Which of these numbers matters the most: 10,000, 1,065 or 77? If you said $77 give yourself a cookie. The Dow crossed 10,000 yesterday, 10 ½ years after it broke that barrier for the first time. Of course if you adjust for inflation the venerable index won’t match its March… Read More

Recommendations this issue: ConocoPhilips (COP) Gazprom (OGZPY)  We’ve been pounding the table for gold and gold shares from day one in this publication—and indeed, throughout this decade in other venues. With half of our recommendations devoted to precious metals and mining stocks we’ve enjoyed exceedingly strong returns this year. That’s just… Read More

For all the time we devote to it in these pages, for most investors gold is really the forgotten asset class. Asked to name various asset classes, chances are most investors (and financial advisors for that matter) will tell you stocks, bonds, cash and perhaps real estate. But… Read More

It’s become cliché for a greybeard to tell some youngster just how cold it was and just how deep the snow was “back in the day,” when they were trudging five miles to school (up hill both ways in some variants of the tale). But the truth of the… Read More

We noted the historically high ratio of the price of oil to natural gas in the late August issue as weak regional demand and record inventory levels have kept natural gas prices down for the first eight months of the year. Since then, natural gas has rallied strongly, breaking… Read More

Stocks started out the first quarter on the wrong foot today with the blue chip averages surrendering 2 – 3 percent. The economic data that has been rolling in has been less than constructive for share prices which are trading at their highest valuations since the market peaked in 2007. Read More

Recommendation this issue: Jaguar Mining (JAG)   We typically devote this space to the economic picture and happenings in the financial world. This issue we’re compelled to turn our attention to events unfolding in the Middle East that are largely off the radar screen here in the West but are of potentially great importance to the world. When it comes to oil production, Saudi Arabia is the world’s only meaningful swing producer. Anything that occurs to upset the status quo there—that threatens the flow of oil—could quickly lead to sharply higher crude prices and plunge the still-fragile world economy into another deep recession. So we’ve watched recent developments in the Kingdom and in neighboring Yemen with trepidation.   Read More

The Federal Reserve’s policy setting arm met this week and, as expected, the central bank left its target rate for overnight loans between banks in a record-low range between zero and 0.25 percent. It also said that rates are likely to remain “exceptionally low” for an “extended period.”  … Read More

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week announced plans to move ahead with the sale of 403.3 metric tons (12.97 million ounces) of gold from its reserves as part of a plan to sharply increase the resources it has available to make loans to low-income countries. … Read More