On April 19th China introduced a yuan-denominated gold benchmark on the Shanghai Gold Exchange in a move to become an even bigger player in the global gold market. Gold transactions to be conducted without dollars, separate from the New York and London metals exchanges that have dominated the gold market for decades. Will that be bullish for gold as so many analysts think?]

Gold investors have been slow and cautious to adopt crypto-currencies such as bitcoin seeing them as false competition to real money such as gold and silver. The major argument from gold bugs has been that bitcoin is not backed by anything tangible [but] that has all changed with the recent introduction of Digix - the gold standard in peer-to-peer digital assets because it is literally backed by gold.

78% of NFL players, 60% of NBA players and a very large percentage of MLB players (4x that of the average U.S. citizen) file bankruptcy within five years of retirement. Let's take a look at 5 possible reasons why the average athlete is destined to go (quickly) from fame to shame.

I believe we’re much more likely to see another round of quantitative easing before we see a rate hike. John Williams of the San Francisco Fed hinted at this when he said the Fed could “clearly” lower rates again if needed, and use other tools “if necessary.”

Insider buying can be a strong indication of a mismatch between the current trading share price of a firm and its intrinsic value (what the shares should be trading at). Management, by far, has the best understanding of their business, and hence most often have the best opinions about valuation. Thus, purchasing their own stock is often a good sign for investors, which could be the case for shareholders of the companies on our list today.

You have alternatives for protecting your portfolio, and you can decide when you want to start. Here are a dozen choices.

Many of our return assumptions are now at or near post-crisis lows, with many expected returns below historical averages. These assumptions reflect high current valuations and lower global growth over the next five years, in line with a long, flat U.S. recovery.

Margin debt right now is sending a very clear signal that investors have recently become very greedy suggesting that a new bear market is likely underway which could culminate in a decline of at least 20% in the S&P 500 and, because of the sheer size of the potential forced supply that could come to market in this sort of environment, could easily be just the beginning.

Gold and gold-related investments will be exploding higher in the coming weeks. Here's why.

Governments will need and want and will engineer higher gold prices because it is their primary method of dealing with otherwise unserviceable debt. Higher gold prices will have the effect of debasing/devaluing their respective currencies which is the result they're looking for. Dramatically cheaper currencies mean that the debt can be serviced much more readily.