The just-concluded Group 20 (G20) meeting left us with a chorus of very “prudent” governments and central bankers singing the praises of easy monetary and fiscal conditions. So where can we take refuge when all the central banks in the world print money and governments run deficits in order to spend like drunken sailors? The answer is gold.

Fortunately for us, we foresaw this scenario a while ago. On April 20, I recommended that investors diversify their portfolios by adding the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE: GLD).  The fund is up about 14% since that recommendation, but it’s not yet time to sell, as there are still a number of factors working in gold’s favor.

For starters, there is more and more talk of the U.S. dollar losing some of its luster as a reserve currency.  But this debate is moot for the moment.  The reality is

[Editor's Note: Fifteen trades. All profitable. Since launching his Geiger Indextrading service late last year, Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald is a perfect 14 for 14, meaning he's closed every single one of his trades at a profit. And he did this during one of the most volatile periods for the U.S. stock market since the Great Depression. Fitz-Gerald says the ongoing financial crisis has changed the investing game forever, and has created a completely new set of rules that investors must understand to survive and profit in this new era. Check out our latest insights on these new rules, this new market environment, and this new service, the Geiger Index.]

China made headlines around the world this week when it revealed that its foreign reserves had eclipsed the $2 trillion market for the first time, rising by a record …

China made headlines around the world this week when it revealed that its foreign reserves had eclipsed the $2 trillion market for the first time, rising by a record $178 billion in the second quarter – thanks to a flood of “hot money” that flowed into the world’s most promising economy.

But the “hottest” investment money may soon be flowing from China back into the United States – thanks to an accompanying development that didn’t even make the news (let alone headlines) here in this country. This will translate into windfall profits for U.S. investors with holdings in the “right” kinds of companies, and in the long run should bolster the U.S. dollar.

This other, below-the-radar development was China’s decision to relax the rules that guide its company’s overseas investments. In a clear attempt to boost investments beyond its borders, China has changed some of its rules to make it easier for

In the currency market, the dollar was marginally lower against the euro. Late Monday, the euro was trading at $1.4078 vs. $1.4068 on Friday.

“The U.S. dollar has started the week a touch firmer, with renewed concerns over the global recovery helping the greenback ahead of a busy week” of economic data, wrote strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman.

With the July 4th weekend ahead, the Labor Department will release the closely-watched tally of non-farm payroll losses a day early, on Thursday. Economists are projecting a net loss of about 325,000 jobs in June. Any strong variance from that figure is likely to have repercussions.

But if there are further indications that the ‘green shoots’ scenario is correct, will that necessarily have a positive effect on the buck? Many doubt it, even though a strengthening economy should portend a stronger greenback.

However, “The past seven years have proven each time U.S. data emerged on

In the currency market, the dollar lost some more ground to the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4068 vs. $1.3991 on Thursday.

China took center stage as Marketwatch.com reported that “the People’s Bank of China’s annual financial stability report repeated an earlier call by central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan for the development of a new super-sovereign currency that would largely take the place of the dollar…

“The Chinese central bank’s comments come after Chinese government officials had played down concerns over the dollar’s reserve-currency role following a visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month.

“ ‘There may be signs here of tensions mounting between the PBOC’s economic concerns over China’s holdings of dollars and the Chinese government’s diplomatic reasons’ for toning down their criticism, said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange.

“The central bank is ‘still clearly worried about the

In the currency market, the dollar lost some more ground to the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4068 vs. $1.3991 on Thursday.

China took center stage as Marketwatch.com reported that “the People’s Bank of China’s annual financial stability report repeated an earlier call by central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan for the development of a new super-sovereign currency that would largely take the place of the dollar…

“The Chinese central bank’s comments come after Chinese government officials had played down concerns over the dollar’s reserve-currency role following a visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month.

“ ‘There may be signs here of tensions mounting between the PBOC’s economic concerns over China’s holdings of dollars and the Chinese government’s diplomatic reasons’ for toning down their criticism, said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange.

“The central bank is ‘still clearly worried about the

The greenback surges on an confidence from an unlikely ally,  686 billion reasons for Japan not to laugh at the U.S. dollar’s fate,  Lessons from the political obituaries and plenty more…

Hoorah! The dollar is saved! How do we know? The Russian finance minister told us so!

The dollar is in “good shape” according to Alexei Kudrin, who cautioned the Group of Eight conference in Lecce, Italy, over the weekend that, “It’s too early to speak of an alternative [to the U.S. dollar].”

Even politicians from the Former Soviet Union have the right to their opinion, of course, just as we reserve the right to disrespectfully disagree. And, so it appears, do other members of the same, somewhat confused Rusky government. A few days before Kudrin was heard drumming up support for his unlikely ally at the G8 roundtable, Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev joined China’s central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan

[Editor's Note: Thirteen trades. All profitable. Since launching his Geiger Indextrading service late last year, Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald is a perfect 13 for 13, meaning he's closed every single one of his trades at a profit. And he did this in the face of one of the most-volatile periods since the Great Depression. Fitz-Gerald says the ongoing financial crisis has changed the investing game forever, and has created a completely new set of rules that investors must understand to survive and profit in this new era. Check out our latest insights on these new rules, this new market environment, and this new service, the Geiger Index.]

Two days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Chinese officials culminated yesterday (Tuesday) with both parties reaffirming their confidence in the value of the dollar, and the viability of U.S. debt.

Despite this …

In the past year, cash became a very appealing place to be. Believe us, we know–our own Hands-On tactical portfolio had nearly 60% of assets in cash through much of the crisis. However, as the economy bottoms out (as it seems to be doing) and risk appetites return, we have looked to get back into assets that can generate returns over the longer term, or at least save us from the potential ramifications of today’s loose monetary policy. The quick stimulus spending and cheap cash churned out by the U.S. government and Federal Reserve seem to have helped avoid a Great Depression-style collapse, but it will be extremely difficult in the future for policymakers to steer between the Scylla and Charybdis of excessive tightening triggering a new recession and continued lax monetary policy generating rampant inflation. In this tricky investment

…

Everything is happening just as we thought it would. Stocks are rising. And people think they see better times coming.

Whoa… this is eerie! Following the great crash of ’07-’09 cometh the rebound. Hesitant, cautious at first…

Then, people begin to believe it. They begin to see the “green shoots” of a revival. Stock prices rise. The green shoots sink deeper roots and flower. Pretty soon, people think they are in knee-high clover.

Confidence is rising. Consumers, house-holders, investors – all think the worst is over. And if the worst is over, better times must be coming. If better times are coming, prices should be rising. And investors should be making money. And businesses should be expanding.

It’s all happening as forecast. Except that businesses aren’t expanding. The underlying economy is not really getting better. It’s actually getting weaker. But we’ll talk about that another day.

Today… we issue a warning: watch out, the