Venezuela to develop Cristinas gold mine with China

Venezuela will develop its huge Las Cristinas gold project in partnership with Chinese state investment company CITIC, President Hugo Chavez announced on Friday. The government last year cancelled Canadian company Crystallex International's permit to develop the long-troubled mine project south of the Orinoco river.

Official statistics Don’t lie to me, Argentina

Why The Ecoomist is removing a figure from its indicators page

Treating China as an enemy

Washington (and the West) is deeply split over how to handle China's spectacular renaissance. This is by far the most important issue in 21st-century geopolitics. It is not one we can afford to get wrong, and errors made today may prove irreversible.

Bank Deposit Flows Show Money Leaking to Germany From Spain: Euro Credit

Money is leaking out of banks in southern Europe as customers scoop deposits out of Greece, Spain and Italy to move cash to less indebted nations such as Germany.

Gasoline Prices Are Not Rising, the Dollar Is Falling

Panic is in the air as gasoline prices move above $4.00 per gallon.

Spanish revolt brews as national economic rearmament begins in Europe

Spain's new prime minister has looked into the abyss and recoiled.

ECB's Mario Draghi magic corrupts bond markets

The European Central Bank's blitz of measures to stave off a credit crunch and shore up EMU states are profoundly distorting debt markets and may ultimately do more harm than good.

German showdown with IMF looms as Bundestag blocks rescue funds

Germany's ruling parties are to introduce a resolution in parliament blocking any further boost to the EU’s bail-out machinery, vastly complicating Greece’s rescue package and risking a major clash with the International Monetary Fund.

Price evolution

Rock & Stock Stats	Last	One Month Ago	One Year Ago
Gold	1761.00	1,656.00	1,379.00
Silver	34.44	30.41	30.61
Copper	3.83	3.73	4.48
Oil	106.01	100.70	85.05
Gold Producers (GDX)	55.82	53.18	58.45
Gold Junior Stocks (GDXJ)	28.84	26.36	38.68
Silver Stocks (SIL)	24.53	22.27	24.91
TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange)	12,623.36	12,232.83	14,136.15
TSX Venture	1,678.63	1,537.72	2,421.89

This is no permanent rescue for Greece

Eurozone-bailout: this-is-no-permanent-rescue-for-Greece.html

Greece: welcome to your lost decade

Lucas Papademos, the Greek prime minister, hailed Tuesday’s bailout package as an “historic day” for the country. But this is a “Horrible History”, not one to celebrate.

Greek debt accord hostage to political passions

Eurozone leaders have put off the day of reckoning for a few more months but the latest €130bn rescue package for Greece offers no path out of the crisis and is hostage to explosive political passions.

Miners haul up large-caps

Heavyweight miners led the index higher on Monday morning after China cut banks' reserve requirements to fuel growth.

China eases credit as property prices slide

China loosened monetary policy in a surprise move over the weekend, taking precautionary action to shore up the economy after a slew of weak data.

Can a return to the drachma save Greece as unemployment soars?

Greece’s unemployment bomb has detonated. After a deceptive calm, the surge in job losses since last summer is shocking even for those who never believed that combined fiscal and monetary contraction could possibly lead to any result other than ruin.

Germany bows to global pressure and signals Greek rescue deal

Europe’s key powers are on the brink of a €130bn (£108bn) debt deal to rescue Greece and avert the first sovereign default in Western Europe in over half a century.

Is Gold Money?… Don't Ask Ben Bernanke, Examine the Federal Reserve

If you really care about your financial future, here's something you need to know. It's about a story that received almost zero coverage from the mainstream press. I can't say that I am surprised. It involves gold. Thanks to requests by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Reserve has revealed unprecedented details concerning the personal holdings of its regional bank presidents. What they found is nothing short of stunning ...

China central bank in gold-buying push

The World Gold Council believes China’s central bank made significant gold purchases in the final months of 2011, contributing to a surge in the country’s imports.

China set to become world's biggest gold market

China is poised to overtake India as the world's biggest gold market this year, as rising incomes fuel demand for the precious metal and a weak rupee diminishes Indian purchases, the industry body said.

Shanghai shipping slump as IMF warns China on euro slump

Shanghai shipping volumes contracted sharply in January as Europe's debt crisis curbed demand for Asian goods, stoking fresh doubts about the strength of the Chinese economy.

Forget Greece, Traders Are Worried About Something That Could Send Us Back To The Middle Ages

A Greek default has been on everyone's minds lately. But the traders Cashin has talked to think that it's just the tip of the iceberg. The bigger fear is what happens in the credit default swap (CDS) markets. No one knows how big it is, who the counterparties are, and, worst of all, whether the CDS contracts will actually trigger in what many would consider a default

Moody’s Weighs Rating Cuts for Major Banks

Moody’s Investors Service has put Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS and more than 100 other financial institutions on notice. Citing increasingly challenging market conditions, the credit rating agency said it would review its grades for 114 banks based across Europe, as well as eight other financial institutions based elsewhere, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Nomura.

US economy is stepping on the gas

Employment, profit and car sales figures are looking much brighter across the Atlantic than in Britain.

Greece faces death by a thousand cuts unless it leaves the euro

Lucas Papademos was suitably apocalyptic. If the terms of the second Greek bailout were not approved, the Greek prime minister warned over the weekend, there would be a "disorderly bankruptcy that would create conditions of economic chaos and social explosion.

Euro crisis averted? Don’t believe a word of it

Greece may be clinging on, but the eurozone’s real problems remain resolutely unaddressed.

Just as Greece complies at last, Europe pulls the plug

Officials from the EU and the International Monetary Fund made two grave errors when they swooped into Greece in mid-2010 and dictated the now hated "Memorandum".

Greek economy spirals down as EU forces final catharsis

A Greek default and traumatic ejection from the euro moved a step closer last night after eurozone finance ministers cancelled a crucial meeting, accusing Athens of failing to flesh out austerity cuts.

Germany's Carthaginian terms for Greece

The last time Germany needed a bail-out from world creditors, it secured better terms than shattered Greece last week.

ECB's Draghi shuns rate cuts, boosts bank bazooka

The European Central Bank (ECB) has held interest rates at 1pc and doused hopes of further cuts despite a credit contraction over the winter and falls in the M3 money supply.

Trigger-happy central banks spark bond euphoria

Corporate bonds have enjoyed a spectacular rally over the last month as central banks flood the world with liquidity, and cash-rich companies bask in glory as gilt-edged assets.

Greek trump card fails as stronger Europe shrugs off break-up threat

Europe’s dominant powers and institutions are for the first time willing to risk a Greek default and ejection from the euro if Athens refuses to comply with austerity demands, calculating that the eurozone system is now strong enough to withstand a contagion shock.

An orderly EMU break-up, à la Française

Salut souverainistes. For those wanting more details on the euro break-up plan drafted by French economists, here is the link to the L’Observatoire de L’Europe website.

Bundesbank sinks deeper into debt saving Europe

Germany's Bundesbank has entirely exhausted its stock of private assets and run up a quarter of a trillion euros in liabilities propping up the eurozone system, testing the political limits of EMU solidarity in Germany.

Gold Is The Hottest Currency In The World

The price of gold is roaring back from its latest temporary correction, sending the bears into full withdrawal. If you sold your gold in December as it fell to $1525 an ounce, you’re probably feeling foolish at the incredible $210 rise to $1735– a 15% move in no time at all.

Survivalist George Soros

“. . .’At times like these, survival is the most important thing,’ he [George Soros] says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of ‘evil.’ Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.”

Not Much of a Debate: Inflation is Part of the Plan

Forget about lost decades. Forecasts that we'll be turning Japanese couldn't be further from the truth. Here's why. It's simple, really. Deflation is not in the interest of anybody in power, so it's very unlikely to happen. The U.S. Federal Reserve's policy move to target inflation last week just re-emphasizes this point. That's not to say deflation is a bad thing for everybody. For savers and those living on fixed incomes, deflation would be a very good thing indeed. Their income would gradually increase in real terms, and their savings would become steadily more valuable. Holders of Treasury bonds would also gain mightily from deflation. However, the very people who would gain from deflation are not in power. The People's Bank of China can't vote in the U.S. (yet!), Ron Paul is not president, and there is not an organized and powerful savers' political movement. After all, this is not Germany or Japan! Meanwhile, in the real world, the U.S. government is spending far more than it takes in, and its debt is rising to dangerous levels. This has been happening on a bipartisan basis since at least 2001. The Tea Party may have elected a Congress committed to reducing spending, but none of the battles of 2011 actually reduced spending - they just slowed the rate of growth somewhat. Since much of the debt is borrowed long-term at low interest rates, the best way to reduce its burden on future generations is to encourage inflation. Savers may lose out on the deal, but to those in Washington, the idea of inflating our way out of debt is irresistible. Of course, sometimes we can depend on an independent central bank to resist this temptation. But at present, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is committed to near-zero interest rates in his fight against deflation. Now you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to realize that, if the power structure is committed to at least moderate inflation, inflation is what you are going to get. In fact, it is already brewing.

EU leaders holding up vital Greek debt deal

Pressure from European Union leaders for more fundamental reforms in Greece is holding up the vital debt deal that would mean private creditors to the country taking losses of as much as 70pc.

Is the West finished? Perhaps not quite

For me, the defining image from Davos this year was the sight of Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, holding up an expensive-looking, designer leather holdall and saying: "I am here with my little bag to collect a bit of money."

Davos 2012: Now it's the West's turn to listen to wise words from the East

With his immaculately tailored suits and signature dicky bow, Donald Tsang, chief executive of Hong Kong, makes an unlikely prophet.

JPMorgan's Dimon says bank stayed in eurozone periphery for 'social reasons'

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, is sticking with decisions to invest heavily in the eurozone “for social reasons”.

Davos 2012: Can the Germans stop being German?

For all Angela Merkel’s tough talk, she will eventually be forced to accept the inevitable on the euro crisis.

German jobs miracle as Latin unemployment soars

Germany is enjoying the greatest jobs boom in 20 years even as unemployment rises to post-EMU highs across southern Europe, stretching the euro's North-South divide ever closer to breaking point.

Mario Draghi, the Latin Bloc’s monetarist avenger

The eurozone money supply is contracting at an accelerating pace on all fronts. The broad M3 gauge has fallen for the last three months in a row. A slump is already baked in the pie.

Portuguese storm gathers as EU leaders fight over Greece

Surging borrowing costs in Portugal have raised the spectre of a second full-fledged contagion crisis in the eurozone, eclipsing the latest efforts by European Union leaders in Brussels to agree on Europe's bail-out machinery and a strategy for Greece.

Investors fear mounting losses in Portugal as second rescue looms

Portugal is fighting a losing battle to contain its public debt and may be forced to impose haircuts of up to 50pc on private creditors, according to a top German institute.