The swamp is leaking into the stock market this week.President Trump announced that the US would begin to implement steel and aluminum tariffs as soon as early as next week. The surprise announcement came as a shock to the markets with the major averages trickling lower on the news. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed 420 points, or 1.7%.The fake news is now hyping up...Read More

Precious metals and the SPDR Gold Trust security came under pressure this week alongside U.S. equities, failing as a hedge against such risk.The catalyst was fear of the Fed and a steeper monetary policy tightening trajectory, which work against both risk assets and gold today.The outlook for the GLD security will depend on the development of multiple factors, but I have a base expectation and a l...Read More

Latin AmericaGuatemala Mines a Mother Lode of TroubleA bitter fight over a silver mine points to the pitfalls of Latin America's new resource nationalism.by Mac Margolis@macmargolisMore stories by Mac MargolisRead More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterNew York spot gold gained $5.60 to $1,322.60 on Friday. The TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.30 points to 826.02 while the TSX Gold Index rose 0.31 point to 181.41. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), down 18 cents yesterday, led Canadian gold miners...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Mike CaswellU.S. authorities have arrested two Florida men accused of arranging a pump-and-dump with HD View 360 Inc., a purported surveillance systems provider. The government claims that the men were plotting a $2-million scheme, and that some of the related or...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business ReporterThe TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.30 points to 826.02 Friday. Damian Kettlewell's Blissco Cannabis Corp. (BLIS) has completed its qualifying transaction. The stock, which is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, began trading today...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Stockwatch Business Reporter West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery lost 65 cents to $60.99 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May lost $1.95 to $63.83 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $28 to WTI ($32.9...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Mike CaswellU.S. authorities have arrested two Florida men accused of arranging a pump-and-dump with HD View 360 Inc., a purported surveillance systems provider. The government claims that the men were plotting a $2-million scheme, and that some of the related or...Read More

This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.Here is a sample of this item:by Mike CaswellU.S. authorities have arrested two Florida men accused of arranging a pump-and-dump with HD View 360 Inc., a purported surveillance systems provider. The government claims that the men were plotting a $2-million scheme, and that some of the related or...Read More

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts sent me an article by Catherine Austin Fitts and asked if I had read it. The article is titled, "The State of America's Pension Funds." The article is worth reading, though I believe Ms. Fitts underestimates significantly the degree to which political and Wall Street criminality - along with money management incompetence - has infected and destroyed the U.S. pension system...Read More

Lithium Chile (LITH.V) is now in the final stages of raising C$4M in a private placement priced at C$1 per unit which each unit consisting of one share and half a share purchase warrant. Each full warrant authorizes the warrant owner to acquire an additional share of Lithium Chile at C$1.50 within 24 months after the placement closes.Lithium Chile is also moving ahead with the creation of Kairos M...Read More

Do you think you are smart enough to know what things to ban? Can you foresee all the unintended consequences of using government might to moralize society?Some people think they are that smart. Or for some reason, they think restricting people’s freedom will have no larger effect than in the targeted area.One recent New York Times article wants a porn ban to be an option on the table. The a...Read More

Demanding More DebtConsumer debt, corporate debt, and government debt are all going up. But that's not all. Margin debt - debt that investors borrow against their portfolio to buy more stocks - has hit a record of $642.8 billion. What in the world are people thinking? A blow-off in margin debt mirroring the blow-off in stock prices. Since February of 2016 alone it has soared by ~$170 billi...Read More

Serenely Grows the DebtbergWe mentioned in a recent post that we would soon return to the topic of credit spreads and exotic structured products. One reason for doing so are the many surprises investors faced in the 2008 crisis. Readers may e.g. remember auction rate securities. These bonds were often listed as "cash equivalents" on the balance sheets of assorted companies investing in them, but i...Read More

Jim Willie is a statistical analyst in marketing research and retail forecasting. He holds a PhD in Statistics, and his career has stretched over 25 years. He aspires to thrive in the financial editor world, unencumbered by the limitations of economic credentials. Jim operates a free website called Golden Jackass.Read More

Whilethere is disagreement over its causes – man-made versus natural – the realityof climate change is an incontrovertible fact. The planet is warming, affectingour weather, our oceans, our growing seasons, even our food, as crops fail,causing shortages and price hikes. Storms are becoming more frequent, and moreintense, and droughts are lasting longer.Forestfires are an annual occurre...Read More

Mike Gleason: It is my privilege now to welcome back Michael Pento, president and founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies, and author of the book The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market.Michael is a well-known money manager and a fantastic market commentator, and over the past few years has been a wonderful guest and one of our favorite interviews here on t...Read More

Normally the action in the gold and silver futures markets tends to be pretty similar, since the same general forces affect both precious metals. When inflationContinue...Read More

Our proprietary cycle indicator is down.To public readers of our updates, our cycle indicator is one of the most effective timing tool for traders and investors. It is not perfect, because periodically the market can be more volatile and can result in short-term whipsaws. But overall, the cycle indicator provides us with a clear direction how we should be speculating.InvestorsDuring a major buy si...Read More

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy discuss JP Morgan stacking silver in response to Max Keiser and also about the whistleblower claiming the VIX index is manipulated. In the second half, Max interviews Mitch Feierstein of PlanetPonzi.com about manipulation of the volatility index and the collapse of some of its associated derivative products. Max Keiser is an American broadcaster...Read More