FORGET ABOUT THE MARCH RATE HIKE, THE LOOMING EXPIRATION OF DEBT CEILING HOLIDAY IS OF GREATER IMPORTANCE

Gold and silver continued to be hammered while miners lost more ground.

This is likely due to the upcoming March 15 Fed meeting which many banks have already priced in a 0.25% rate hike.  

The main stream media is down playing an important event on March 15 which is the expiry of the debt limit holiday. Upon the expiry, the government has a some $300B plus with which to sustain unless the debt ceiling is raised again.

Will the debt ceiling be raised?

It is expected that to continue spending the way the US currently does, the US government debt will double in a decade, that means by 2027, the debt will reach $40T!

With interest rate hike in March. An additional 0.25% hike in interest is equivalent to paying an additional $50B in interest payment based on the current debt of $20T, more if the debt ceiling is raised to meet Trump's spending requirements, ie: border wall, infrastructure and military spending, reduction in taxes, etc.

In an environment of worsening political tensions between the Republicans and Democrats and infighting among Republicans, will raising the debt ceiling be approved by Congress? The Democrats look set to go against Trump on all grounds, and Republicans being the conservative party have criticised Obama often on the amount of debt. So will they eat their own words  and vote to raise the debt ceiling themselves, which will anger their grassroots?

Some Republicans have come out to say that there won't any tax reduction without a spending cut, which could also put Trump's spending plans at risk. For Trumps plans to kick off, THE DEBT CEILING MUST BE RAISED.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, we could potentially see a government shut down and scaling back of payments in entitlements such as Social Security, Medicaid, etc.

Here's how I see it. 

1) Debt ceiling is raised, the stock market may respond positively, but the bond market could see a selloff. A selloff in the bond market will result in higher yields, which the market may misread as a stronger $, as such the price of the precious market may be kept in check. Eventually a skyrocketing debt will result in a weaker currency as it will deter investors from buying US treasuries as the inflation that comes with it may not be enough to yield a positive return. The Fed will have to step in and monetise the debt which in other words, another round of QE. And we know what happened to precious metals in the last QE. 

2) The debt ceiling is not raised, and turmoil erupts in the stock market which will also result in traders and investors losing faith in the US economy and a selloff in $$$ ensues.

So either way will be bullish for precious metals and miners.

Since the Fed is likely to hike rate in March, it will be pretty much like what happened in December. Precious metals and miners weakening ahead of the hike and resume an uptrend thereafter. 

The above is just my opinion.