The Gold Economy

By Tony D’Altorio

The United States has become an exporting nation once again. But this time, it’s exporting inflation thanks to Ben Bernanke and his QE1 and QE2.

The countries affected the most, naturally, are those pegged to the U.S. dollar. Like China.

A weakened dollar means pricier commodities across the board. And that inevitably means food and fuel prices going up as well.

Chinese government authorities have tackled rising inflation by raising interest rates twice already in the past few months. And they’ll likely have to hike them again in the new year.

If not

Amid a rising precious metals environment, silver ETFs are perhaps among the brightest stars.

Don’t get us wrong; nearly all precious and base metals are hot at the moment, and have been taking their rally on an extended duration.

Deborah Levine at MarketWatch shares this information:

• Silver is up to its highest levels since at least 1984
• Gold has gained around 29% this year, but silver has gained 82%
• Copper has gained 29% this year
• Palladium is at its strongest level in nine years

Carolyn Cui and Robert Guy Matthews at The Wall Street Journal report that silver demand

Gold

The final week of 2010 has seen a continuation of trends seen in markets throughout the year with equities and commodities continuing to rise. Investors increasingly wary of inflation are pushing commodity prices – particularly metals – higher, with copper hitting a new record nominal high, palladium reaching a nine-year high and silver at a new 30-year record nominal high at $30.90/oz (€23.25/oz and £19.86/oz).

Gold is currently trading at $1,411.15/oz, €1,064.62/oz and £913.90/oz.

Silver’s technicals remain strong with the trend remaining firmly up and the fundamentals remain

By Scott Rubin

Silver has to be in the running for investment of 2010. In fact, along with Apple (AAPL), silver probably WAS the investment of the year. It looks like the run may continue in the precious metal, which has returned around 81% year-to-date.

Silver was hitting new highs again on Wednesday. COMEX silver futures have risen 1.13% to $30.665. The iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) was trading up another 1.29% to $29.91.

One of the primary drivers in the silver market is the utter disbelief that many investors have