Editor’s Note: In today’s special Daily, we welcome back Casey Research analyst Justin Spittler. As gold stocks rocket higher, he reveals why now is the best time to buy gold…

From Justin Spittler, research analyst, Casey Research: It’s official: Gold is in a bull market.

Casey Daily Dispatch readers know gold has exploded higher this year. It’s already up 18%. Last week, gold hit its highest level since February 2015.

Gold has now climbed 21% since hitting a seven-year low in December.

According to the mainstream definition, a bull market starts when an asset rises 20%.

• Investors plowed $7.8 billion into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last month…

That’s an all-time record, according to Barron’s.

So, what’s causing this rush into gold?

As regular readers know, gold is money. It’s a safe haven asset that’s held value for centuries. It’s protected wealth through the worst financial crises in history.

In short, investors buy gold when they’re nervous.

• There’s plenty to be nervous about right now…

Stock markets are struggling this year. The S&P 500 has dropped 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen 5%. The Stoxx Euro 600, which tracks 600 large European stocks, has fallen 6%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 has dropped 7%.

The global economy is looking shaky. The U.S., the world’s largest economy, is having its slowest economic “recovery” since World War II.

China, the world’s second biggest, is growing at its slowest pace since 1990.

World governments are using radical monetary policies to stimulate their economies. They’ve borrowed trillions in new currency units. They’ve printed trillions more. Their latest scheme is negative interest rates.

With negative interest rates, your bank doesn’t pay you interest on your savings. Instead, you pay interest on your cash.

It’s a bizarre, upside-down policy that could only exist in a world controlled by government bureaucrats.

The government thinks negative rates will boost the economy by encouraging more borrowing and spending.

But Casey Research Founder Doug Casey explains why the government is wrong:

It’s part of the Keynesian view, in which spending and consumption drive the economy. This isn’t just wrong, it’s the exact opposite of what’s true. It’s production and saving that drive an economy. You have to save to build capital, and capital is necessary for… everything. What these people are doing is destructive of civilization itself. And when we go into the next crisis, governments will use the disastrous results of their own policies as excuses to enact even more destructive versions of the same things.

• Like most commodities, gold is cyclical…

It goes through big booms and busts. Gold has dropped 34% since 2011… but it appears to be entering a new bull market. Gold rose 640% during its last bull market.

We believe everyone should own physical gold. Gold is insurance against government stupidity. As we’ve explained many times, world governments are conducting a grand experiment with our money.

Doug Casey says these reckless policies will make the next crisis “much worse, much different, and last much longer than what we saw in 2008 and 2009.”

• If you’d like to profit on gold, consider buying gold stocks…

Gold stocks offer leverage to the price of gold. A 10% jump in the price of gold can cause gold stocks to surge 20%… 30%… or even 50%.

Gold stocks are soaring right now. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), which tracks large gold stocks, is already up 40% this year. And we think this rally is just getting started.

However, gold stocks aren’t for everyone. Small gold stocks can rise 30% or more in a day… and fall just as quickly.

But if you can stomach the volatility, gold stocks are one of the only sectors where you can multiply your money by five times or more very quickly.

• Louis James, editor of International Speculator, expects much higher gold prices…

Louis is our gold stock expert. He travels the world visiting small gold mines and looking for the best stocks for his subscribers.

Louis says this is the best time to buy gold he’s ever seen:

Today, we’re coming off the longest and most devastating gold bear market in the past 40 years. With valuations near extreme lows, small gold stocks are like coiled springs, ready to leap higher. Now is the best time I’ve seen since I started this business to position yourself for potential 10-baggers (1,000% gains).

Opportunities like this don’t come around often. Once gold stocks take off, we probably won’t get another chance this good for at least five years.

That’s why we’re offering a special deal right now. For a limited time, we’re offering a subscription to Louis’ International Speculator for $500 off the normal price.

If you join, you’ll get immediate access to our new report, 9 Essential Gold Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this report, Louis reveals his top picks that could gain 10 times, 20 times, or even 30 times during a gold bull market. Those gains might sound unbelievable… but they’ve happened before.

Click here to learn more about the incredible opportunity in gold stocks.