Peter Schiff recently sat down with Daniela Cambone on Kitco News and talked about gold, the phony government shutdown, and his track record on economic forecasting.
China officially added gold to its reserves last month for the first time in two years. Meanwhile, the Chinese have been shrinking their holdings of US Treasuries. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the moves are intended to reduce dependence on the US dollar.
According to data released by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s gold reserves totaled 1,862 tons at the end of 2018. That represents a 10-ton increase from the previous month and the first rise in the country’s hoard since June 2016.
Here’s another sign that the air is coming out of housing bubble 2.0.
Existing home sales fell 10.3% year-on-year in December. Sales, including single-family houses, townhouses, condos, and co-ops, dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.99 million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. This ranks as the biggest year-over-year drop since May 2011 — in the midst of Housing Bust 1.0.
We often talk about the fatal conceit and hubris of central bankers who think they can micromanage a complex economy. Oftentimes, these monetary policymakers do things with the best of intentions, believing their actions will move the economy in the right direction. Sometimes, they do things just to benefit their buddies. Regardless of their motives, these actions have consequences.
The mechanizations of the Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan along with other players in the US government in the 1990s blew up a massive “tech bubble” that eventually popped. Fed monetary in the wake of that collapse set the stage for the 2008 financial crisis. Fed monetary policy in the wake of that crisis set the stage for today.
In the following article, Peter Schmidt offers an overview of three moves Greenapsn made in the 1990s that helped fuel the mania that blew up the dot-com bubble. This look back in time offers us some valuable lessons for today.
Gold output in South Africa fell for the 14th straight month in November. According to Bloomberg, it ranks as the longest streak of monthly declines since 2012.
Production fell 14% from a year earlier, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement on its website last week.
South Africa once led the world in gold production. The precipitous drop in the country’s mine output over the last few years is expected to continue and could foreshadow a long-term trend of falling gold production globally.
A couple of days ago, CNBC commentator Jim Leventhal made a pretty astounding comment. When asked about gold, Leventhal said he had no interest in it because gold has no uses as a metal.
No uses?
What?
US stock markets had a strong week last week. The Dow Jones capped it off gaining more than 300 points on Friday.
Optimism about a trade deal with China along with increasing expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rate hikes buoyed the markets.
This has led many pundits to declare that the correction is over. Some have even declared its a new bull market. In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said that’s not what’s happening at all. What we’re seeing is a typical bear market correction and a recession is right around the corner.
Billionaire Sam Zell said he recently took the plunge and bought gold.
“For the first time in my life, I bought gold because it is a good hedge,” Zell said during an interview on Bloomberg TV.
Did you hear what President Trump did to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi? He grounded her airplane — 40 minutes before she was supposed to take off on a big excursion.
Whether you love Trump or hate him, you have to admit he’s the greatest troll to ever occupy the Oval Office.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.