Eric Sprott, Sprott Asset Manangement LP writes: While most have been conveniently blaming the tepid first quarter -2.9% GDP growth figure on the weather, we believe that it is just another symptom of a much deeper malaise. As we have argued many times before (see, for example, the March 2014 Markets at a Glance), the U.S. economy has been on life support,

Pater Tenebrarumwrites for Acting-Man.com: There Could be Some Bubble Risk Somewhere … Maybe …

Photograph by Dominique Faget/AFP via Getty Images Carol Matlack writes for Bloomberg: A piece of wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is pictured on July 18 in Shaktarsk, the day after it crashed... Russians awoke on Friday to news reports that bumbling Ukrainian troops had shot down a Malaysia Airlines (MAS:MK) jet after mistaking it for President Vladimir Putin’s official plane. Another theory: The Ukrainians intentionally shot down the jet at close range as a “planned provocation.” Or maybe there wasn’t a crash at all, and the bodies were those of passengers from Malaysia Air flight M370, which disappeared in March. Most of

Former OMB Director under Ronald Reagan, David Stockman, weighs in, and we mean weighs in heavy with the CNBC Futures Now crew.

Peoples militia soldiers in the occupied village of Marinovka, near the town of Snezhnoye. (RIA Novosti / Andrey Stenin) Russia considers the latest package of sanctions against it issued by the US as revenge for the failure of Washington’s schemes in Ukraine and blackmail. Moscow reserves the right to retaliate.

Foreign-exchange traders detect a softening inBank of JapanGovernor Haruhiko Kuroda’s stance toward the stronger yen.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - July 18, 2014) - Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX:PVG)(NYSE:PVG) (Pretivm or the Company), has filed a final short form base shelf prospectus (the Prospectus) with the securities commissions in each of the provinces and territories of Canada, except Quebec, and a corresponding shelf registration statement on Form F-10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the U.S./Canada Multijurisdictional Disclosure System.

-- Nikkei in biggest one-day drop in 2 months as downing of Malaysia jet hits mood * Geopolitical concern could have mid-term impact - fund manager ...* Oil companies outperform on rising oil prices ... By Ayai Tomisawa

David Stout writes for Time. He begins with a sub header: Three intercepted conversations appear to pin the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to rebel groups based in southeastern Ukraines Donetsk region...

TORONTO, ONTARIO - (July 17, 2014) - McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX) is pleased to announce production results for Q2 2014. Production in Q2 was 31,200 gold eq. oz(1)(2) comprised of 18,863 gold oz and 740,276 silver oz, consistent with guidance. This is a decrease of 8% compared to Q2 2013 and 3% compared to Q1 2014. Full-year guidance remains unchanged at 135,000-140,000 gold eq. oz as production is expected to increase in Q4, due to 1) 50% more processing capacity at El Gallo 1; and 2) higher grades at San José. Production costs will be reported in August 2014 with

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday congratulated the five BRICS countries for creating a new reserves fund that intends to challenge Western dominance in the global lender. The IMFs managing director, Christine Lagarde, said the lender would like to work with the BRICS in the new fund, which pools together $100 billion in reserves from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Our good friend Chris Powell, GATA, sent us this informative link: GoldSilverWorlds has a goodpostup summarising mytweetsand Al Korelininterviewabout theLBMA Forumin Singapore. Below are some additional notes I took which I didnt tweet or talk about.Zhang Bing Nan of China Gold Association (view his slideshere) when asked about the West to East flow gave what I think is a classic Chinese answer: the globe is round so what is East and what is West, which got a laugh. Other comments: no matter who you lend your dollars to it is not safe; not the same with gold fortunate we have different perspectives on

Indian Silver Demand Strong As Gold Is Curbed. Precious metals analysts have received a few gifts from the authorities this year. In January the Swiss Customs Administration (SCA) decided to disclose their gold trade data country specific (previously only the total import and exportnumbersof bullion wereavailable), also in January British customs (HMRC) decided to add gold in their trade database (in previous years UK gold trade could only be tracked throughEurostat), and this week the Indian customs department (DGCIS)published their trade statistics of April with full disclosure of the exact tonnage of gold and silver that was imported and exported. In prior reports

Bron Suchecki writes for his own blog called Gold Chat. Bron is connected with the Perth Mint down under. Bron writes: GLD has someamendmentsto its terms up for vote, one of which isthat creations may only be made after the required gold deposit has been allocated to the Trust Allocated Account from the Trust Unallocated Account(hat tipI Shrugged; seeherefor an explanation of the existing creation process). What is interesting is the explanation of why they are making this amendment:This amendment provides additional security for Shareholders by eliminating potential risks related to issuing baskets of Shares against unallocated gold if the Custodian was to

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - July 16, 2014) - GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GQC)(FRANKFURT: M1W)(BERLIN: M1W) (GoldQuest or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has filed the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Technical Report for the Companys 100% owned Romero Gold-Copper Project in the Dominican Republic, on SEDAR.The PEA study was led by Micon International Limited.