Federal Reserve Printing Got You Down? Sprinkle Precious Metals On Your Portfolio

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 16, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) For those who have paid attention to the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, it is no surprise that money-printing continues to be the response to persistently poor economic performance. … Read more

Little New News from Jackson Hole But Market Readies for Action Anyway

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 3, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) “…the private sector’s revised outlook for the policy rate also appears to reflect a growing appreciation of how forceful the FOMC intends to be in supporting a sustainable recovery.” (Ben Bernanke … Read more

Pan American Silver Remains A Cheap Play On A Recovery In Silver Prices

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 3, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} {snip} First, why bother with a silver miner that is experiencing operational difficulties due to political turmoil? I think the company’s description of itself provides a good summary of the … Read more

Chart Review: Silver Breaks Out Again

Finally, silver re-awakens. After a near straight-line recovery from August’s lows, silver broke out with a gap up to new highs for the month. Source: stockcharts.com The ETF for silver, iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV), is of course following a similar pattern. With silver (and gold) being one of the few assets working on the … 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

Searching for A Corral for the Silver Stampede

What has changed in the two months it took for silver to stampede its way up $15 (a 43% gain) and back? Did the Federal Reserve raise rates? Did the Federal Reserve threaten the market with rate hikes? Did the housing market rebound sharply, generating an expectation for higher rates? Did inflation expectations adjust sharply? … Read more

Pan American Silver Confirms No Need to Despair About Its Mine

Today, Pan American Silver Corporation (PAAS) issued a press release confirming my earlier assumption that its mining operations in Bolivia would not be impacted by the Bolivian government’s efforts to further nationalize its resource industries (see “Despair Deep in the Silver Mines: Another Opportunity to Buy Pan American Silver“). “On May 1, Bolivian President Evo … Read more

Despair Deep in the Silver Mines, Part Two – Another Opportunity to Buy PAAS

Excerpt from an article I published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece (embedded video only here): Five years ago, I wrote an article titled “Despair Deep In the Silver Mines” to describe the sympathy selling in silver miners that owned property in Bolivia after the government there declared it would nationalize … Read more

Silver Wheaton CEO Not Thinking About Hedging Silver Until $50

The number $50 per ounce appeared in another discussion about silver. I first came across this target in James Turk’s theory about three stages for silver’s bull market with stage 2 beginning at $50. This time $50/ounce came up in an interview with Silver Wheaton’s CEO, Peter Barnes, as he discussed SLW’s earnings results on … Read more