Precious metals news

(Equipment Purchases Lead The Way) – Yield Curve 10Y-2Y Steepens According to the BEA, US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a 3.3% QoQ (Annualized) pace, the highest since 2014.

Watch what they do? GS said to be on short list of bidders for $1B Scotia Mocatta, a top global gold/metals dealer

Senate Republicans are discussing adding provisions to their tax bill that could trigger up to $350 billion in automatic tax increases over 10 years, according to two people briefed by congressional staff members on the plan.

With only three weeks left until her final meeting as chairwoman of the FOMC, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen today will make what's expected to be her final appearance before Congress when she delivers testimony to the Joint Economic Committee.

The weaker dollar is a large part of the reason that gold remains well bid, now approaching the $1300 level again. Again, not a positive sign for US growth:

A prolonged bull market across stocks, bonds and credit has left a measure of average valuation at the highest since 1900, a condition that at some point is going to translate into pain for investors, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Passed in committee: The Senate Budget Committee has passed the tax bill, 12-11, in a party-line​ vote. It will now move to the Senate floor.

(Buffer Drops To Zero In 2018!) The fight continues over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants in conservatorship with their regulator, FHFA, as the buffer for F&F goes to zero in 2018.

19 Percent of Active HELOCs Are Scheduled to Reset in 2017. More than 1.5 million home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) will see interest-only draw periods end in 2017, with payments becoming fully amortizing, roughly 100,000 less than in 2016 Just under $100 billion in outstanding unpaid principal balances (UPB) on HELOCs…

The Case-Shiller national home price index has now surpassed by 5.9% the crazy peak in July 2006 of Housing Bubble 1:

She said growth overall has been "disappointingly slow" though the economy more recently "appears to have stepped up."

North Korea claims to have tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile which is capable of striking the US mainland. Follow here for live updates.

SD Midweek: To say it's getting ridiculous out there is putting it lightly. Here's an update...

Gold matters, and Russia just warned the US that even the thought of taking it would be financial terrorism. Here's the details...

"evidence introduced at trial will show that Turkish government and banking officials were integral to the sanctions evasion scheme..."

In all of the talk about tax reform, nobody is considering the more fundamental problem facing America - the size and scope of the federal government.
Peter Schiff has described the Republican tax plan as "tax cuts masquerading as reform." When it's all said and done, Americans aren't going to get tax relief. They are going to get big government on a credit card. The balance will come due down the road.
The real issue is the total cost of government. In an article originally published on the Mises Wire, Ryan McMaken argues that if Republicans really want to ease the burden of government, they need to cut spending.

The middle class is not getting tax relief under the Senate plan currently under consideration. It's getting big government on a credit card.
Here's a fun fact. Did you know virtually all of the individual tax cuts in the Senate version of tax reform are temporary?
Indeed, what the Senate giveth, it also taketh away. Most of the tax cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 under the Senate plan.
So what's the reasoning behind sunsetting the tax cuts?

“Bitcoin may well go to $20,000 but that won’t prove I’m wrong. When it gets back to $100, we’ll talk.”

The Fed flat out lied because they thought they could get away with it; that inflation was actually “transitorily” delayed due to overseas “global turmoil” having absolutely nothing to do with them or US$ monetary conditions.

2018 Focus: The Year of Reckoning…A “housing market recovery” & “house-price recovery” are two different things. I operate under the assumption that house prices will always, over time, gravitate to what the “end-user, mortgage-needing, shelter buyer” cohort can afford using a traditional mortgage loan with a minimal down payment. At times, for various reasons, prices