Business

"Gold prices to reach $1,400 before the end of the year" - GoldCore

by MarketWatch

Gold finished sharply higher on Monday, recouping roughly half of last week’s loss, as declines in the U.S. stock market and growing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea lifted prices for the yellow metal to the highest settlement in more than a week.

S&P futures are flat after Monday’s drop in the S&P 500 where a rout in Apple weighed on tech companies and tensions with North Korea persist; Asian stocks are modestly lower while Europe has shaken off the Korean crisis and is in the green on the back of a sharp drop in the EURUSD which has tumbled below 1.18 as the USD rises ahead of much anticipated speeches by the Fed Chair and the French president.

With emerging markets the best performing conventional asset class in 2017 by a wide margin (excluding cryptocurrencies of course), with a total return of nearly 50% YTD, performance not seen since 2009...

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, is taking a serious look at Bitcoin. As cash use plummets and the amount of currency in circulation dwindles, central banks are looking to cryptocurrencies as government-backed money.

In Sweden, the number of banknotes and coins in circulation has fallen to its lowest level in three decades.

Authored by Louis Cammarosano via Smaulgld.com,

• China’s crackdown on crypto exchanges highlights the issue with centralized crypto exchanges.
• Decentralized crypto exchanges, like local bitcoins gain favor after China’s crackdown.
• Atomic Swaps bypass exchanges altogether.

Centralized vs Decentralized Exchanges