By Dave KranzlerThe pension crisis is inching closer by the day. @CalPERS just voted to increase the amount cities must pay to the agency. Cities point to possible insolvency if payments keep rising but CalPERS is near insolvency itself. It may be reform or bailout soon. - Steve Westly, former California controller and CalPERS board member.1.5 MILLION RETIREES AWAIT CONGRESSIONAL FIX FOR A PENSI...Read More

China's imports of iron ore rebounded to the second highest ever in January while those for coking coal fell to a seven-month low. Exports of scrap surged on the year, while those for coke, which include semi coke, contracted.Read More

For a market analyst there is an irresistible temptation to seek out one or more historical parallels to the current situation. The idea is that clues about what's going to happen in the future can be found by looking at what happened following similar price action in the past. Sometimes this method works, sometimes it doesn't.Assuming that the decline from the January-2018 peak is a short-term co...Read More

By Clint SiegnerBullion investors buy gold and silver as a matter of self-reliance. Physical metals aren't dependent upon the promises of financial institutions, governments, or other third parties.This lack of counterparty risk makes precious metals quite different from most conventional assets. There is no possibility of a default or mismanagement which renders them worthless. That is a lot mo...Read More

The rally into early Monday, February 26, 2018 is no surprise to me. The charts below were written over the weekend suggesting follow through buying into early Monday at or above SPX 2754 and then a sudden fast reversal down below the 2532 area.I've seen this e-wave pattern before following a wxy W Wave where Wave X sees an irregular topping pattern (coming out of a bull flag formation) catching t...Read More

CIS export prices for steel billet products continued to climb in the week ended Monday February 26 with customers accepting the higher prices.In addition, the availability of the material was reduced because some mills were holding back volumes in expectation of another round of price increases after China's return from the week-long lunar new year celebration.Metal Bulletin's weekly export CIS B...Read More

Source: Jack Chan for Streetwise Reports 02/26/2018 Technical analyst Jack Chan charts the latest movements in the gold and silver markets. -->Our proprietary cycle indicator is down.The gold sector is on a long-term buy signal. Long-term signals can last for months and years and are more suitable for investors holding for long term.The gold sector is on a short-term sell signal. Short-term...Read More

Will digital gold provide the benefits of physical gold?- Digital gold and crypto gold products claim to combine efficiencies of blockchain with value of gold- They are yet to provide the same benefits or safety as owning physical gold- National mints jumping in on the 'sexy blockchain' act - BOE declares bitcoin 'not a currency;' Royal Mint launches blockchain gold product- Digital gold, block...Read More

By Frank HolmesStrengths? The best performing metal this week was palladium, up 0.11 percent as hedge funds boosted their net bullish in the metal. Gold traders are split between bullish and bearish on the yellow metal after the U.S. dollar rose this week. In the prior week traders were bullish and positive sentiment sent $529 million into the VanEck Gold Miners ETF.?...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices rose sharply on Monday February 26 following big gains in the billet and futures markets. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,030-4,070 yuan ($636-642) per tonne, up 120-130 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 4,100-4,140 yuan per tonne, up 100 yuan per tonne Billet prices rose by a total of 140 yuan per tonne over the weekend and Monday morning amid active trad...Read More

We have been promising to get back to the topic of capital destruction, which we put on hiatus for the last several weeks to make our case that the interest rate remains in a falling trend. Today, we have a different way of looking at capital destruction.Socialism is the system of seeking out and destroying capital. Redistribution means taking someone's capital and handing it over as income to som...Read More

"Higher inflation, solid hedging demand, softer dollar, and improving consumption in China provide a supportive environment for prices"Continue...Read More

By Gary TanashianFor Notes From the Rabbit Hole bonds are not just an asset class 'throw-in' but instead are a key indicator set to the entire modern macro. Insofar as it may be time to use them for portfolio balance (I am currently long SHV, SHY, IEI & IEF), so much the better. Many could not wait to buy bonds during US ZIRP global NIRP operations, but today they pay better interest and have a...Read More

Current Position of the MarketSPX: Long-term trend - The bull market is continuing with a top expected in the low 3000s.Intermediate trend - An intermediate correction from 2872 may be over.Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily basis with the help of hourly charts. It is an important adjunct to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which discusses the course of longer market trends...Read More

By BullionStarhttps://www.bullionstar.com/The rapid emergence and commercialization of blockchain technology is undoubtedly one of the key technological trends at the moment, not just within crypto currencies, but as a disruptive technology across many industries and economic functions.At a high level, a blockchain is a distributed and public digital ledger of transactions that is updated across...Read More

Chinese ferro-silicon prices were unchanged on Friday February 23, with suppliers awaiting the return of consumers after the Lunar New Year holiday, while the European and US markets are pausing for quarterly delivery talks to discover the state of availability and demand in the next few months. Chinese market awaits consumers' return  Chinese trading reduced to inter-merchant activity ...Read More

China's ferro-chrome market was stable just after Lunar New Year, while market participants predicted prices will rise in the coming week as a result of the country's strengthening stainless sector. Ferro-chrome prices hold in China after Lunar New YearUG2 chrome ore prices edge higher in ChinaHigher ferro-chrome tender prices expected for MarchAlloy prices rise in all other regions Ferro-chrome...Read More

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AbraPlata Resource Corp. ("AbraPlata" or the "Company") (ABRA.V) (ABBRF) (1AH.F) is pleased to announce that the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") of the Diablillos Ag-Au project is nearing completion and the Company expects to announce the results by the end of February 2018. The Company is also pleased to report that the cont...Read More

- Digital gold and crypto gold products claim to combine efficiencies of blockchain with value of gold- They are yet to provide the same benefits or safety as owning physical gold- National mints jumping in on the 'sexy blockchain' act - BOE declares bitcoin 'not a currency;' Royal Mint launches blockchain gold product- Digital gold, blockchain gold and crypto gold is frequently not fully bac...Read More

Steelmaking raw materials made strong gains on Monday as Chinese mills, responsible for half the world's steel output, on the back of speculations that the certain provinces may extend steel supply curbs beyond the winter.The Northern China import price of 62% Fe content ore gained just under 1% to the highest since April trading at $79.95 per dry metric tonne according to data supplied by The Ste...Read More