After surging in August and September, inflows of gold into gold-backed ETFs flattened, but remained in positive territory in October.
Global gold-backed ETF funds added 3.3 tons of gold last month, as inflows into European funds offset outflows in North America. according to the latest report by the World Gold Council.
If you saw the headlines last week, you know overall global gold demand fell steeply in the third quarter of this year. But as we reported, there was a lot of good news for gold buried beneath the gloomy headlines.
Slumping Q3 gold demand in India was a big driver in the overall global decline, but even there, we see some signs of optimism. Indian gold-buying dropped off primarily due to new taxes and regulations imposed by the Indian government over the summer. There are already signs the market is adjusting
Peter Schiff recently appeared on The Street with Scott Gamm to talk about the stock market. Peter’s analysis was simple and succinct.
Well, the bubble keeps getting bigger.”
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.
For this installment of Fun on Friday, I was planning on telling you all about a $9,000 ball of yarn. But this morning, I found something even better.
The amount of gold used in the technology sector grew for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to the latest demand report by the World Gold Council.
Tech industries consumed 67.3 tons of gold in Q3, a 3% increase year-on-year. Demand for memory chips served as a primary driver for increased industrial gold consumption.
Jerome Powell will take the reins of the Federal Reserve next year. After all the speculation about big changes at the Fed with Trump in the White House, it appears the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss.
So much for draining the swamp. Powell is a swamp creature. As Peter Schiff pointed out, “He has pretty much voted in lockstep with Janet Yellen the entire time she has chaired the Fed. The only real difference between the two is party affiliation. Powell is affiliated with the Republican Party, even though he was nominated to be on the Fed by Barack Obama. So, obviously not that strong a Republican if he was acceptable to Barack Obama.”
In an article published on the Mises Institute blog, Ryan McMaken expanded on this theme, echoing Hunter Lewis who said Powell is more like Chuck Schumer than Donald Trump.
If you’ve perused the mainstream headlines today, you’ve probably read that overall gold demand fell to an 8-year low last quarter. This was primarily due to a steep drop in inflows into gold ETFs compared to last year, and sagging jewelry demand in India after the implementation of a new tax scheme. But despite the gloomy-sounding headlines, investors are still buying physical gold.
Investment demand for physical gold grew in the third quarter by 17%, according to a report released by the World Gold Council.
During a recent interview with Investing News Network, Peter Schiff reiterated something he’s been saying for the last several months. The stock market is still a big, fat, ugly bubble, and misplaced optimism continues to blow it up.
[Pres Trump has] accomplished blowing more air into a stock market bubble that already existed before he was elected, as he rightly identified the market as a bubble as a candidate. But you know, his policies have not altered that. In fact, he’s now championing the stock market. He’s the biggest booster. He’s actually claiming credit for the market rising. And I do believe that part of the fuel that has caused the bubble to get bigger is the enthusiasm that Trump will reduce taxes and that these taxes will mean more corporate earnings – certainly after-tax earnings because they cut the taxes – a more robust economy, more growth. And so there’s a lot of optimism. But I think the optimism is misplaced because I believe the added deficits that will result from the tax cuts and the increased government spending will do more harm to the economy than whatever benefit we get from paying lower taxes.”
Some mainstream analysts agree with Peter, warning that the Republican tax cut proposal will balloon the deficit, minimizing its positive economic impact.
Last summer, US Global Investors CEO Frank Holmes called debt “the mother of all bubbles.” That bubble continues to blow up.
US consumer debt increased even more than expected in September. According to data released by the Federal Reserve, total credit rose by $20.8 billion, an annualized rate of 6.6%. Analysts had expected an increase in the neighborhood of $18 billion. It was the largest increase in overall consumer indebtedness since last year’s holiday season.
