For more than a decade, author and academic Dr. Jeremy Siegel had the Midas touch.  His book “Stocks For the Long Run,” first published in October 1996, surveyed more than 200 years of stock market history both in the United States and abroad and made a compelling case that common stocks are the very best long-term investment vehicle. Better than cash. Better than bonds. Better than real estate. Better than gold.

China has stopped stockpiling metals, according to reports in the Chinese media. Will this put the cap on the recent strength in base metals prices? The AFP reports that, “China has been building its inventories of metals, including 235,000 tonnes of copper, over recent months, Caijing magazine reported on its website over the weekend, citing Yu Dongming, an official with the state economic planner.”

On October 29, 2008 a pipeline company, Western Gas (NYSE:WES), announced plans that made its shareholders very happy. I wasn’t a shareholder at the time but its announcement caught my attention and I began following the company.

It was a very uneventful Thursday…at least as far as gold and silver prices were concerned. Both metals rose and fell gently from the beginning of Thursday’s trading in the Far East…right up until the London silver fix 13 hours later…which is noon in London and 7:00 a.m. in New York. By that time, their respective prices were both back to almost unchanged on the day. But once the silver fix was in, gold tacked on about $7…and silver gained around 16 cents by the end of New York trading at 5:15 p.m. A certain amount of this rise may have had something to do with the falling US dollar…which began its descent shortly before 11:00 a.m. in New York.

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Amero to Replace Dollar as North American Currency. What will take the place of the dollar?

Prices of most natural resources will go up…a lot. That’s why lots of bears on the U.S. dollar suggest buying gold. We are sympathetic to this idea, but we’d suggest a slightly different strategy: Sell bonds. Buy energy.

Trust in Our Financial System. Yesterday, the Dow fell 187 points. Oil slipped to $70. The dollar rose to $1.37. And gold lost another $12 – to $928. The rally may run through the summer; it may not.

Once again, gold and silver mirrored each other’s price moves all through Thursday trading around the world. The high in the Far East in both metals was about 3:30 p.m. in Hong Kong…and from there, the trend was down. This trend picked up some steam about 10:00 a.m. in London and continued to accelerate to the down-side right through the Comex open. But around 8:45 a.m. in New York, gold and silver found a savior, as both metals turned on a dime…with gold picking up a hair over $20…and silver up 66 cents…from bottom-to-top during Comex trading.

Fed’s Beige Book disappoints…Dollar rebounds on the day…Currencies come back on the night…RBNZ leaves rates unchanged…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

The bond vigilantes have spoken. They’ve cried in a powerful chorus, “Ehhh… we’re a little annoyed.”