Gold has hit the ground running in this young new year, a stark contrast to its brutal post-election selloff.  Rather remarkably, these strong recent gains accrued despite literally zero buying from one of gold’s most-important constituencies.  The American stock investors who almost single-hand...

One of life’s hardest-to-learn but most necessary lessons is that things usually take a lot longer to work out than you’d like them to. That’s where the sayings “Being too early is the same as being wrong” and “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent” come from....

The US stock markets spectacularly defied the odds in 2016, soaring after both the UK’s Brexit vote and US presidential election.  Both actual outcomes were universally feared as very bearish for stocks before the events.  These contrary stock rallies have left traders feeling euphoric, convince...

The gold miners’ stocks are rocketing higher again after suffering a rough few months.  Following sharp selloffs on gold-futures stops being run, the Trumphoria stock-market surge, and a more-hawkish-than-expected Fed, this battered sector had largely been left for dead.  But gold stocks’ stro...

Gold was again blasted to new post-election lows this week, further trashing contrarian sentiment.  The Fed proved more hawkish than expected in its rate-hike-trajectory forecast, unleashing heavy selling in gold futures.  This catapulted gold bearishness back up to extremes not seen in a year.  ...

Donald Trump’s epic underdog victory climaxing the US presidential race was radically unexpected by the great majority of the world.  Equally if not more surprising was the subsequent days’ market reaction.  Stock markets, gold, and gold-mining stocks did exactly the opposite of what was unive...

The gold miners’ stocks have certainly had a wild ride this year.  After initially skyrocketing out of deep secular lows into a mighty new bull market, they recently suffered a massive correction climaxing in an extreme plummet.  This coincided with gold stocks’ major seasonal low in October.�...

In June the UK shocked the world – or at least the world’s elites – by voting to pull out of the European Union. Economists predicted disaster, EU leaders threatened pain for British exporters and tourists, and the media settled in to watch the UK shrivel and die. Four months later, the approp...

Cyclical turning points tend to feature large numbers of people doing and saying what in retrospect turn out to be amazingly dumb things. Think GM highlighting its line of Hummers just before an oil price spike bankrupts the company. Or half the world betting that tech stocks with infinite P/E ratio...

Gold’s early-October plunge on futures speculators’ stop losses being run has naturally left this metal mired in battered technicals and bearish sentiment.  But that sharp selloff has already accomplished its rebalancing mission.  The excessive gold-futures trading positions that triggered tha...

In the latest gold and silver commitment of traders (COT) report (click here for an explanation of what this report involves), paper players made big strides in bringing the market back into balance — and setting the stage for an eventual rebound. Speculators – who tend to be emotional and there...

This year’s recovery in precious metals prices – and the sudden spike in gold/silver mining stocks – convinced a lot of people that a new bull market had begun. Last week’s brutal smack-down scared the hell out of many of the same folks. The latest commitment of traders (COT) report implies ...

The gold miners’ stocks are suffering from universal and overwhelming bearishness today, with nearly everyone expecting further selling.  That’s the natural reaction following this sector’s recent massive correction, which climaxed in one of its biggest daily plummets ever witnessed.  But wi...

I know it’s bad form to express sympathy for the people running the world’s central banks. But come on, they’re human beings in an impossible spot with no idea how to escape. The pain they feel is both intense and legitimate, and we should respond with at least a bit of empathy. Just kidding....

After rocketing higher mid-year, silver has spent most of the third quarter drifting sideways to lower.  This has naturally weighed on sentiment, with investors and speculators alike growing more bearish during recent months.  Yet silver remains way undervalued relative to its primary driver gold,...

While a record audience watched the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the sad truth is that the candidates differ very little on the issues that matter most. As president, both Clinton and Trump are likely to drive the country deeper into debt, expand government po...