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Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

Monetary expert Jim Rickards returns this week to share the insights from his latest work The New Case For Gold, a detailed and highly-researched study of the fundamentals likely to drive the price of gold bullion in the years to come.

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fit currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subject to the geopolitical interests and aims of the largest players on the chessboard.

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

by Chris Martenson

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fit currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subject to the geopolitical interests and aims of the largest players on the chessboard.

Off The Cuff: Are We Entering A New Bull Market For Gold?

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and John Rubino discuss:

Has A New Bull Market In Gold Begun?
- Maybe, though a short term pull-back is likely
Has Oil Bottomed?
- Much harder to tell
Electric Cars
- How long may it really take for them to reach mainstream penetration?
How Bad Will The Next Market Crash Be?
- Very bad. This next one's for all the marbles.

Off The Cuff: Are We Entering A New Bull Market For Gold?

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and John Rubino discuss:

Has A New Bull Market In Gold Begun?
- Maybe, though a short term pull-back is likely
Has Oil Bottomed?
- Much harder to tell
Electric Cars
- How long may it really take for them to reach mainstream penetration?
How Bad Will The Next Market Crash Be?
- Very bad. This next one's for all the marbles.

Why This Next Crisis Will Be Worse Than 2008

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

There are too many signs of deflation to deny it's winning the day
Why China's weakening will accelerate the global economy's decent
Why this next crisis will be worse than 2008
What will it look like if things really get out of control (how bad could things get?)
The best investments to be making now, before the rout

If you have not yet read The Deflation Monster Has Arrived, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Too Many Warning Signs To Talk About

The deflationary monster is here and there are almost too many warning signs to list, let alone fully describe.

So I’ll just list and link them…you can follow up on the details if you want, it’s the ‘general vibe’ I want to get across.

Here are the signs of a weak economy that we are dealing with:

The pattern here is one of rapidly slowing economic activity and mounting pain starting “from the outside in” as emerging markets and the poor people within the core countries bear the brunt at first. Things always get rolling to the downside starting with the weakest, peripheral elements first.

Copper and oil are providing very clear signs that economic activity is not just slow, but in rapid retreat. Wal-Mart tells us that its shoppers are having trouble. The fresh all-time lows in a variety of currencies, plus massive weakness in others, is telling us that the virtuous portion of the liquidity cycle that the Fed, et al., unleashed on the world has entered the vicious part of the cycle.

The pain will spread to the center with increasing speed. The main question is if the authorities can stop that before the momentum becomes too great to halt? And what will happen if they cannot?

The answer to that is…

Why This Next Crisis Will Be Worse Than 2008

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

There are too many signs of deflation to deny it's winning the day
Why China's weakening will accelerate the global economy's decent
Why this next crisis will be worse than 2008
What will it look like if things really get out of control (how bad could things get?)
The best investments to be making now, before the rout

If you have not yet read The Deflation Monster Has Arrived, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

Too Many Warning Signs To Talk About

The deflationary monster is here and there are almost too many warning signs to list, let alone fully describe.

So I’ll just list and link them…you can follow up on the details if you want, it’s the ‘general vibe’ I want to get across.

Here are the signs of a weak economy that we are dealing with:

The pain will spread to the center with increasing speed. The main question is if the authorities can stop that before the momentum becomes too great to halt? And what will happen if they cannot?

The answer to that is…

Markets Are Correcting Hard

by Chris Martenson

The long-awaited global financial market correction has arrived. We are seeing collapses in all major markets and across all major categories.

As usual, the pain has started at the edges, in the weaker elements (emerging markets, junk bonds, weak companies, etc.) and is rapidly spreading towards the center.

Markets Are Correcting Hard

by Chris Martenson

The long-awaited global financial market correction has arrived. We are seeing collapses in all major markets and across all major categories.

As usual, the pain has started at the edges, in the weaker elements (emerging markets, junk bonds, weak companies, etc.) and is rapidly spreading towards the center.

Every year or two we update this report, which lays out the investment thesis for gold. Here is this year’s version.

Silver is touched upon only as necessary; as a separate report of equal scope is required for that precious metal.

Gold is one of the few investments that every investor should have in their portfolio. We are now at the dangerous end-game period of a very bold but very reckless & disappointing experiment with the world’s fiat (unbacked) currencies. If this experiment fails — and we observe it’s in the process of failing — gold will provide one of the best forms of wealth insurance. But like all insurance products, it only works if you buy it before you need to rely on it.

The Screaming Fundamentals For Owning Gold

by Chris Martenson

Every year or two we update this report, which lays out the investment thesis for gold. Here is this year’s version.

Silver is touched upon only as necessary; as a separate report of equal scope is required for that precious metal.

Murder And Mayhem In The Middle East

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

To understand what’s happening in Syria right now, you have to understand the tactics and motivations of the US and NATO — the three parties sharing interwoven aims and goals in the Middle East/North African (MENA) region.

The main point here is that as resources become tight, the ruling powers can be expected to act in increasingly desperate ways.

Murder And Mayhem In The Middle East

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

The main point here is that as resources become tight, the ruling powers can be expected to act in increasingly desperate ways.

Why The Coming Currency Crisis Will Push The USD Higher

PREVIEW

by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

Other currencies are inflating faster than the USD
The USD is still backed by a preponderance of the world's assets
The potential for a global currency crisis is rising
Why USD will be the (initial) safe haven when it arrives

If you have not yet read Part 1: How Much Higher Can The U.S. Dollar Go?, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we reviewed the technical evidence in support of a second move higher in a multi-year U.S. dollar rally. Here in Part 2, we ask: What conditions might drive such a move higher?

To answer this question, let’s start with another question: What’s scarce in the world of foreign exchange (FX)?

We ask this because capital, profits and gains flow to what’s scarce and in demand. This boils down to supply and demand: gains go to whatever is in high demand and scarce, and whatever is not in demand and over-supplied will lose value.

Supply and Demand

Like every other commodity, currencies respond to supply and demand: whatever currency is scarce and in demand will rise, while currencies that are in oversupply and not in demand will decline.

Though many presume the world is awash in dollars as a result of Federal Reserve quantitative easing, the reality is that expansion of USD via bank loans (credit) and Fed money-creation is modest compared to the expansion of other global currencies such as China’s renminbi (RMB), a.k.a. yuan.

Consider this chart of bank credit expansion in the U.S. and in China since the onset of the “Great Recovery” in early 2009: China’s bank credit has soared by 260%, a sum that is roughly 140% of China’s entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while U.S. bank credit rose by a modest 12% of U.S. GDP.

If we compare M2 money supply, we find…

Why The Coming Currency Crisis Will Push The USD Higher

PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

Other currencies are inflating faster than the USD
The USD is still backed by a preponderance of the world's assets
The potential for a global currency crisis is rising
Why USD will be the (initial) safe haven when it arrives

If you have not yet read Part 1: How Much Higher Can The U.S. Dollar Go?, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we reviewed the technical evidence in support of a second move higher in a multi-year U.S. dollar rally. Here in Part 2, we ask: What conditions might drive such a move higher?

To answer this question, let’s start with another question: What’s scarce in the world of foreign exchange (FX)?

Supply and Demand

Like every other commodity, currencies respond to supply and demand: whatever currency is scarce and in demand will rise, while currencies that are in oversupply and not in demand will decline.

If we compare M2 money supply, we find…

Deflation Warning: The Next Wave

by Chris Martenson

The signs of deflation are now flashing all over the globe. In our estimation, the possibility of an associated financial crisis is now dangerously high over the next few months.

Deflation Warning: The Next Wave

by Chris Martenson

The signs of deflation are now flashing all over the globe. In our estimation, the possibility of an associated financial crisis is now dangerously high over the next few months.

From Deflation To Hyperinflation

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

China is rolling over
Contagion will eventually take down the core economies, including the US
We are witnessing a full-blown collapse of the commodity complex
Deflation will win the day over the next year, but then get ready for helicopter money hyperinflation

If you have not yet read Part 1: Deflation Warning: The Next Wave available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Chinese GDP Lie

Right off the top, China is not growing anywhere near the 7% it claims. That’s just a politically useful lie that the Chinese tell to the world as much as they tell to themselves.

Fortunately, hardly anyone is falling for that particular fib any longer. Let’s start with the completely obvious manufacturing slump that has hit China:

Chinese Factory Gauge Slumps to Lowest Level Since March 2009

Sept 22, 2015

A private Chinese manufacturing gauge fell to the lowest in 6 1/2 years, underscoring challenges facing the economy as its old growth engines splutter.

A global sell off in riskier assets gained pace after the preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index from Caixin Media and Markit Economics dropped to 47.0 in September. That missed the median estimate of 47.5 in a Bloomberg survey and fell from the final reading of 47.3 in the previous month. Readings have remained below 50 since March, indicating contraction.

Premier Li Keqiang’s growth target of about 7 percent for this year is being challenged by a slowdown in manufacturing and exports even as services and consumption show resilience.

(Source)

The way a PMI reading works is anything over 50 indicates expansions and anything under 50 indicates contraction. Anybody care to explain to me how China can be sporting sub-50 readings every month since March — that’s five full months — and still be claiming to be aiming for a 7% annual growth target? You know, because China is…

From Deflation To Hyperinflation

PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

China is rolling over
Contagion will eventually take down the core economies, including the US
We are witnessing a full-blown collapse of the commodity complex
Deflation will win the day over the next year, but then get ready for helicopter money hyperinflation

If you have not yet read Part 1: Deflation Warning: The Next Wave available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Chinese GDP Lie

Right off the top, China is not growing anywhere near the 7% it claims. That’s just a politically useful lie that the Chinese tell to the world as much as they tell to themselves.

Fortunately, hardly anyone is falling for that particular fib any longer. Let’s start with the completely obvious manufacturing slump that has hit China:

Chinese Factory Gauge Slumps to Lowest Level Since March 2009

Sept 22, 2015

A private Chinese manufacturing gauge fell to the lowest in 6 1/2 years, underscoring challenges facing the economy as its old growth engines splutter.

A global sell off in riskier assets gained pace after the preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index from Caixin Media and Markit Economics dropped to 47.0 in September. That missed the median estimate of 47.5 in a Bloomberg survey and fell from the final reading of 47.3 in the previous month. Readings have remained below 50 since March, indicating contraction.

Premier Li Keqiang’s growth target of about 7 percent for this year is being challenged by a slowdown in manufacturing and exports even as services and consumption show resilience.

(Source)