Investment demand for gold set a new record in 2020, but it was not enough to offset a big drop in consumer demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gold demand was up substantially in both ETFs, and for gold bars and coins
Overall, gold demand fell to 3,759 tons in 2020, according to the Gold Demand Trends Full Year and Q4 2020 report by the World Gold Council. That was a 14% drop in annual demand.
But despite the weak overall demand, the price of gold set a record in dollar terms last year and briefly pushed above $2,000 an ounce.
The Federal Reserve played the same tune during its first Open Market Committee meeting of the year, but the partygoers on Wall Street didn’t dance. In his podcast, Peter Schiff talked about Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference and said the Fed chair is “completely clueless” to the true nature of the problems facing the economy. And so is the mainstream.
Millions of Americans remain out of work. The US economy continues to languish, burdened by government lockdowns and other pandemic-related factors. Retail sales have dropped precipitously over the last several months, underscoring the economic malaise. So, how is it that the housing market is booming?
For months, Peter Schiff has been warning that the stock market is a bubble. It is detached from any political or economic reality and is being driven by Federal Reserve monetary policy. During an interview on NTD Business News, Peter said a lot of investment advisors know this too, but they are advising people to stay in because the bubble has more room to grow. But he warned this isn’t good advice. When it comes to bubbles, you have to know when to leave the party.
World gold production dropped by 5.4% in 2020 according to preliminary estimates released by GlobalData last week.
Global data projects gold production came in at 108 million ounces last year. The sharp decline was largely due to mine closures during the coronavirus pandemic. But it also fits into a broader trend of declining mine output we’ve seen over the last several years.
The Joe Biden administration got underway last week. The newly inaugurated president issued a flurry of executive orders, many of them relating to the economy. In his podcast, Peter Schiff talked about the potential impact of these EOs. He said it looks like Americans voted for Joe Biden, but they ended up with Bernie Sanders.
Confession time — I couldn’t find a darn thing “fun” relating to gold this week.
Honestly, it wasn’t exactly a fun week to begin with unless you’re into political theater. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not. We certainly had all the political theater we could ever want with the inauguration and all. About the only thing I can say about that is it reminded me of the Hunger Games movies, especially Lady Gaga singing the national anthem decked out with that massive gold dove broach.
Joe Biden took the country’s wheel on Wednesday. For some, it was a day of celebration. And for some, it was a day of mourning, depending on your political perspective. But what is really in store for us in the Biden years? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey considers the economic path that lies ahead. He argues that while the driver has changed, the car is still heading in the same direction with Biden’s foot on the accelerator.
Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, becoming the 46th president of the United States. And as Peter Schiff put it in his podcast, he took the helm of a sinking ship.
Peter Schiff recently did an interview with David Lin on Kitco news. Peter talked about the devaluing dollar, the stock market bubble, his investment strategy, the trajectory of the global economy, and finally, what he would do if he was president of the United States. In a nutshell, Peter said he would veto everything.
