by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:

Yesterday (Wednesday, December 13th) the Fed signaled the end to interest rate hikes and, in so many words, implied that now the timing of rate cuts is being informally discussed. While stocks and bonds staged a rally, the precious metals sector sprinted higher. Gold and silver rose 2.4% and nearly 5%, respectively, while the mining stocks as represented by GDX soared over 6%. Across the board, the precious metals sector and mining stocks in terms of percentage price gains ran circles around the rest of the stock market. This should be the start of a long, sustained bull cycle in the precious metals sector that could take even seasoned gold bugs like me by surprise with the size of the moving coming.