Just two weeks after completing a second extraordinary effort to juice the moribund U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve is contemplating more “untested” steps, the head of the central bank said Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank is examining several untested means to stimulate growth if conditions deteriorate, even though the central bank believes the temporary shocks holding down economic activity will pass.

As Jim Sinclair said...it will be QE to infinity.

This marketwatch.com story is courtesy of Florida reader Donna Badach...and the link is here.

Moody's Investors Service has placed the Aaa bond rating of the government of the United States on review for possible downgrade given the rising possibility that the statutory debt limit will not be raised on a timely basis, leading to a default on US Treasury debt obligations. On June 2, Moody's had announced that a rating review would be likely in mid July unless there was meaningful progress in negotiations to raise the debt limit.

This zerohedge.com story is courtesy of Washington state reader S.A. It's a short read...and the link is here.

European officials vowed on Tuesday to support banks that fail stress tests, but left unresolved deep disputes that have held up a second rescue package for Greece.

The results of the stress tests, which are scheduled to be released on Friday, could pose a headache for the 27 European Union finance ministers who met here to discuss ways to ease the region’s financial turmoil.

Wow! These guys are really desperate! You can't make this stuff up. I thank reader Mike Smith for this story out of Tuesday's edition of The New York Times...and the link is here.

Just one week after downgrading Portuguese debt to junk status, the rating agency Moody's has slashed its rating of Irish debt. The move comes despite growing official anger in Europe at the power of the big three rating agencies. But a new aid package for Ireland, Moody's believes, may be unavoidable.

The European Union in recent days has indicated it is seeking ways to limit the amount of influence rating agencies have when it comes to evaluating sovereign debt. But Moody's on Tuesday made it clear it is unimpressed.

This is a story that was posted over at spiegel.de yesterday...and is Roy Stephen's first offering of the day. The link to this short read is here.

For more than a year now, Belgium has been without an elected government. Didier Reynders, the longest-serving finance minister in the European Union and deputy Belgian prime minister, discusses his country's political crisis and why, despite pessimism from rating agencies, he doesn't believe Belgium will require a euro bailout.

If I had to pick a country that's starting to circle the drain along with Italy and Spain...my next choice would be deeply divided Belgium. By rights, this country should no longer exist as a nation state, as the two ethnic groups of which it is composed, hardly acknowledge the others' existence.

This short read, also from spiegel.de, is Roy's second offering of the day...and it's very much worth your time. The link is here.

The European Union has reached "crunch time" in the words of George Papandreou, Greece's despondent premier. Its leaders can longer allow themselves the luxury of "indecisiveness, errors and tactical politics" as the debt crisis engulfs 40pc of the eurozone's economy and almost half its population.

"Let us be clear: if there is no relief we are going straight into the abyss," said Romano Prodi, Italy's ex-premier and former head of the European Commission.

Relief came just in the nick of time at 9.15 on Tuesday morning when somebody – most likely the European Central Bank (ECB) – intervened in the Spanish and Italian debt markets. Systemic contagion has been halted. A global crash has been averted. At least for a day.

I'd say that the euro, and the European Union's chances of survival in its present form, are zero.

This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard story from late last night in The Telegraph is also courtesy of Roy Stephens. It, too, is well worth the read...and the link is here.

At a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee today, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke if gold is money. Bernanke said no, adding, when pressed, that central banks hold gold as an asset because of "tradition."

But before Bernanke said "no"...the very long pause before his answer, spoke volumes.

You just have to know that the world's financial and monetary system is on its last legs when you hear something like that. Central bankers are playing with fire. Get ready...as the house is about to burn down.

Zero Hedge has posted video of today's exchange between Paul and Bernanke. The link to the must watch video...and Chris Powell's must read preamble is linked in this GATA release here.

TheStreet.com's Alix Steel grasps the significance of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul's exchange with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about gold as money at today's hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. Steel's report is headlined "Ron Paul Attacks Bernanke on Gold" and you can find her comments posted here.

Last night the New York Sun took Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke apart for his doddering performance before the House Financial Services Committee...and his dissembling response to U.S. Ron Paul's question as to whether gold is money. The Sun's editorial is headlined "Bernanke: Gold Isn't Money".

I stole this story...and the one above...from two separate GATA releases last night. The preambles are both courtesy of Chris Powell as well...and the link to this absolute must read editorial is here.

Precious metals (gold, silver and platinum) were the best performing asset class over the first half of 2011, providing investors with a return of 4.9pc, according to new research from Lloyds TSB. The return over the past year was 36pc. 'Precious metals continue to shine brightest among investors amid renewed uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy,' the bank said.

You just read the caption underneath a fabulous picture of gold kilo bars all laid out in a row. The photo appeared in a late-night story out of The Telegraph last night...and the photo makes for terrific 'eye candy'. I thank Roy Stephens once again...and the link is here.

Here's another story from Roy...also from The Telegraph.

The price of gold for immediate delivery hit a record $1,578.55 on Wednesday evening. Gold is priced in dollars, but it also hit a record in sterling, the euro and the South African rand.

Moody’s downgrade of Ireland’s debt to junk status combined with minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting of its open markets committee to send investors fleeing to safety.

The link is here.

With gold prices hitting a record high on Wednesday, here are the 10 countries holding all the cards when it comes to gold reserves, according to the World Gold Council.

The World Gold Council has already admitted that these numbers are not even close to being true...and Belgium said just last month that 41% of its gold reserves were lent out...probably never to return. It's a good bet that all ten of the countries listed here have nowhere near the gold they say they do, as the IMF has allowed them to record gold in the vault in the same line item as gold leased/lent out.

If you know anything about accounting, this would never be allowed in any other business, as the gold out on loan would be classified as 'gold receivables' in a separate line item in the company's financial statements.

The IMF allows this so that you can't tell how much physical gold really exists. It's GATA contention that over half of the 30,000 tonnes that the central banks of the world report that they have, has already been sold into the open market.

This is another Roy Stephens offering out of The Telegraph...and it's all b.s...and the link is here.

Here's a longish read that was posted over at the mineweb.com yesterday. Roy must have spent the entire day on Wednesday digging up gold-related stories on the Internet, as this one is from him as well.

The Eurozone crisis goes from bad to worse and QE3 looks to be on the horizon in the U.S. again. Gold and silver have moved up sharply and this path could well continue as bad news proliferates.

The move also seems to be very much towards holding physical gold and silver too. ETF holdings have been static to falling much of this year and perhaps, as the realisation dawns that even the biggest global banks are far from safe from collapse in the current economic environment, physical metal will come to the fore more and more, although the storage problems for significant quantities of gold, and particularly silver, should not be underestimated. The location where one should store precious metals is also something to be considered. Might the U.S. confiscate gold again ahead of a major revaluation? Perhaps unlikely but the possibility will remain in people's minds.

It's very much worth the read as well...less than five minutes...and the link is here.

As the mineweb.com story above alludes to, the rush to physical metal stored in various locations around the world, is intensifying. Here's a press release from Bullion Management Group yesterday on this very issue.

“The move to offer bullion storage to our BMG BullionBars clients in three global money centres is in response to client demand for local and diversified vault locations,” says Nick Barisheff, President and CEO of Bullion Management Group Inc. “In a period where global financial contagion and central bank defaults are being discussed openly in mainstream financial media, the option for storage of BMG BullionBars in local or multiple vaults holds immediate appeal for high net worth investors.”

These new facilities complement the company’s present storage facility in Toronto, Canada.

In the interests of full disclosure, I own a big chunk of one of BMG's precious metal funds. The link to the press release is here.

Here's a GATA release of a Chris Martenson interview with GoldMoney founder and GATA consultant James Turk.

Sooner or later, all fiat currencies will end up in the currency graveyard, dear reader...yours included.

Chris Powell has already wordsmithed the preamble...and the link to all of this, is here.

Sprott Asset Management Chief Investment Strategist John Embry told King World News yesterday that derivatives have managed to suppress commodity prices longer than he thought they could, but that soon precious metal mining stocks will be performing like Internet stocks in the 1990s...only they'll have good fundamentals. An excerpt of the interview is linked here.