Mike Gleason, Money Metals Exchange:It is my privilege now to be joined by Gerald Celente, publisher of the renowned Trends Journal. Mr Celente is a highly sought-after guest on these programs throughout the world and has been forecasting some of the biggest and most important trends before they happen for more than 30 years now. And it's a real honour to have him on with us today. Mr Celente, welcome back and thank you so much for joining us again.

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal: Well thank you, Mike.

Mike Gleason: I want to start out by asking you about this massive disconnect between what the economic data is telling us versus what the stock market is saying to the investment world. For instance, we have the lowest rate of expansion in the U.S. economy since the 1940s. China is slumping, as are many other major global economies… not to mention the economic issues over there in Europe. Yet the equities markets continue to make new highs nearly every week with the S&P and the DOW continuing upward into uncharted territories. So what's going on here? Are the economic numbers really better than what we're being told, or is the stock market being propped up?