Jon Nadler, Metals Market Analyst at Kitco, was one of my co-speakers in Montreal last weekend. I have known Jon for a few years now. In the midst of the emotionally charged commodities space, I have come to respect Jon's commitment to fact-based analysis. His recent interview on gold is worth a read:

"What we really see is a momentum- and index-fund-driven speculative move that started almost on cue on Sept. 1. They've been piling in, hand over fist, with margin positions and futures positions that have now mushroomed to a level that's unreal—historic highs, on the order of 750 tons of long positions. They outnumbered the shorts 9:1 as of the week before last; it has since narrowed to 7:1 [as of Tuesday, Oct. 27]. Still, that's way distorted.

But I have to say from the get-go, I'm not a gold bear. I know that anybody who doesn't say "$2,000 gold!" is automatically a bear, but I'm just a realist who looks at supply and demand."

Read the full article: Gold is not in a Bull Market.   more »

The Center for Strategic International Studies hosted Richard C. Koo, the world renowned chief economist of Nomura Research Institute, for a speech titled “Great Recessions- Lessons Learned from Japan.”

This is one of the most insightful discussions I have heard in a while. Listen to the Audio here. As I have mentioned previously, Japan is different from the US in that they have maintained a restrictive immigration policy and low birth rate throughout their crisis which has amplified their stagnate growth.

However there are a few key points that stand out as potentially similar:...   more »