Clif Droke's Contributions

Gold has so far enjoyed a terrific start to the New Year, most recently closing at its highest level late October 2013. It has even succeeded in closing above its psychologically significant 200-day moving average for the first time in over a year.

Why gold and Bitcoin are heading in divergent directions, and what the near-term portends for the yellow metal.

In view of the many long-term cycles bottoming this year, can investors expect a repeat of the 2008 credit crash?

Two cycles, the 8-year and 40-year, are making their presence felt in emerging markets. History says this will also spill over into U.S. equities.

Are investors too bullish on the stock market’s prospects for 2014 and too bearish for gold’s? It would certainly seem that way based on the near unanimity of analyst consensus. Most institutional analysts have published bullish forecasts for equities in 2014 and a bearish, or...

A look at two areas where hedge fund activity could have major repercussions in the year ahead.

Is it a bubble or mania destined for collapse? Or can it beat the odds and become a viable alternative to the dollar?

In this commentary we explore the relationship between gold/silver and the upcoming 120-year cycle bottom in 2014.

Market events such as crashes and panics are thought by economists to be random, unpredictable events. To the contrary, such events are nothing if not predictable and often arrive with recognizable regularity.

One of the questions investors have been asking lately concerns the outlook for the U.S. dollar index. Investors are understandably concerned by the dollar’s weakness and worry that perhaps that any notable increase in inflation could lead to further erosion in the dollar’s value.

An examination of the parallels between 1929 and today yields some intriguing clues for what may happen to the stock market in 2014.

An overlooked long-term cycle explains why the middle class is shrinking. We also examine China and the short-term gold outlook.

A flood of bubble-related news stories suggests that the widely feared market collapse is not an imminent threat.

Why analysts have the cause-and-effect relationship between gold and QE wrong. Also we examine the silver near-term outlook.

Market mavens have increasingly turned their talk to a possible “melt-up” scenario in the stock market. The big fear entering 2014 is that another runaway freight train-type stock market, like the one preceding the 2008 crash, is gathering momentum.

The shocking confession of a former Federal Reserve official regarding the QE program. Also an update on the gold/dollar short-term scenario.

Is there such thing as too little inflation? To listen to some economists the answer is an emphatic “no!” Fed chief Ben Bernanke certainly doesn’t believe in the concept of low inflation. Neither does ECB president Mari Draghi.

At least three important measures of investor sentiment point to a potential top on the near horizon for equities.

Gold's test of a critical long-term moving average is Wall Street's "line in the sand" between an interim bull and bear market. What will it take for gold to re-launch the bull trend?

Statistics can sometimes, as we all know, be very misleading. Take the unemployment report for example. If you examine the numbers out of context, you’d be forced to conclude that workforce participation has steadily increased over the last four years.