Frank Holmes's Contributions

What do you get when you mix negative real interest rates with stimulative money supply efforts by global central banks? An exceptionally potent formula for higher gold prices that could send gold to the unimaginable level of $10,000 an ounce.

With the world's largest oil producers requiring higher oil prices to balance their fiscal budgets, it's unlikely we'll see a downturn in prices any time soon.

Resurgent investment lifted global gold demand 6 percent from the previous year to just over 1,000 tons during the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest Gold Demand Trends Report from the World Gold Council (WGC). The potent cocktail of inflationary pressures in the emerging world and the European sovereign debt fiasco left investors searching for a safe haven—they looked for it in gold.

Oil prices rose about 5 percent last week to finish only a dollar short of regaining triple-digit status. Since dipping below $80 per barrel on October 3, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices have increased almost 28 percent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last week that the Federal funds rate will stay near zero for now. He reasoned that the “low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run” would likely “warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.”

Exciting changes are coming in the world of energy for Poland. New developments in shale gas technology have the potential to cause a major shift in the way the European natural gas market works.

Despite a recent slowdown in consumption, China still drives demand for commodites and growth in the global economy. Unless investors get spooked today during Halloween trading, the S&P 500 Index will post its second-best month since the post-World War II era, according to a report published by GaveKal Research.

Right now, there are planes full of travelers heading to Vegas with dreams of striking it rich. These starry-eyed gamblers would greatly improve their odds by learning how to count cards. Yet, as we learned in the movie 21, where six MIT students team with Micky Rosa to become expert card counters and “bring down the house,” this technique carries some severe consequences such as being banned from the casino for life.

There’s value in the market. That’s the message the market is sending through the recent strategic acquisitions in the energy and gold mining spaces. Last week it was announced that Sinopec, a large Chinese oil and gas company, is purchasing Canadian energy company Daylight Energy for $2.1 billion in cash.

The third quarter’s carnage was ubiquitous and almost universal. Only three out of 94 country indices (Venezuela, Tunisia and Jamaica) were positive in U.S. dollar terms during the quarter, according to Bloomberg. The average return for the 9,402 mutual funds tracked by Morningstar was a negative 17.8 percent for the quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced its worst quarter since the beginning of 2009. The S&P 500 Index fell 14 percent during the third quarter, with the materials sector as the worst performer, falling 25 percent.

If you didn’t pay much attention to global markets last week, here’s what you missed…fears that the global economy is dangerously close to a recession due to the financial crisis in the eurozone and flatlining growth in the U.S. sent assets of all shapes and sizes into a tailspin.

Increases in demand from China and India have driven a 7.5 percent increase in demand for gold jewelry during the first half of the year despite a 25 percent increase in the price, according to a report released this week from GFMS. However, much of India’s potential gold demand remains untapped.

Balance is crucial goal for China's economy—the economy must not grow too quickly or risk a sharp correction. Just this year, China has weathered an epic battle with inflation, drought and floods, poor global macroeconomic conditions, massive accounting/corruption scandals and a tragic accident on one of its marquee achievements—the country's high speed rail system.

It's not exactly the good, the bad and the ugly but today's market has both headwinds and tailwinds. We think the tailwinds are stronger.

Further examination of the performance gap between gold miners and gold bullion prices. Also, explaining how we at U.S. Global Investors evaluate mining companies.

Negative real interest rates and demand from Asia is why gold demand remains strong. That said, gold is due for a correction. It would be a non-event to see a 10 percent drop. This would actually be a healthy development for markets by shaking out the short-term speculators while the long-term story remains on solid ground.

These past few days, fear has reigned king over global markets and driving quick, dramatic pullbacks. Though the outlook for the U.S. economy and Western Europe remains unclear, there are still several ways investors can make the volatile markets work in their favor.

Gold prices have taken off the past few weeks and we haven't yet reached a historically strong period for prices. What does this mean for gold prices?

Long-term supply/demand fundamentals indicate market will remain tight, keeping prices at high levels.