Gold and silver prices powered higher, gold setting new six-month highs and silver up to four-month highs. Gold ended $24 (1.9%) higher and silver finished up by 74 cents (5%), its best weekly gain in more than a year. As a result of silver’s relative outperformance, the silver/gold price ratio tightened in by more than two and half full points to just over 83 to 1. While this is the most fully valued silver has been relative to gold in three months, the fact is that silver is still dirt cheap relative to gold, as it has been for several years and still offers the opportunity of superior investment performance in the long run. While the stock market bounced back from steep losses of recent weeks, daily volatility remains very high, in stark contrast to low volatility in precious metals. In fact, when I compare the extreme price volatility in…

I believe that I have been as persistent as possible in pointing the finger at JPMorgan for manipulating the price of silver (and gold) since it took over Bear Stearns nearly eleven years ago. Over this time JPMorgan has used its controlling influence as the largest short seller on the COMEX to not only guarantee that it never took a trading loss, but also, since 2011, to accumulate an enormous amount of physical metal at the artificially depressed prices it created. Given the time over which this great fraud has been perpetrated and the stunning quantities of money and metal involved, what JPMorgan has pulled off has to rank as the largest market manipulation in history. Now that the US Department of Justice is investigating JPMorgan’s role in manipulating precious metals traded on the COMEX, there exists the best chance to date that the silver manipulation will finally be terminated.…

Gold and silver prices rose this week, virtually alone in sea of sinking asset prices; although the gains were trimmed at week’s end. Gold was much stronger than silver, up $16 (1.3%), notching a fresh five month high, while silver ended up only 6 cents (0.4%). As a result of gold’s outperformance, the silver/gold price ratio widened out by nearly a full point to just under 85.7 to 1. For those interested in relative value (something that should include everyone), silver is the bargain of a lifetime (still). It was good to see precious metals hold up in a week where the attention was squarely focused on suddenly declining stock market values and assorted disturbing political developments, since there have been times in the past where metals prices have sunk along with financial assets. Invariably, at those previous times someone would always be quick to associate metals selling as occurring…

I still maintain that the Department of Justice’s announcement on Nov 6 of a guilty plea by an ex-trader from JPMorgan for manipulating prices in COMEX precious metals futures is the biggest news possible. The actual guilty criminal plea is news enough, but the real takeaway is that the DOJ left no doubt that this was very much an ongoing investigation. Not only does this investigation zero in exclusively on JPMorgan, it is a stark departure from the last decade’s mirror image exclusive hands off treatment of JPM by the primary commodities regulator, the CFTC. A more extreme turnabout is hard to conceive. The only real question (aside from timing) is if the DOJ is focusing on JPMorgan’s real crime of manipulating silver prices downward since it took over Bear Stearns in 2008 or if it is just looking at the short term, but still manipulative, effects of spoofing. That’s…

Gold and silver finished lower for the week, with gold down $11 (0.9%) and silver down by six cents (0.4%). As a result of silver’s slight relative outperformance, the silver/gold price ratio tightened in a bit to just under 85 to 1, still sky-high and underscoring silver’s dirt cheap (and artificial) price. Silver had actually caught up a bit with gold through Thursday, in that it closed at multi-month price highs on a daily basis by the slimmest of margins. But rather than indicate any real price strength in silver (yet), the slight new highs merely highlighted the extremely narrow and highly-manipulated price range that has been imposed on silver, largely by the crooks at JPMorgan. Since August, JPMorgan has dictated that silver trade in a less than a one-dollar trading range, in order to continue to milk illegal trading profits from COMEX paper trading and pick up physical metal…

If there is a single most sensible rule in the investment world, it is to forego schemes that promise quick riches. Invariably, if something sounds too good to be true, there’s good reason for that. Yet at the same time, such pitches can be hard to resist, particularly considering that there are everyday examples of overnight gains enjoyed by a few. Who hasn’t wished for advanced knowledge of a takeover that causes a stock to double in a day; including, of course, not being charged with insider trading? The sensible investment approach has always been to focus on the long term, including a good measure of common sense and the consideration of true value compared to price. Admittedly, the sensible investment approach hasn’t worked in silver, at least for the past seven years, as prices are down near 70% from the peak in early 2011. Up until that peak, silver…