Reuters

For those precious metal investors who think “All Official Data” is manipulated…. it isn’t.

• Win or Lose, Trump Has Already Left His Mark on Republican Primary (BBG)
• S&P 500 Futures Rise With Miners; Oil Erases Gains, Euro Drops (BBG)
• U.S. top court divided over affirmative action in college admissions (Reuters)
• San Bernardino Shooter Said to Have Planned an Attack in 2012 (WSJ)
• Gun buyer and gunman linked through marriage, previous plot (AP)

Gold is one of the few investments that every investor should have in their portfolio. We are now at the dangerous end-game period of a very bold but very reckless & disappointing experiment with the world's fiat (unbacked) currencies. If this experiment fails -- and we observe it's in the process of failing -- gold will provide one of the best forms of wealth insurance. But like all insurance products, it only works if you buy it before you need to rely on it.

On Tuesday, Wired and Gizmodo revealed the identity of the man they say is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Hours later, Australian authorities stormed his home and businesses in what was descrbed to reporters only as "an operation." According to the reports released yesterday, "Cold fish Craig" - as the man is known in the Austrailian suburb where he resides with his wife - may be in for a protracted standoff with the country's tax authorities.

People understand nothing lasts forever. The bottom does not last forever. You want to buy low and sell high. Not only are we skipping along the lows, perhaps we can go lower but there is true value  here - in all aspects - not only in the gold and silver but also in the natural resource sector. as a whole with bargains all over the place.

Following a roudy session in Congress that nearly dissolved into "chaos," the Brazilian Supreme Court suspended impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff until December 16. Meanwhile, annual inflation rose to 10.5% in November, the highest in 12 years as the country's stagflationary nightmare continues unabated.

• Gloomy mood prevails despite calmer commodities (Reuters)
• A Strong Dollar Hurts China More Than the U.S. (BBG)
• China Sets Yuan at Four-Year Low in ‘Stress Test’ (WSJ)
• Dow Chemical and DuPont Are in Advanced Talks to Merge (WSJ)
• Yahoo scraps plan to spin off Alibaba stake (Reuters)

"I think it was really a massive failure of market analysts," Nowotny told a news conference, adding that those analysts should have paid more attention to economic fundamentals.  The comedy continued when Nowotny said that "the ECB can and will not let itself be pushed by the markets," adding that "it’s not our job to correct wrong expectations of individuals” and “it wasn’t the view of the whole market." Which, of course, was a lie.

"Prosper is the market leader in peer-to-peer lending-a popular alternative to traditional loans and investing options. Prosper allows people to invest in each other in a way that is financially and socially rewarding. We cut out the middleman to connect people who need money with those who have money to invest...so everyone prospers!"

"For years since 9/11, U.S. and Western officials have mostly looked the other way at all this ideological support for extremism: Saudi oil was just too important to the global economy, even though many of these Saudi petro-dollars were underwriting repression at home and the growth of Salafist fundamentalism abroad."

With the oil price collapse accelerating (Brent just dropped below $40 for the first time since Feb 2009), the currencies of major oil-exporting nations - such as the Canadian dollar and Norwegian crown - are plunging...

"Training at this camp began with the knowledge of the Iraqi Defence Ministry and police. Those who make different interpretations of the Turkish military presence in Mosul are involved in deliberate provocation."

"ISIS is an enemy of my country. ISIS is a disgrace. It puts my religion in a bad light. They don't represent Islam and I do not consider them to be Muslims.”