said.Samarco filed the petition in a commercial court in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state. If the petition is accepted by the presiding judge, act...Read More

Longtime gold bashers are gloating over the precious metal’srecent price slump. Gold prices havedeclined more than 10% in the first quarter of 2021.But the perma-bears shouldn’t feel vindicated. After all, anyonewho heeded their advice missed out on gold’s record run in 2020 – and on manyyears of outperformance since 2001.While gold bugs are often accused of havin...Read More

Aluminium billet premiums across the globe were at multi-year or all-time highs on Friday April 9 due to supply tightness, logistics issues and firm demand.EuropeBillet premiums in Europe continue to rise, with sellers increasing their offers and supply exceptionally tight. Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region) at $750-800 per tonne on Fr...Read More

Biden just announced an ambitious and expensive infrastructure plan. Will it rebuild gold?Yesterday (Mar. 31), President Joe Biden announced the big infrastructure plan , the second major legislative initiative after the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan passed in early March. The proposal includes about $2.2 trillion in new spending over eight years, boosting government expenditures even furt...Read More

The South American flat-rolled steel import market strengthened during the week ended Friday April 9, with clients accepting what little material was available from China and other origins at higher prices."Customers on the South American Pacific coast seem to be increasingly anxious that they may not be able to receive firm offers for June shipment from Chinese mills [and] already started to acce...Read More

Peter Krauth, editor of Silver Stock Investor, discusses the macroeconomic environment for silver and why he is embracing the metal's volatility. Being a silver investor over the last few weeks has become more psychologically challenging.That's true even for us die-hard silver enthusiasts.After all silver had a standout 2020, having gained about 47% in its best year since 2010. That easily outpace...Read More

Confirmed, unconfirmed, verified, andinvalidated: breakouts and breakdowns are now ubiquitous. And the implicationsare bearish for gold.Let’s start today’s analysis with adiscussion of the key market that everyone is interested in – gold.Gold’sFailed Breakout – A Sell Sign In short, gold just invalidated its smallbreakout above the declining blue resistance line. The...Read More

Brazil's domestic steel rebar price rose again in April following an average 15% increase announced by mills, market participants said.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, monthly, delivered Brazil at 5,630-5,700 Reais ($1,006-1,019) per tonne on Friday April 9, up by 17.53% from 4,740-4,900 Reais per tonne a month earlier.New offers were mostly reported withi...Read More

The Gold Miner correction was well earned, but it was not a bubbleEven today there is some pablum out there talking about how if inflation is good for gold it is especially good for gold miners. I will simply repeat once again that if gold usually does not benefit fundamentally by cyclical inflation (i.e. inflation promoted for and currently working toward economic goals) the gold miners never do,...Read More

The US dollar is the world’s reserve currency. That isn’t likely to change anytime soon.All currencies are substitutes for real money, i.e. gold.  And because all governments inflate and destroy their own currencies, any potential alternatives to the US dollar are as bad or worse.That doesn’t stop the dollar bashing, of course. In a general long-term sense, the condemnation...Read More

The federal government isspending and redistributing newly created cash so rapidly, it’s becomingdifficult to keep track of which trillions are going where.This week, President JoeBiden will pitch a $3 trillion “green” infrastructure package. That’s on top ofthe $1.9 trillion economic “relief” bill he recently signed into law.Next month, Biden isexpected to roll...Read More

Positions in the USDX are shiftingfrom shorts to longs, so gold investors should look closely. Why? Because it’san inverse relationship.We’ve discussed the negative correlationbetween the dollar and the precious metals many times before, but it can neverbe discussed enough, particularly as the situation develops and the outlook forthe USD Index becomes more positive.Once the USD Index...Read More

Precious Metals have continued to slide sideways as the US stock markets have rallied into the FOMC meeting last week.  Not by coincidence, metals have continued to base/bottom near recent lows as concerns about the global debt/credit markets, central banks, and precious metal supplies continue to linger.  The US Fed indicated it will do whatever is necessary to support the recovering ec...Read More

Another day, another reversal – and a positive one forstocks. Universal sectoral weakness gave way to a unison rebound amidconstructive outside markets. After weeks of on and off fits over rising Treasuryyields, S&P 500 ran into headwinds on their retreat, and recaptured itsluster yesterday as long-dated Treasuries (TLT ETF) rolled over to thedownside. I guess nothing boosts confidence a...Read More

Many analysts expect silver to outperform gold this year. It’s possible, but investors shouldn’t count on improving economic conditions and industrial demand.Silver has recently become a hot investment theme. For months, if not years, some analysts claimed that silver is undervalued relative to gold. Then, at the beginning of 2021, Reddit revolutionaries tried to trigger a short squeez...Read More

While everyone was paying attention to the FOMC, Gold & Silver, and the Treasury Yields, it appears the recent commodity rally trend took a big hit on Thursday, March 18, 2021.  Our guess is that the FOMC statement did nothing to support the continued commodity price rally as the US Fed continued with near-zero interest rates and economic support through 2023.  The rally in commoditi...Read More

Peter Krauth, editor of Gold Resource Investor, looks at the Fed's actions and what they augur for gold. This week Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke at the "Innovation Summit" hosted by the Bank for International Settlements.During his talk, he dissed Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies saying they were "…highly volatile and therefore not really useful stores of value, and they're not backed b...Read More