Gerald Celente agrees with Peter Schiff. The United States economy is in terrible shape, and the official jobs numbers are not representative of the true health of the domestic labor market. Celente believes that gold will reach $2,000 or higher when investors realize that the equity markets are vastly overvalued.
Kitco News interviewed Andre Leyland of Thomson Reuters GFMS about the latest silver demand trends. While demand in 2014 was down very slightly from 2013, Leyland emphasized that 2013 was a record year for silver demand around the world. Looking forward, he expects demand to grow, and with it the price. In fact, Thomson Reuters GFMS is projecting the next couple of years to have significantly higher average silver prices than we’re seeing now.
Learn more about why investors expect silver to potentially outperform gold in the coming years. Download our newly updated special report – The Powerful Case for Silver.
Renowned investor Bill Gross warns in his latest investment outlook that the stock market’s bull supercycle is coming to an end. Gross believes that the “new normal” of zero-percent interest rates and growing government debt will push asset markets into a new era of very low or negative growth.
Policymakers and asset market bulls, on the other hand speak to the possibility of normalization – a return to 2% growth and 2% inflation in developed countries which may not initially be bond market friendly, but certainly fortuitous for jobs, profits, and stock markets worldwide. Their “New Normal”. . . depends on the less than commonsensical notion that a global debt crisis can be cured with more and more debt. . . I equated such a notion with a similar real life example of pouring lighter fluid onto a barbeque of warm but not red hot charcoal briquettes in order to cook the spareribs a little bit faster. Disaster in the form of burnt ribs was my historical experience. It will likely be the same for monetary policy, with its QE’s and now negative interest rates that bubble all asset markets.”
Marc Faber holds the same fears, but his warnings are even more dire. In an interview on CNBC, Faber explains why sees a 30-40% correction in the US stock market in the near future.
Marc Faber told CNBC what he turns to in an unpredictable world of central bank money printing: precious metals. We know that Faber buys and owns physical gold. When it comes to stocks, he also recommends focusing on gold mining companies.
Following the Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting, the financial media has been making the rounds to get everyone’s opinion of the economy. Jim Grant agrees with Peter Schiff: it looks like radical monetary policy “is pretty much here to stay.” As usual, Grant shares his contrarian views with CNBC in his dry, witty, and disarmingly honest style.
Michael Lombardi, Founder of Profit Confidential, lays out the fundamental argument for the gold price moving higher this year and into the future. It basically comes down to supply and demand factors. Less and less gold is being mined each year, while demand for the yellow metal from major economies like China and India continues to grow. Meanwhile, central banks are also increasing their gold purchases at rates we haven’t seen in 50 years.
John Whitefoot, an Analyst with Lombardi, shares his 2015 silver forecast. Unlike many investors, Whitefoot expects silver prices to rally, catching markets by surprise. He points to three important factors:
- The S&P 500 is overvalued by 65%, indicating the stock market is in a bubble that will pop soon.
- Silver has industrial demand that allows it to thrive during periods of economic growth.
- Supply problems paired with huge demand will drive prices higher.
Perhaps the only point our Chairman Peter Schiff would disagree with is that the US economy is going to continue to improve in the coming years. Nevertheless, the case for silver prices rising significantly this year and into the future remains. Many of Whitefoot’s arguments are also explained in detail in our free special report – The Powerful Case for Silver. Download it here.
Peter Schiff has argued for years that government inflation data in the United States is bogus. The Federal Reserve and financial media focus on a broader measurement of inflation that overlooks the significant increases in the cost of living for most Americans. What’s more, the way this inflation is measured has changed dramatically over the years, further divorcing it from reality.
John Williams’ Shadow Stats is one of the best places to find a more realistic picture of US inflation. He uses a more accurate method from 1980 of calculating inflation in the Consumer Price Index.
Casey Research worked with Shadow Stats to chart the price of gold in inflation-adjusted dollars based upon 1980 calculations. The results are striking:
Jim Cramer raised a great point on Mad Money this week. You wouldn’t own a house or a car without the proper insurance. So why would you have a portfolio of investments without insurance? Gold is that insurance – the only asset that is guaranteed to minimize the downside risks when there is economic or geopolitical uncertainty. When all other assets are crashing, the price of gold generally rises.
The only area where Cramer is a bit off-base is in dismissing physical gold. He recommends owning GLD, the largest gold exchange-traded fund, which generally moves closely in-line with the price of gold. The problem with GLD is that while it is supposedly “physically backed,” investors cannot redeem their holdings of GLD for actual physical gold. On top of that, the gold held by the GLD Trust doesn’t have to be insured.
GLD allows investors to cheaply invest in the price of gold, but to truly insure your portfolio, you want to own physical bullion.
News broke this week that China may soon announce a major increase in its gold reserves in order to convince the IMF that the yuan should be included in the Special Drawing Right basket of currencies.
Jim Rickards, an expert on geoeconomics, believes the yuan’s inclusion in the SDR is inevitable and will go into effect at the beginning of 2016. In an interview on CNBC, Rickards explains the politics behind this move, and why the United States is being pressured to allow it. It comes down to the US wanting to maintain the dollar-yuan currency peg, which Peter Schiff discussed the importance of back in January.
