Precious metals news

Italy’s ailing banking sector, coupled with the country’s huge public debt; the US’ rapidly deteriorating fiscal position; & emerging markets are no longer cheap, sitting on valuations at their most expensive level since 2010

The European Central Bank is set to rethink its plans to force eurozone lenders to face up to their bad loans after a wave of criticism from EU lawmakers and political leaders who say the proposals overstep the central bank’s authority and have sown confusion.

Big European mortgage lenders in low-risk markets may be the hardest hit by new capital rules that global regulators are expected to complete this week after a year-long deadlock.

The central bank identified several indicators that point to growing risks from its analysis perspective. It is recommending that the banks in Denmark begin to raise their capital risk buffer.

Lars Rohde, governor of the central bank, says politicians are making a “mistake” by excluding the mortgage industry from the same bail-in rules that apply to other financial firms.

Inflation category the Fed can influence has fallen of late. That means policymakers​ could have a hard time meeting target

Talk of a U.S. government shutdown is again in the air. Funding for the vast menu of federal activities, foreign and domestic, is due to run out after Dec. 8, and Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress are negotiating a spending bill to carry beyond that date.

The visit comes almost a week after North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile it says is capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

AS Washington and Seoul stage military drills, Moscow is sending hundreds of marines to a region near the North Korean border.

Throughout history, people have been not only admiring and accumulating gold, but talking about it. Virtually every notable figure from history you can think of — philosopher, poet, politician, economist, humorist — has had something to say on the subject. This running commentary has become part of our collective consciousness. What follows isn’t remotely an exhaustive list of quotes about gold, but it is our selection of the best. This list serves as a reminder of just how important gold has been to civilization.

“Bitcoin is paving the way for the reintroduction of gold as global money.”

Mike Maloney explores the events and evidence leading up to what he believes will be the most dangerous event the world will see in the coming years -- the potential for governments to enforce their own centralized digital currencies.

We know our readers invest in precious metals in various ways. One way is through ETFs. If you are one of these investors, pay taxes to the U.S., and are holding onto any positions with a loss since the time you bought, here’s a heads-up: if you act by December 31, you can capture that loss on your taxes without losing your exposure to metals.

Ron Paul goes over the historical and recent dynamics in the gold market to answer the question on every goldbug's mind: Are we in a gold bull market?

To date, gold is up nearly 10% in 2017, but as Ron Paul pointed out in his recent Market Update video, most people aren't paying much attention.
Why not?
Because a lot of other things such as the stock market and cryptocurrencies are going up faster. Nevertheless, Paul thinks there are good reasons to believe what he calls the "third bull market" in gold has started.

Russia's gold holdings have topped 1,800 tons.
To put that into perspective, between 2000 and 2007, the Russian central bank held just 400 tons of gold. At that point, the country launched an aggressive gold acquisition program. In October of this year alone, the Bank of Russia bought 21.8 tons of gold. At 1,801 tons, the yellow metal now accounts for 17.3% of the country's reserves. In the second quarter of 2017, Russia accounted for 38% of all gold purchased by central banks. Russia ranks sixth in the world in gold holdings behind the United States, Germany, Italy, France, and China.
Russia's growing gold hoard is helping to establish economic and political stability and independence for the country.

Household debt, fast as it may be rising, is about to be eclipsed for the first time ever by the even faster rising federal government debt.

After spending more than a decade warning people all over the world about the futility of pursuing infinite exponential economic growth on a finite planet, I can tell you this: very few are even aware of the nature of our predicament.

The exhaustion factor is enormous. It’s called capitulation as moves get stretched to the extreme even though the set-up is valid.

This measure now stands at the most offensive level in history, surpassing even the 1929 and 2000 extremes.