MARKET ACTION
Dow: Up +56 points (+0.17%)
S&P: +0.87%
Nasdaq: 1.45%
10-Year Treasury Yield: 3.76% (- 10 basis points)
Top-performing sector: Communication Services (+1.78%)
Bottom-performing sector: Materials (-0.11%)
WTI Crude Oil: $86.86/barrel (+1.15%)
Key Economic Point of the Day:

The Producer Price Index only rose +0.2% in October, half of the +0.4% monthly increase that had been anticipated. And much of that lower figure came from a decline of -0.1% in services, the first decline in wholesale services costs in two years

ASK DAVID**
“Is purchasing gold and/or silver a good investment?”

~ Cindy W.

My view has been for quite some time that it is a non-productive investment. What I mean by then is that it does not generate any cash flow and does not have any internal earnings stream, so the value becomes a matter of speculation or supply/demand around use. But gold is not really owned much for industrial use, and even its cosmetic use is somewhat limited, so those who own gold or silver for investment purposes must defend the notion of gold being a sort of inflation hedge or currency proxy. And maybe it will be that someday, but that day is not the last 42 years, where gold is down by -50% relative to inflation – a stunning and shocking fact to all who hear it.
I will also point out that the most common thing I have been told over the years is that gold gives us a hedge or substitute against crazy unstable monetary policy. Well, trillions of printed QE dollars since 2012 later, gold is lower than it was a decade ago. This should have been the golden age for gold; instead, it has many wondering what exactly the thesis is.

At the end of the day, gold can go up a lot, and it can go down a lot, but it rarely does what people seem to want it to do when they want it to do it.

Links mentioned in this episode:
DividendCafe.com
TheBahnsenGroup.com