Another mixed week for the metals, with gold and silver making up lost ground after the last paper smash. Gold was up 1.5% to $1843, silver was up 3% to $23.45, platinum was up 3/10% to $1048, and palladium was down 3.3% to $2,322.

For the last year, gold was up 3/10%, silver was down 12%, platinum was down 4.7%, and palladium was up 2.9%.

Major inflation numbers in the Consumer Price Index are due tomorrow, but our sources indicate it might be over 7%, the highest in 40 years. Using alternative methods to calculate inflation, such as was used before 1980, reveals inflation levels twice as high - the highest in 75 years, according to John Williams of www.shadowstats.com. John is a Ph.D. economist that has done a lot of research on inflation history and calculation methods and is an expert in his field.

What is interesting about reported vs actual inflation, is that gold tends to track actual inflation levels over time, even when the reported numbers are too low.

In stagflationary environments, as we see currently, gold and silver are great places to stow some savings to ride out the storm.