China is in trouble. The market has been spooked by the government's efforts to restrain real estate speculation. The Chinese have a lot of money. And Chinese investors have relatively few places to put it.

On one hand, gold prices cannot seem to catch a bid today, but on the other, spot gold has undergone a very orderly pullback.

If you add to the US national debt the debts of Fannie Mae, GM, and all the other financial holes, which the government will ultimately have to fill, the crater is about 120% of GDP -- the same as Greece’s debt.

Newmont Mining (NEM), the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), and Pan American Silver (PAAS) all exhibit corrective patterns.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the financial futures markets for May 17.

The leaders of Europe marched to the edge of the abyss, looked over, decided it was a long way down, and did an about-face.

Pick any field and you will discover that the experts often miss the mark.

Rescues sometimes have happy endings. Households, companies, and even governments with enough self-discipline and some luck can sometimes be pulled back from the brink. But they must be at the brink, not beyond it.

James Mound reviews futures and commodities in his weekly report for the week of May 17.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the financial futures markets for May 14.