Pedal to the Metals

With the price of silver down almost twice as much as gold since last September, — 27% versus 14% — Steve St. Angelo points out that this has prompted some technical analysts to argue that it’s because silver trades more like copper than gold.  But charting the declines in each, he argues that it’s a “big fallacy” that silver is trading more like a base metal than a monetary metal.

“How can silver be trading like copper or other base metals if its price is behaving much worse?,” he asks.  “It’s quite simple. Silver like gold, also behaves like a monetary metal. This recent takedown in the price of gold and silver was not by accident…. Normally, the price of silver falls more violently than gold during a rapid decline. So it is clear in my book that the price of silver is behaving more like a manipulated monetary metal than a base metal such as copper.”

News & Views

Reuters: Gold down 1.1% on fund outflows, economic hopes; silver off 0.9%

MarketWatch/Zero Hedge:  Gold ends lower for 3rd straight session as market weighs prospects of change to Fed’s monetary policy

Gold Silver Worlds/Arabian Money:  Are gold & silver prices behaving counterintuitively?; Will gold and silver test recent lows again before heading higher?

Alasdair Macleod:  The role of GLD and SLV

Zero Hedge/Bloomberg:  Speculator gold gross shorts at all-time highs; Gold bears pull $20.8 billion as BlackRock says buy

The Gold Report/AP:  Lawrence Roulston – The real reason gold fell—and why it has already stabilized; Gold has steadied since it plunged last month – what’s next?

Mineweb/Jim Sinclair:  Jeffrey Christian battles the gold bulls – Fact and fiction in the gold market; A discussion on the end game in gold

Daily Reckoning Australia:  What happens when everyone in the world has zero interest rates?; Buffett to Bernanke: It’s easier to buy stocks than to sell

Michael Pento:  Central bank asset price bubbles inflating faster than GDP

GoldSilver.com/Business Insider:  China’s gold blitz of 2013; Chinese gold jewelry sales went ballistic in April

Bloomberg/The Hindu:  Gold imports by India may surge as festival lures shoppers; Jewelry stores do brisk business on Akshaya Tritiya

MarketWatch/Emirates 24/7:  India trade deficit jumps over 70% on gold, silver imports; Dubai sees massive surge in bullion demand

The Street/CNN Money:  Bloomberg privacy breach angers Wall Street traders; Bloomberg still has plenty of fans on Wall Street

Washington Post/Reuters:  AP says U.S. government seized journalists’ phone records

NBC/CBS:  5 unanswered questions about the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups; Hearing set for Friday

ProPublica/Marketplace/Economic Collapse:  The 182% loan: How installment lenders put borrowers in a world of hurt; Payday loan companies are making billions preying on the misery of the poor

In reviewing the recent record of the CFTC, Ted Butler declares that “It is time for the CFTC to come clean about silver and stop pretending it is investigating. It will be better for everyone (except holders of long COMEX contracts) for the CFTC to simply shut down this crooked exchange instead of letting the manipulation continue. At one time I did think the exchange could be reformed, but I no longer feel that is possible. The corruption goes too deep. It’s bad enough that an important American financial institution is corrupt beyond repair, but it is more a loss that the COMEX has dragged the CFTC down with it.

In my latest article, I referred to the commissioners and other high officials of the agency as traitors to the American people. I still feel that way. Not only are none of them fit to hold their current positions, they should never hold any other public office again.”  Butler singles out Chairman Gary Gensler and Commissioner Bart Chilton, who he accuses of having “done more harm as a result of first championing the important issues and then abandoning them. In fact, this whole Dodd-Frank experience looks like a colossal failure because neither was strong enough to speak out publicly about how the large banks and JPMorgan in particular had corrupted the process.”

News & Views

MarketWatch/Bloomberg: Gold futures end 0.4% lower after jobless claims data; silver off 0.1%; Fed’s Plosser says he would favor tapering QE at June FOMC meeting

Zero Hedge:  #HashCrash 2.0 – QE-off rumor sends market turmoiling by whoppong 0.37%; Fed’s Fisher to Santelli: “This can’t go on forever“

Reuters:  Dollar vaults to four-year high vs yen, smashes through 100 mark; Japan hopes for a lift from “Abenomics” bra

Dan Norcini/Bloomberg:  US dollar surge through 100 yen derails gold; South Korea joins India-to-Europe rate cuts for growth

Jim Sinclair/Economic Collapse:  Emancipation of physical gold from paper gold is at hand

Casey Research/Zero Hedge:  Chris Martenson – Official gold numbers don’t add up; JP Morgan eligible vault gold drops to fresh record

KWN:  The single most important chart for all of 2013; John Hathaway – The physical gold market is on fire right now

MarketWatch/Reuters/MSN Money:  Physical demand for gold is on the rise, but so is silver’s; U.S. Mint to limit purchases of ‘America the Beautiful’ silver coins; U.S. Mint stifles its silver coin sales

Bloomberg:  China dowry filled with gold signals gains for jewelers; Chinese women aren’t taking Buffett’s advice on gold – Adam Minter

GoldSeek:  Is Mr. Buffett right about not holding gold?; Gold – Who’s selling, who’s buying, who’s lying

MarketWatch: John Paulson on his gold losses: What losses?

Numismaster/Reuters:  New bullion businesses squeezed?; Head of secretive Russian precious metals store seeks exit

Spiegel/Bloomberg:  Bulgarian Spring: Self-immolations highlight a desperate electorate; Crisis lifting – Cosmetic surgeries skyrocket in Greece;Germans splurge on Italian homes locals can’t afford

Reporting on April’s sales spike for gold & silver coins, Hard Assets Investor points out that the U.S. Mint’s “sales of American Eagle gold coins are a relatively insignificant portion of the global gold market. Annual global gold demand is in the range of 145 million ounces. At 502,000 ounces, mint gold sales are too small [about 0.3%] to make a dent,” but “silver coin sales are significant. On an annualized basis, sales are running at a 56 million ounce clip. That’s over 5 percent of global silver demand, which is around 1 billion ounces.”  And looking at the growth in gold and silver American Eagle sales since 2008, USA Gold concludes that April’s price weakness was only part of the story.

News & Views

Zero Hedge/Jim Sinclair:  On the 3-week anniversary of the precious metals bear raid; Where we are, why gold was bombed, and why technical analysis is a waste of time

MarketWatch/Bloomberg:  Gold settles 0.3% higher on strength in physical demand; silver off 0.3%; Gold rises on bets China will expand economic stimulus

Silver Doctors/KWN:  COT report:  Commercials cover a massive 15 million/oz of silver shorts; The global run on silver & what it means going forward

Bloomberg:  Algorithms seen driving more than half of trading on London Metal Exchange

WSJ/South China Morning Post:  Does a big ETF drive gold’s price?; Will paper gold click with China’s heavy metal fans?

CNTV:  Mainland visitors buy up gold in Hong Kong; Japan’s gold buyers flock to stores

Zero Hedge:  Bartiromo vs. Schiff: The (soft) money-honey against the golden boy

Ron Paul/Investment Contrarians:  Federal Reserve blows more bubbles; Did the Fed just signal more monetary policy?

Dan Norcini/ValueWalk:  Fed induced stock market mania; Report: Hedge fund leverage hits an all-time high

Fortune/Telegraph:  Warren Buffett worries about Fed’s ‘huge experiment‘; sees ‘brutal‘ damage for savers from central bank money printing

Alasdair Macleod/The Gold Report:  The case against deflation;James Dines follows his prediction of a commodity crash with another one the mainstream media is ignoring

Bull Market Thinking:  World Bank whistle-blower: “Precious metals to serve as an underpinning for paper currencies”

CNN/GATA:  David Frum – Washington abandons America’s jobless; Latest U.S. jobs report is fabrication, Embry and Roberts say

Glenn Greenwald:  Are all telephone calls recorded & accessible to the U.S. government?

Explaining why, “Even if you hate gold, you should buy it,” Casey Research’s Vedran Vuk presents “the conundrum for the anti-gold crowd. If everyone keeps buying gold regardless of what happens, is it really so stupid to own it? Hey, I think that paper money is the dumbest thing on earth, but that doesn’t stop me from using it. Getting the market right is all about figuring out what other people want, rather than being swayed by your personal biases. As a result, even if you personally think gold is stupid, it still is a smart investment.“

And Sprott’s Rick Rule tells The Gold Report that “Rationally, I might not be well advised to own any gold at all because I have so much of my net worth tied up in my business, which reacts to the gold market. Nonetheless, I own a lot of gold, silver and platinum bullion. I own it the way that I own life, auto or homeowner insurance. I regard it as catastrophe insurance.“

News & Views

Coin News/Jesse’s Café Américain:  Gold, silver prices fall for second day, down 0.4% and 0.5% respectively; Quiet option expiration

Reuters/Spiegel:  Euro falls vs. dollar, yen on doubts over Greece deal; Euro zone debt forgiveness lies ahead in Greek mire; Germany’s ongoing refusal to forgive Greek debt

Barron’s:  The trend is gold’s friend again

Wall St. Cheat Sheet/KWN:  Should gold investors be worried about demand?; James Turk – Gold shortage forcing drastic steps by central planners

MarketWatch:  India 2012 gold demand likely to rise 23% from previous estimate

Reuters/Mineweb:  China eyes 450 ton gold output in 2015, consumption to rise; Can we trust China’s gold reserve figures – or anyone else’s either?

GATA/KWN:  Do gold manipulation deniers really know the secrets of central banking?; James Turk – The LBMA is moving to cover up silver manipulation

Bullion Bulls Canada/CNN Money:  Silver’s smoking guns, Part III: Market paradox; Warren Buffett wants Jamie Dimon as Treasury secretary

Zero Hedge:  Is JPMorgan about to take over America, again?; Goldman’s guess at ‘cliff’ compromise composition

Reuters/NY Times:  Fed’s Lockhart warns of unusual threats to financial system; O.E.C.D., slashing growth outlook, warns of global recession

Dow Jones:  CME declares force majeure at Manhattan gold depository

Mining.com:  Colorado experiencing a ‘weekend-only‘ gold rush, due to high prices and the Discovery Channel‘s “Gold Rush” series

WSJ:  U.S. should replace dollar bills with coins, GAO says

“For gold to extend its current modest rally into a move beyond $2,000 an ounce, it will more than likely need the support of the physical market and this means more buying by consumers in China and India,” argues Reuters market analyst Clyde Russell.

Referencing the above graph showing the divergence in price and demand, he writes that “While China’s gold consumption may have gained, given that Hong Kong’s exports to the mainland nearly doubled in July, it’s still unlikely to have recorded the kind of jump needed to bring physical demand back into correlation with the third-quarter price gains.  It’s the same story for India, with imports likely to have improved in the third quarter as the rupee gained strength, but unlikely by enough to give a physical platform to gold’s rally.

Right now it appears central bank buying remains solid, investment demand has picked up with a 6 percent gain in holdings by exchange-traded funds since the end of July, but it remains to be seen if Indian and Chinese demand has improved. If it has, then the case for a gold rally may be complete, but if the third quarter growth in the world’s top two consumers is modest, then gold’s rally will look shaky.”

Related Links:

MarketWatch/Jesse’s Café Américain:  Gold futures tumble 0.7% on Europe’s woes; silver off 1¢; Gold and silver charts:  Silver turns it around

Washington Post/Financial Times:  Why Europe is looking like a mess (again); Euro zone deal over bank bailout in doubt

KWN:  Tom Fitzpatrick – What to expect next after the recent surge in gold & silver; John Hathaway – Gold shorts to panic as this key level is breached

Mineweb/Business Insider: Don’t fool yourself, gold is unlikely to go up forever; Deutsche Bank: Here’s how to know when gold prices are too high

Zero Hedge:  Presenting Warren Buffett’s “Gold Cube“; 39% of South African gold production is now offline

MoneyWeek:  Is the world running short of gold?

Globe & Mail/Got Gold Report:  Precious metals funds: Silver emerges from gold’s shadow; Eric Sprott on CNBC

MarketWatch:  Morgan Stanley:  Silver to outperform gold in fourth quarter and 2013

Hard Assets Investor/Commodity HQ:  ETF holdings hit records as investors buy millions of ounces of gold & silver, prices poised to spike

Bloomberg/CNBC:  Fed’s Evans calls for more easing, warns of ‘lost decade’; Fed virtually funding the entire U.S. deficit

Eric Parnell/WSJ:  Where has the stock market’s QE rally gone?; QE rally not yet over

Gary North/MarketWatch:  Five mainstream economists sound a warning; 8 early warning signs inflation is percolating

Hugo Salinas Price/Alt-Market:  Comparing the negative effects of war and fiat currency; Globalist think tank suggests using engineered event as excuse for war with Iran

Guardian:  “Inside Job” director Charles Ferguson:  Why the 2012 election will be another inside job

As The American Dream blog compiles quotes from ten financial experts on the effect that QE3 will have on gold and silver, Bloomberg reports that “More high-net-worth individuals are seeking to buy gold to protect their wealth from the risk of rising inflation after central banks boosted stimulus,” according to Deutsche Bank AG’s asset and wealth-management unit:

And they prefer physical over paper:  “For our ultra-high-net-worth clients, and a growing number of our high-net-worth clients who have significant liquidity, they are becoming increasingly concerned to have at least some of their exposure to this asset class in the form of allocated physical bullion itself, rather than the indirect exposure that an over-the-counter product offers,” said the head of the bank’s Asia-Pacific wealth management arm.

This as the president of the Dallas Fed, Richard Fisher, also tells Bloomberg:  “We have seen a sharp rise in inflation expectations. If you let this get out of hand, then I think we will have a market reaction.”

Related Links:

Dow Jones/GoldSeek:  Gold ends at six-month high on Spain hopes; Gold and silver end near unchanged on week

Reuters:  Euro gains vs. dollar on Spain optimism

Zero Hedge:  Gold hits all-time highs in euro, Swiss franc & Brazilian real; Ray Dalio on gold:  Buffett is making a huge mistake

GoldCore/CNBC:  “How high can gold go?” – “There is no telling,” James Grant tells CNBC; Bank of America:  Gold prices could peak at $5,000

Mineweb:  Two views on gold but same conclusions – big increases in price ahead; Faustian precedent bodes ill and leaves gold and silver in prime position

Forbes/SilverSeek:  Casey Research’s Clark: Time ripe for ‘overweight’ positioning in gold, silver; New silver upleg

Seeking Alpha:  Silver soars outperforming gold as U.S. dollar crashes; Investing in gold: Miners or metal?

MarketWatch/Jesse’s Café Américain:  How to play gold’s ‘Golden Cross‘; Update on the gold ‘Shadow Chart‘ – Review of the ‘Cup and Handle’ formation

Jim Sinclair/Commodity HQ:  Everyone has an opinion of QE3. Almost all are wrong.; How Jim Rogers is preparing for a recession

King World News:  The central planners are going to need a bigger boat; The only way they can stop this is to bring out a new currency

The Atlantic:  Europe’s crisis will be followed by a more devastating one, likely beginning in Japan

Matt Taibbi/Reuters:  Wall Street rolling back another key piece of financial reform; Iranian hackers target Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citi

Bloomberg/Politico:  Jobless rate rises in five of 10 U.S. campaign swing states

Zero Hedge/Vanity Fair:  Apple creates new job category: Professional line-waiters

Before gold and silver closed up 1.1% and 3.8% respectively on Wednesday, Wall St. Cheat Sheet‘s Eric McWhinnie, in an article headlined ‘The Fed whispers sweet nothings to gold and silver,” wrote that both “gold and silver are climbing higher once again as the WSJ reports that the Fed is considering more action amid recovery doubts.

Fed Whisperer Jon Hilsenrath writes, ‘Fed policy makers could take a small precautionary measure, like extending for a short period its ‘Operation Twist’ program, in which the Fed is selling short-term securities and using the proceeds to buy long-term securities. Or, policy makers could take bolder action such as launching another large round of bond purchases if they become convinced of a significant slowdown.’”

But, as the Washington Post reports, the Fed also “faces political heat in weighing more economic stimulus.”

Related Links:

Gold Alert/Jesse’s Café Américain:  Precious metals pare gains after Fed’s Beige Book

Reuters:  Fed more upbeat on economy in Beige Book

Zero Hedge:  Morgan Stanley sees QE3 rally lasting hours not weeks; Who is right – Gold or stocks?

Michael Pento/Seeking Alpha:  QE3 game of chicken; QE3:  Will the Fed buy stocks?

KWN:  Louise Yamada – Gold and silver at crucial points in this cycle

Avery Goodman:  What happens to precious metals and bank stocks in a post-euro world?

The Gold Report:  Ron Hera:  The end of cheap everything

Silver Investing News/SilverSeek:  Silver bullish despite negative manufacturing; Silver: A Tier 1 asset for all

Bloomberg/Wealth Wire:  Gold bugs defy bear-market threat with Soros buying; Soros and Paulson load up on gold

Wall St. Cheat Sheet:  David Einhorn mocks Warren Buffett’s stance on gold

GATA:  Russian central bank won’t answer gold questions

AP/Bloomberg:  ECB holds rates, lets crisis squeeze politicians; Fed stimulus more likely than ECB, Merk says

NYT/Spiegel:  As central bank holds back, Europe scrambles on Spain; Possible deal takes shape on aid for Spain’s banks

CSM:  Europe needs a central government to manage its debt crisis

Reuters/Business Insider:  Election promises no end to Greece’s agony

A Seeking Alpha post on the degree to which “Asian economies continue to welcome gold and silver,” cites two recent news stories worth focusing on.  One is the Shanghai Futures Exchange launching a silver futures trade, which debuted Thursday, and the other is India deciding to retract its excise tax on gold jewelry.

It goes on to argue that “In today’s markets, especially in the natural resource sector, the smart money is China – with India often being a notable second. So, if price is falling and the smart money remains committed, that’s a simple way of identifying a buying opportunity. And that is clearly the environment we are seeing today, in light of these important news headlines.”

Related Links:

Dow Jones/MarketWatch:  Gold 0.1% higher, ends short of $1,600/oz; silver off 0.2%

Market Oracle:  Gold and silver steady as China spurns euro debt, Greece warned on euro exit

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Accumulation/distribution trends in gold and silver – building the V bottom

Bloomberg:  Goldman stands by gold-rally forecast even as price drops; PIMCO’s Gross says QE3 getting closer as Goldman sees easing

Jim Sinclair:  Time for ‘helicopter money drops‘

Zero Hedge:  How the Fed quietly bought 1,150 S&P points; Marc Faber sees a 1987-like crash approaching

KWN:  Citibank analyst:  Stocks to crater 27%, bonds to rally & gold to remain firm

P. Radomski:  The influence on gold of the general stock market and crude oil

Bullion Vault:  Gold price demand drivers

GATA:  Indian central bank challenged in court to repatriate country’s gold

SafeHaven:  Gold questioning Fed’s effectiveness

WSJ:  Fed foe Ron Paul breakfasts with Bernanke at central bank

The Street:  Ron Paul has a gold ally in the Buffett family

The Victory Report:  Peter Grandich:  Gold and silver get no respect

Reuters:  S & P report:  A $46 trillion perfect credit storm may be brewing

CBS News/Business Insider:  JPMorgan Chase acknowledges $2B trading loss, cites ‘egregious mistakes‘

In analyzing the current “Fickle gold and silver prices,” Mineweb‘s Lawrence Williams concludes “that gold and silver are not through their bull runs yet as the global financial turmoil is far from over.  The current gold (and silver) price hiatus is because many see the Eurozone crisis, which is the most newsworthy at the moment, as deteriorating further, but those fleeing it financially are putting their trust in the US dollar rather than gold.

Given the U.S.’s own economic problems, which are neatly being hidden from public perception in the run-up to this year’s Presidential election, this has to be a pretty shortsighted viewpoint and will surely come to an end before too long.  When it does both gold and silver will likely resume their overall upwards trend – but probably not as rapidly as the major gold and silver bulls would have you believe.”

Related Links:

Reuters:  Gold falls below $1,600 on euro zone uncertainty; silver off 0.8%

GoldMoney:  Market sell-off testing gold bulls

SafeHaven/Casey Research:  Can gold fall forever?; Gold fund manager John Hathaway calls a market bottom

Bloomberg:  Silver forecasters bullish as funds retreat from slump

SilverSeek:  Ted Butler:  Knowing the game

Silver Coins Today:  American Silver Eagle bullion coin sales retreat in April, but still 5th-best ever April

Avery Goodman:  The outlook for precious metals prices

Zero Hedge:  Eric Sprott on CNBC berates Berkshire’s buffoons and says “all markets are manipulated”; Jim Grant: “The Fed owns the stock market“

GATA/Gary North:  Gold has changed overnight, and likely will again; Why civilized people buy gold

Mineweb:  Buying gold on the ‘Roubini Dip‘

USA Gold:  Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of machines:  Why gold might be setting up for a big move higher

Resource Investor:  The reasons for investing in physical gold

Seeking Alpha:  Gold mining stocks vs. physical gold bullion; Gold/Silver ratio in an uptrend

Jim Rickards/Azizonomics:  Romney doubles down on Obama’s toxic currency policies; Is China a currency manipulator?   

Daily Reckoning/Zero Hedge:  Bill Gross and others call for QE3; Citi’s Buiter on Plan Z: Unleash the helicopter money

Telegraph/Spiegel:  Why the euro is doomed to fall apart: it was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place; New documents shine light on euro birth defects

With renewed calls for more QE, an argument that “Gold Will Continue to Glitter” references the above chart covering the last two decades to point out that “gold prices have surged in the recent past with the surge in monetary base. Therefore, as long as governments continue to print money, gold will trend up.”

And, as economic and financial problems in both the U.S. and the euorozone continue, “the quantitative easing and the surge in gold prices will also remain prolonged. These factors make a strong case for investment in gold. Furthermore, as central banks look to diversify their reserve holdings, gold is one of the best currency choices (as a store of value). Therefore, from a demand perspective, things are expected to remain robust.”

The author concludes that “I would look at accumulating gold at current levels and adding gold to my portfolio on a further correction as well. If the economic scenario in the U.S. worsens the dollar will strengthen in the near term, leading to some additional correction in gold. However, a subsequent quantitative easing will lead to a renewed rally in the precious metal.”

Related Links:

Reuters:  Gold down 2 percent, breaks below $1,600 on euro fears; silver off 1.8%

Gold Scents/Gold Report:  Gold is at or very near, a long-term bottom; Eric Coffin:  It’s this bad because it’s a bottom

Bullion Vault:  Silver at lowest since January, China should offer key support for gold

Bloomberg:  China’s gold imports jump as country may become biggest user

Zero Hedge/MoneyShow.com:  On buying the commodity dip; Pamela Aden:  Silver’s dips are made for buying

Silver Investing News:  Silver contracts coming to Shanghai Futures Exchange

The Street:  Euro crack up not helping gold – yet

SafeHaven/Arabian Money:  Gold and financial preparedness; Why do investors always take such a short-term view on gold?

Dollar Vigilante:  Bill Gates joins what must be “bash gold” week on CNBC

CNBC/GoldSeek:  Warren who?  Gold bugs still think they have the right idea; Warren Buffet vs. gold and silver…and the winner is…

KWN/Forbes:  John Embry – There is a war going on because fiat money is dying; Dollar not doomed but you’re gonna need more of them

Financial Times/Jesse’s Café Américain :  Iran accepts yuan for crude oil; World markets decouple from U.S. prices in oil

The Hill/Dow Jones:  Lawmakers in tug of war over reforming the Fed; House Republicans criticize Fed for congressional lapses

LA Times/Matt Taibbi:  Ron Paul continues delegate offensive, wins big in Nevada, Maine; Is this the most boring election ever?

CNBC:  Forget the presidential candidates – you can stabilize the debt

“It seems all the gold and silver roads are leading to China,” observes a commentary in The Australian about this week’s debut of a silver futures trade on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Addressing speculation that “the next few years could see the Chinese dominating the global silver market much as they appear to be doing with the global gold market,” Mineweb‘s Lawrence writes that “Indeed a big inflow of silver into China – a country which has a long association with the metal having had a silver-related currency standard up until the 1930s – is felt by some to be likely to end some of the metal’s price volatility and perhaps end what some see as excessive manipulation of the market through COMEX.”

And while warning that initially silver trading in China could lead to increased volatility, he cites commentators referred to by The Australian who “also say that there is indeed a particular penchant for silver investment in China because retail investors are attracted by the much lower price than that of gold and because of the relatively recent association of the country’s currency with the metal.”

Related Links:

Daily Reckoning:  China buys gold… No matter who’s selling

Reuters:  Gold eases 0.3% as investors digest Europe’s elections; silver off 1.1%

Safehaven/KWN:  Eurozone election hangover; James Turk – Gold & silver bottoming as euro troubles reemerge

GoldSeek/Telegraph:  European ‘austerity’ flames out with elections; Francois Hollande has ten weeks to avert a French bond crisis

CNBC/Resource Investor:  Citi:  Look for a ‘Grexit’ following elections;  Euro-zone breakup: How would this affect precious metals?

Tim Iacono:  Gold and silver prices look for direction, Friday’s rebound reassures

Commodity Online:  India govt rolls back gold duties, may boost domestic demand  

Silver Investing News:  Is silver’s industrial personality leading to changes?

Mineweb:  David Stockman’s investment model – ABCD (anything Bernanke can’t destroy)

Financial Sense:  Why civilized people buy gold and silver

GATA/New York Sun:  Gold is limited government, which is more ‘civilized’ than the alternative; The Munger Games

Alasdair Macleod/LewRockwell.com:  Keynesian vs. Austrian debate hotting up; Lessons from the Paul vs. Paul debate

Zero Hedge:  Reinharts and Rogoff on why the debt overhang matters

FOFOA:  Inflation or hyperinflation?

Washington Post:  The incredible shrinking labor force

In an extensive look at the “Critical Factors that will Impact Silver,” Steve St. Angelo argues that “the fundamentals for silver today are even better than they were last year when its price and sentiment were higher.  Nevertheless, consumer affinity for precious metals has turned rather pessimistic presently.”

The five critical factors St. Angelo sees are 1) controlling silver market sentiment; 2) energy supply and diesel consumption; 3) declining average ore grades; 4) future silver mine supply, and 5) nationalization and monetization of precious metals.  And he closes by advising that “the best tactic for those who put their faith in the oldest forms of money in the world is to purchase and take delivery of the physical metal.”

Related Links:

MarketWatch:  Gold edges slightly lower for session, month; Silver suffers more than 4% monthly percentage drop

Dow Jones:  Gold shakes off $1.24 billion ‘fat finger’

Seeking Alpha:  Silver one year after the peak:  On the brink of the next big move; Is silver finally on its way to $40-$50?

SafeHaven:  Analysis of the latest COT reports for silver and gold

Commodity Online:  Huge upside potential in Gold as COMEX speculative net longs hit record lows

GoldSeek:  Investors dumped equities in April fastest in 17 years, will they now turn to gold and silver?

Tim Iacono:  Economy, central banks, and technical factors to drive gold price higher

Mineweb:  Indian gold prices testing new highs

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Gold bull’s long-term trendline – The indispensable chart

GATA:  The Moneychanger interviews GATA secretary about gold and silver suppression

Bullion Bulls Canada:  Paper money:  The barbarous relic

The Daily Bell:  Canada introduces plastic cash – say, how about trying a little gold and silver?

FT Alphaville:  The unwitting move towards a global gold standard

Arabian Money:  How JM Keynes was the Warren Buffett of his time

Zero Hedge:  iTax avoidance; U.S. elections:  Deflecting attention from the real question

Mike Shedlock/KWN:  GDP miss far bigger than announced; Shadowstats‘ John Williams – The “recovery” faked by phony government numbers