Precious metals and the broader financial markets continue to react to the latest economic news, both statistical and political, with traders and investors guessing how each new bit of information on the economy may affect the Fed’s decision – when and by how much – to cut back, or taper, its $85 billion per month bond-buying program. It has become the accepted wisdom of the markets that rosy economic prospects increase the odds that the central bank will choose to begin tapering sooner rather than later . . . and expectations of reduced monetary stimulus have been one of the key bearish ...
GOLD — Deflation Hedge?
Gold's relative price strength in recent days -- in the face of plummeting U.S. consumer and producer prices, declining prices for oil and other (non-precious metals) commodities, and lower multi-year lows in world equity markets -- suggests that the yellow metal, technically speaking, may be building a solid base in the $770 to $800 range from which to embark on a sustainable advance into higher territory. Interestingly, gold has been outperforming silver and the PGMs, suggesting that investors and traders are differentiating among the metals, favoring gold as a monetary asset, safe haven, ...