Coming up, we'll hear part one of an amazing two-part interview with Jim Rickards, author of Currency Wars, The New Case for Gold and The Road to Ruin. Jim shares his insights on the Fed's supposed plan to unwind its balance sheet and what it will mean for the economy and for gold prices. He'll discuss some potential fireworks involving the U.S. dollar as it continues losing its reserve currency status. Don't miss a must-hear interview with Jim Rickards, coming up after this week's market update.
Beaten down gold and silver markets showed signs of recovering late this week as prices have risen above recent lows. Mining stocks are rallying strongly, pointing to upside potential for metals in the days ahead.
As of this Friday recording, gold prices come in at $1,256 an ounce, unchanged since last Friday's close. The silver market is also flat on the week with spot prices currently coming in at $16.74. Platinum is off very slightly at $932 an ounce. While palladium, which was outperforming again through Thursday close when it posted a new high for the year, is off 2.5% so far today and is now down 0.5% overall this week to trade at $869.
All of the precious metals are outperforming crude oil this year. Oil prices took another dip earlier this week on concerns about over-supply. The glut has persisted despite OPEC's vows to cut production.
The longer prices persist below $50 a barrel, the more non-OPEC producers will also have to hunker down. Many shale and offshore drilling projects that came online a few years ago are simply uneconomic at today's prices.
By next year, things could look quite different in the market for crude and other commodities. Despite a surge in sales of electric vehicles, global demand for oil will continue to rise. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects the world will use 100 million barrels of oil per day in 2018, up from 98.5 million this year.
Demand for industrial and precious metals will also rise. But the beleaguered mining industry will have difficulty meeting it. In 2018, we could be facing record supply deficits in copper, silver, and other metals...
- Source, Seeking Alpha, Read the Full Article Here
