Standard Chartered and the Silver Institute both have issued predictions that global silver production is set to shrink in the coming year and beyond.

Now another major bank, Societe Generale, is making the same forecast. It is predicting that supplies of newly mined silver will drop 9.2% this year and 13% in 2017.

This dearth is partly because the output of base metals also has shrunk, and silver is often recovered as a byproduct of mining operations that are primarily seeking zinc, copper, lead, and the like.

Well continue to see mine cutbacks this year and that will play into the hands of silver, Saxo Bank strategist Ole Hansen told Bloomberg. This will give silver its long overdue attention.

High ratio signals crisis: Meanwhile, the gold-silver ratio or the number of ounces of silver needed to buy a single ounce of gold continues to hover around 80, give or take a few notches.

In modern history, the gold/silver ratio has only been this high three other times, all periods of extreme turmoil the 2008 crisis, Gulf War, and World War II, Zero Hedge noted.

Not only does a high ratio signal potential crisis conditions, but its also a bullish signal to buy silver.

As of Monday, the gold-to-silver ratio just fell below 80, and the last three times that happened silver outperformed gold by 60 to 302 percentage points in the next two or three years, Bloomberg reported.

25% jump in annual silver Eagle sales?: Investors who watch this ratio have been piling in. Silver American Eagle bullion coin sales have topped 13 million for the year, despite the U.S. Mint continuing to allocate, or ration, coins to its authorized network of wholesalers.

Silver analyst Steve St. Angelo went so far as to predict that silver Eagle sales will likely jump by 25% in the first quarter due to deteriorating market conditions. There are two weeks remaining in March and the U.S. Mint will likely sell another 2 million.This will put total silver Eagle sales for the first quarter at 15 million the highest ever.

With 47 million silver Eagles sold in 2015s record-breaking year, 2016 could prove to be another, even bigger milestone for the Mint. Now is the time to invest in silver, when the ratio is signaling a potential move higher for poor mans gold.

One of the most famous and valuable coins of all time is on a victory tour overseas, and its been drawing large crowds during its various stops in Europe.

The 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar that sold for a record $10,016,875 in 2013 is on display in London this weekend, after previous stops in cities such as Prague, Warsaw, Stockholm, and Dublin. Joining it on these rounds has been another famous rarity: an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, made in 1776 and valued at about $4 million.

The Flowing Hair coin is believed to be the first U.S. silver dollar ever struck and could potentially have been handled by George Washington himself. Minted on a hand-turned screw press, only about 150 issues of this date are known to exist from the roughly 1,758 minted in Philadelphia. Once part of the Cardinal Collection, this coin has been owned by some illustrious collectors, including Colonel E.H.R Ned Green, W.W. Neil, and Amon Carter Sr. and Jr.

Graded as an impeccable Specimen 66 by PCGS and sporting a green CAC sticker, the coin also is the only such 1794 dollar with a silver plug, inserted to bring it up to a standard weight. Surrounded by 15 stars (one for each state at the time), a Lady Liberty with flowing locks adorns one side, while a bald eagle is depicted on the other.

Despite the fact that the iconic coin is so striking, the BBC asked the question in a March 17 feature: What makes this coin the most valuable in the world? Answer: Rarity, condition and cultural value.

For a visual representation of this coins explosive value, just check out this chart of its gains over a roughly 70-year period, using the sale years and prices listed by the BBC. (The coins whereabouts up until Greens purchase in the 1920s are unknown, although it reportedly was in government storage for much of the 19^th century.)

As the chart illustrates, this Flowing Hair dollars value has skyrocketed over time, putting to shame gains by stocks, bonds, and even gold bullion. Of course, a coin like this one only comes around once in a super-blue moon. For those with massively deep pockets, the coins current owner reportedly is open to the right offer.

But the right price is likely out of reach for most people. Nonetheless, numerous lesser-tier rare coins can also provide proportionately superstar returns, as well as aesthetic enjoyment, to those with the eye to invest in them. With decades of experience in numismatic collecting and investing, Blanchard and Company is here to help coin enthusiasts achieve the utmost with their rarities.

Is it the moment weve all been waiting for? Last week Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer noted something unusual: We may well at present be seeing the first stirrings of an increase in the inflation rate.

But on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve ignored Fischers comment and kept interest rates on hold, citing global economic and financial developments that continue to pose risks.

Whats more, it reduced its expectations of raising rates four times this year to just two. And despite Fischers take, it also lowered its inflation forecast to 1.2%, down from the 1.6% it predicted in December.

Systemic risks boost gold: The gloomy outlook, which saw the Fed cut its U.S. GDP target to 2.2% from 2.4%, sent gold soaring. After festering near $1,230 ahead of the meeting, the metal jumped about $30 and back above $1,260.

The Fed decision implies that economic growth is weak, Van Eck Associates fund manager Joe Foster told Bloomberg. A weak economy and the inability to have effective monetary policy creates all sorts of financial risks,risks in the banking system, risks to the economy, and those type of systemic risks are what gold rises on.

Key gauges see rising prices: But is the Fed missing the inflation boat? Not only is gold often an early indicator of inflation, but three major price indicators suggest that inflation is starting to take hold and at least inch toward the banks 2% target.

1. Although the overall Producer Price Index (PPI) declined in February, the core measure that excludes food and energy prices rose 0.9% in the 12 months through February. That was the largest gain since July 2015 and followed a 0.8% increase in January, Reuters noted.
2. Additionally, the most recent Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE), the Feds favored model, posted a core gain of 1.7% over the year.
3. And the February core Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a 2.3% advance over the year, its strongest annual gain since 2012, U.S. News & World Report noted.

Trigger for next recession: Even a foreign journalist, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of Londons Telegraph newspaper, seized on the U.S. inflation picture in an article titled U.S. inflation rears its ugly head as global cycle nears danger zone, calling the nascent signs of inflation the trigger for the next global recession.

The Fed must acknowledge the uptick in the inflation stats in their statement if they truly are dependent on the data, wrote Peter Boockvar at The Lindsey Group.

Win-win for gold: Whatever the Fed does with interest rates this year, some analysts are seeing win-win scenarios for gold. If the Fed does nothing and says, You know what? Were not going to raise the rest of the year, it will crush the dollar and gold will go up higher, Bloomberg metals expert Ken Hoffman told the network before the Wednesday Fed meetings conclusion.

If they come out and say, Hey, were going to raise a bunch of times, the dollar will go a lot higher, yes, but then these goldbugs think thats going to crush the rest of the world. Look at China, who has spent a trillion dollars defending its currency, which it wants to get much weaker. A stronger dollar would put even more pressure on China, and who wants China going into the tank, and that makes people rush to gold, so the goldbugs think they win no matter what. Theyre looking at this as a big buying opportunity.

Hard to control inflation: One danger in the Feds decision to hold rates in place is that it might be misreading the potential for inflation caused by its decade of near-zero rates and massive amounts of quantitative easing. After all, the Fed has been a notoriously lousy economic forecaster.

And inflationary wildfire is nothing to play with. As former Fed chief Paul Volcker famously told the Economic Club of New York in 2013, All experience demonstrates that inflation, when fairly and deliberately started, is hard to control and reverse.

If the Fed is wrong about inflation in 2016 and beyond, just as it was wrong about the gravity of the subprime-mortgage crisis in 2007, the most prudent course of action is to get prepared with precious metals.

Audit the Fed is a cry often heard by its critics, who are intent on uncovering the cozy relationship between the central bank and Wall Street. But if you needed the damage done by the Federal Reserve on everyday savers quantified, look no further than a study by NerdWallet.

The personal-finance Web site used data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to compare Americans post-tax disposable incomes and savings rates in 2006 versus those in 2016.

Its findings? The Feds zero-rate interest policy and quantitative-easing money-printing exercises have cost savers a whopping $7.7 billion over the past decade.

Years before normalization is felt: While Wall Street saw the S&P 500 stock index gain 60% thanks to this monetary heroin of cheap money, Joe and Jane Six-Pack have seen their savings accounts go nowhere, and the U.S. economy has managed to eke out only negligible growth in the 2% to 2.5% range.

Despite the fact that the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade in December 2015, the trend is unlikely to change soon, CNBC predicted. Even if the Fed gets back on the path to normalization, it probably will be years before savers see significant rewards.

This lack of rewards has driven many savers into markets they dont quite understand, like stocks, in a desperate search for yield. Alternatively, all too often these savers on fixed incomes, many of whom are senior citizens, have slogged on earning next to nothing from bank accounts and money-market funds because they are paralyzed by the thought of gambling and losing on stocks in their twilight years.

Its a reality that people who have fixed incomes do rely on savings accounts. Thats something we would recommend against, said NerdWallets Devan Goldstein. Somewhere in the toolkit between savings accounts and an index fund is a low-risk but slightly higher return vehicle.

Gold delivered in past decade: And there is another alternative. Other options to consider are alternatives such as real estate or precious metals, Goldstein noted, according to a CBS News report on NerdWallets findings.

The tide is once again turning toward precious metals, even more decisively now that negative interest rates are rapidly replacing zero interest rates in Japan and Europe.

And look at where these savers might be had they allocated some of their capital into gold. On Jan. 1, 2006, the price of gold was about $514 an ounce. Ten years later, on Jan. 4, 2016, the price was at $1,077. Thats a gain of 109.53%! With the price now at roughly $1,229, gold has returned 139.11%

And certain types of rare, numismatic gold, silver, and copper coins have seen even higher gains.

With the Feds low-rate policies clearly stiffing savers for a decade now, savers would be insane to keep banking on simple deposit and money-market accounts. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. The alternative to the Feds inflationary thievery is clear: gold and silver bullion plus rare coins.

The recent uptick in the stock market was widely touted as a sign that the dark clouds over the global economy had lifted.

As a result, gold has been falling this week in anticipation of the Federal Reserves policy statement Wednesday after its two-day meeting. Although its not expected to raise interest rates this week, conventional wisdom holds that it might do so at its June meeting.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Marriner Eccles Building: U.S. retail-sales data were released for February, and the news was terrible for our consumer-driven economy, in which the manufacturing sector already is in recession.

Shocking 2-month decline: Retail sales fell 0.1% last month, and whats even worse, Januarys 0.2% gain was revised lower to a 0.4% drop. Retail sales have dropped 0.54% in the last two months the biggest sequential drop in a year, Zero Hedge noted.

Moreover, the new retail numbers bode ill for U.S. growth projections and for the idea that underlying economic conditions justify current stock prices. While the YoY change rose from +3.0% to +3.1%, it remains below historically-recessionary levels and given the revisions suggests Q1 GDP growth markdowns are on their way with sales down MoM for every cohort from gas stations to furniture, Zero Hedge added.

Fed, top banks cut GDP: And ZH was correct: The Atlanta Feds GDPNow forecasting tool reduced its first-quarter growth estimate to 1.9% from 2.2%, citing the retail report.

And private investment banks also followed suit. Barclays slashed its U.S. GDP forecast from 2.4% to 1.9% based on the sour retail numbers. Credit Suisse cut its target to 2% from 2.4%, while TD Securities reduced its number from 2.3% to 1.9%.

Perhaps the strongest statement came from CNBC star Jim Cramer, who called the new stats devastating. Im just kind of flummoxed, he said. A number comes out that makes us feel great, and then that number is taken away.

Fed now in no hurry to hike: The retail number takes the notion of a Fed rate hike in March pretty much off the table, some analysts say, forcing the central bank to balance that poor data against a nominally strong February employment report.

At the moment, it is hard to see GDP with a 2% handle. Based on todays lackluster sales report, policymakers will be in no hurry to raise interest rates, MUFG Union Bank economist Chris Rupkey told Reuters.

A low-rate environment signals unease with the current economic picture and therefore is supportive for gold.