The performance of the US stock markets last week reflected the current perception of quality - the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the bluest of blue chip-safe stocks) fell 5.0% last week. The broader-based S&P 500 fell 6.2% and the tech-laden NASDAQ was off 7.9%.

European and Asian stock markets did not perform any better. China’s stock market was the exception, advancing 13.6% for the week. China announced $586 billion in economic stimuli so far this year, a bailout amount second only to the USA's. By way of comparison, China’s stock market is off 62% since the start of the year versus the S&P 500, which is off 41% for the same period.

Gold closed at $742 an ounce for the week, up 1%. Silver fell 5% to $9.49. In this week’s edition, we present the Quote of the Week early. In the current issue of Barron’s (November 17th), Alan Abelson offers this ‘nugget’ on precious metals:

Gold is a no-brainer. Our thesis is as simple as it is unoriginal: Virtually all of the civilized world and a good chunk of the uncivilized world is in a race to see who can debase its currency the fastest. The big spur here is the great global bailout and the trillions in paper money being the baling instrument of choice. We can’t think of a better way to take advantage of this frenzy of financial free-fall than stowing away a few nuggets.

Gold and silver are currently $742 and $9.49 an ounce. By this time next week, with the Barron’s stamp-of-approval, we could see gold firmly over $900 an ounce and silver firmly over $12 an ounce.