Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More

The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More

Swiss Vote Against Gold Deals Blow to Investors Hurt by Slump … Gold futures for December delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,143.60 an ounce on the Comex … With no chance that the Swiss central bank will be the next big buyer of gold, it's one more reason for investors to be bearish. Voters today rejected a referendum requiring the Swiss National Bank hold at least 20 percent of its 5...Read More

American banking has its own Tea Party … Like the anti-establishment wing of the Republican Party, the American banking business has its own version of a Tea Party: the Independent Community Bankers of America. In just the past week, the trade group has vociferously opposed the nomination of a Wall Street banker to the Treasury and hailed a bill that would increase congressional oversight of...Read More

According to the [book], the company provides FBI and CIA with unfettered access to users' e-mails … Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his book planned to be out on December 1 reveals that Google in fact works for the US State Department, as reported by the Spanish Publico.es web edition. – TassDominant Social Theme: Google and Facebook represent the best of US capitalism and inn...Read More

Opinion: Federal Reserve relies on misleading indicators … When it decides whether and when to raise interest rates, the Federal Reserve will be watching two numbers very closely: the rates of unemployment and inflation. A sizable drop in the jobless rate from present levels would be a sign that higher rates are nigh; the same would be true if the rate of inflation should accelerate. –...Read More

Gold prices may surge if Swiss vote on reserves passes … Global gold prices may surge in the coming week if Swiss voters approve a controversial measure that would force their country's central bank to keep at least a fifth of its assets in gold. If the referendum Sunday passes and the Swiss government is forced to start beefing up its reserves, the price of gold could jump to more than...Read More

Britain's EU retreat means German hegemony warns Prodi … Britain is already a lame duck within the EU's internal governing structure and is losing influence "by the day" in Brussels, even before David Cameron holds a referendum on withdrawal. This self-isolation has upset the European balance of power in profound ways, leading ineluctably to German hegemony and a unipolar s...Read More

The Market Is Your Friend. Really: One Millennial's Advice to Peers … Dear fellow millennials, We need to talk about our approach to investing. A recent study by Moody's Analytics shows that U.S. adults under age 35 spend, in aggregate, 2% more than what they earn. This finding has been the subject of much hand-wringing about our generation, which is sometimes defined as anyone born...Read More

It just keeps rollin' … The populist party wins the Rochester and Strood by-election … THE UK Independence Party (UKIP) bandwagon kept on rolling through the pretty Kent streets of Rochester and Strood on November 20th. Its candidate, Mark Reckless (pictured, right), won the by-election he had occasioned by defecting from the Conservatives with 42% of the vote. This gives UKIP its...Read More

Why America Needs an Exit Tax … President Obama's executive action on immigration will end the threat of deportation for as many as 3.7 million parents of American citizens, while also protecting about 350,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. It's being sold as a stopgap measure until Congress passes a comprehensive immigration act. If Congress does finally address immigr...Read More

Supervising the Supervisors …The Fed is sorry. Sorry about the whole being too cozy with banks thing. As penance, the Fed has "asked its inspector general to look into whether top supervisors were getting the information they needed to make their decisions," and if they "were hearing all the opinions of Fed bank examiners." Remember Dan Davies's take on bank supervisi...Read More

Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants who have been in the US for five years and have children staying legally in the US. About four million people are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass...Read More

Tales in monetary voodoo, try this for a spin … We play with the money system at our peril. On Thursday, British MPs are to debate money creation, including so-called "helicopter money". This is supposedly the first time parliament has debated such matters since 1844. Back then, it didn't work out so well. Much debated but little understood, money creation is one of those fiend...Read More

Swiss National Bank's Zurbruegg Repeats Opposition to Gold Vote … Vote Would Force SNB to Maintain a Minimum of 20% of The Assets … A member of the Swiss National Bank governing board reiterated opposition to an upcoming vote that would require it to hold a fifth of its assets in gold, saying it would impede the central bank's ability to conduct monetary policy. In text of a sp...Read More

Despite some recent reversals, there is evidence that globalisation is on the march again … For most of the 1990s and 2000s, it seemed almost inevitable that the world would become ever more integrated and borders ever less bothersome. The crash of 2008, which spread havoc around the world faster than any previous financial crisis, called that assumption into question. Headlines about the wo...Read More

Wal-Mart Promises Organic Food for Everyone … Buoyed by the improving economy and Americans' belief that they can eat themselves healthy, sales of organic food are booming again. The growth in sales of organic products in the U.S., food and nonfood, had slowed to 4.6 percent in 2009 but has since rebounded. Sales rose 11.5 percent in 2013, to $35 billion, according to the Organic Trade A...Read More

Japan's Warning to the World … Japan's renewed descent into recession – its sixth in the past two decades – comes with an urgent if obvious warning to the U.S., Europe and the rest of the developed world: Don't let this happen to you. Japan's famously stagnant economy may not be all that unique. True, Japan's predicament is exceptionally difficult. Extraordina...Read More

With focus elsewhere, GOP Congress shows little interest in blocking pot legalization in D.C. … Looming over the District's historic decision this month to legalize marijuana has been another mandate that voters delivered on Election Day: A Republican majority on Capitol Hill with the power to interfere with the measure when it goes to Congress for review. But congressional Republicans a...Read More

Time for a 'melt-up': the coming global boom … Get ready for a "melt-up." Back in mid-October, as stock markets around the world plunged faster than at any time since 2011, many investors and economists feared a meltdown. But with the U.S. economy steadily expanding, monetary and fiscal policies becoming more stimulative in other parts of the world and the autumn season for...Read More

Putin Is Hoarding Gold To Prepare For Economic War … Russia's central bank added to its reserves of bullion in the third quarter, according to the latest report from the World Gold Council. Russia has taken advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of its central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West. The latest resea...Read More

G-20 Plans $2 Trillion Growth Boost to Uneven Global Economy … Group of 20 leaders agreed to take measures that would boost their economies by a collective $2 trillion by 2018 as they battle patchy growth and the threat of a European recession. Citing risks from financial markets and geopolitical tensions, the leaders said the global economy is being held back by lackluster demand, according...Read More