The Swiss National Bank Warns That Strong Currency Threatens Economy

Two nations have the odd combination of near zero interest rates and extremely strong currencies: Japan and Switzerland. Japan has finally moved once again to try weakening its popular currency (click here for a description I gave on how to play the intervention). The Swiss National Bank (SNB), burned by a very unsuccessful attempt to … Read more

Alix Steel: Gold’s Next Move Is Locked Independent of U.S. Debt Deal

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Alix Steel, a reporter for thestreet.com, discussed gold on Nightly Business Report, July 26. She claimed that gold’s low volume, summer rally is being fueled by fears of a default on U.S. debt. Nevermind that … Read more

Bernanke’s Musings Excite Gold and Reawaken Silver

“Fed May Launch New Round of Stimulus.” So rang the headlines. The Federal Reserve seemed poised to launch another round of quantitative easing if only it had a weak economy to generate the proper excuse. An Associate Press article about steel stocks suggested that the market’s rally was specifically about the prospect of potential stimulus: … Read more

Profiting from Physical Assets in a Resource-Constrained World – Rules and Picks (Part 2 of 2)

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} This piece is a follow-up post to “Preparing for Profits in a Resource-Constrained World” (Part 1) in which I discussed the implications of Jeremy Grantham’s fundamental thesis of a new world where resources are … Read more

A Case for the Importance of Headline Inflation from James Bullard

(Originally appeared in Inflation Watch) The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis just published an article written by James Bullard, a non-voting member of the Federal Reserve and President of the St. Louis Fed, called “Measuring Inflation: The Core Is Rotten.” It is based on a speech Bullard delivered two months ago to the Money … Read more