Many investors still view gold as a safe-haven investment, but there remains much confusion regarding the extent to which the gold market is vulnerable to manipulation through short-term rigged market trades, and long-arm central bank interventions. First, it remains unclear whether or not much of the gold that is being sold as shares and in certificates actually exists. Second, paper gold can theoretically be printed into infinity just like regular currency — although private-sector paper-gold sellers have considerably less leeway in this regard than central banks.

Tech, Biotech, and Social Media stocks have been seeing much higher stock prices while the overall stock market attempts to set a new high. Companies like Facebook and Apple are building lavish new corporate headquarters, while Google’s plans have been denied by the Mountain View city council. Such building behavior is often associated with “tops” in stock markets so we could be looking at a “correction” in stocks (down 20%) six months or so from now.

THE AUSTRIAN: How did you first become familiar with the Mises Institute?

George Selgin has written an interesting post on Hayek and free banking. Unfortunately, his otherwise instructive  post is marred by a few lapses of scholarship.