#StockMarket Highs Make Strong Case for #PreciousMetal Buys. Stock Market Highs Make Strong Case for Precious Metal Buys. Dow 20,000 was ushered in with great fanfare.
Traders on the New York Stock Exchange sported "Dow 20,000" hats. Even President Donald Trump joined the celebration. Trump told ABC News he was "very honored" that the stock market gave his presidency a symbolic vote of confidence. "Now we have to go up, up, up. We don't want it to stay there," he said. Everyone loves a bull market. What 1999 Can Teach Us About 2017 A case in point: Dow 10,000. The financial media, of course, cheered the milestone, feeding the public Wall Street propaganda rather than healthy skepticism. Sure, the perma-bulls will always concede, there might be a pullback at some point. In fact, stocks went nowhere for 11 long years. In mid 2010, the blue chip average was right back where it was on March 29, 1999.
It turned out to be the 10,000 cross that mattered. Yes, they did double their money (before dividends) in nominal terms. But in real terms, the Dow hasn't made any progress. Trump Knows He Inherited a Bubble. How #SoundMoney Principles Can Bolster Your Personal #Finances. How Sound Money Principles Can Bolster Your Personal Finances. By Stefan Gleason Sound money principles can serve to help grow the economy and restrain government.
The political class, however, doesn’t particularly want to restrain itself. Washington, D.C. is addicted to the easy money policies that have enabled $20 trillion in national debt accumulation and tens of trillions more in unfunded liabilities. Even with a new and unconventional GOP president who vows to take on waste and overregulation, the built in momentum of “mandatory” spending means the Trump budgets won’t be balanced. The debt will keep growing – and likely at a faster pace than the economy. Short of a currency crisis that forces a monetary revolution, sound money reform efforts will have to proceed in baby steps. Any fundamental proposed changes – such as tying the currency supply to gold and silver reserves – will encounter enormous resistance from Congress, the Federal Reserve, and its member banks.
You Don’t Have to Wait for the Politicians... Don’t Look Now, but #Gold Just Finished Its Best Year Since 2011. Don’t Look Now, but Gold Just Finished Its Best Year Since 2011. Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018Jan 05, 2018 - 06:40 AM GMT By: MoneyMetals Metals investors may have missed it given the gloomy sentiment that plagued markets for much of 2017, but gold just finished its best year since 2011.
Perhaps in a year like the one just passed, 13% gains are simply not inspiring. U.S. stocks finished about 25% higher for the year, and crypto-currencies including Bitcoin left all other asset classes in the dust. Bitcoin gained roughly 1,400%. Die hard gold bugs enter 2018 waiting for crypto-bugs and stock bulls to see the value of precious metals. While other markets were finishing 2017 strong, the U.S. dollar ended the year with a whimper. That weakness has yet to manifest itself as price inflation in consumer goods and services. Consumers have yet to feel their dollars getting weaker, which may explain much about why a traditional inflation hedge like gold isn’t getting a lot of attention.
Either way, don’t expect the metals markets to go unnoticed in 2018.