Gold-backed ETFs closed out the first half of 2020 with their seventh consecutive month of inflows and significantly above the highest level of annual inflows, both in tonnage and US dollar terms.
Globally, gold-backed funds added 104 tons of gold to their holdings in June. Global holdings now stand at an all-time high of 3,621 tons, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council.
Don’t expect the Federal Reserve to pull back on its monetary Hail Mary anytime soon.
The central bank released the minutes from the June meeting yesterday. There were no big surprises, but they did reaffirm the Fed’s commitment to continuing its unprecedented monetary policy into the foreseeable future.
Citibank has joined other mainstream gold bulls calling for record gold prices.
Citi raised its gold price forecast this week. It now projects a three-month price of $1,825 per ounce and for the yellow metal to head into record territory in 2021. Citi analysts expect gold to eclipse the $2,000 mark early next year.
Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve announced it would begin buying individual corporate bonds. Now we have our first glimpse at what that means in practice.
On Saturday, the Fed released a disclosure statement that lists the bonds purchased by the central bank.
Earlier this week, we reported Goldman Sachs now forecasts record gold prices within the next 12 months. Well, Goldman isn’t the only mainstream player turning more bullish on gold.
Even the mainstream is getting bullish on gold.
Goldman Sachs now forecasts record gold prices within the next 12 months.
Goldman analysts say gold will likely reach $2,000 per ounce within the next year thanks to ultra-low interest rates and concerns over currency debasement.
The mainstream generally treats the gold standard as a bygone relic of a primitive past — something Grandpa might remember fondly along with 5 cent eggs and walking to school uphill both ways. But in this modern era of wild monetary policy and unprecedented money printing, even some in the mainstream are starting to think Grandpa may have been a little wiser than we thought.
A recent article in The Economic Times extolled the virtues of the gold standard and advises “make a strategic allocation to gold.”
Over the last several decades, the Federal Reserve and the US government have almost exclusively directed their policies toward “stimulating” spending. Artificially low interest rates incentivize borrowing and discourage savings.
But spending money isn’t the only thing that makes the economy go around. Savings are crucial and the lack of saving in America has hollowed out the US economy.
Last week, we reported Yale economist Stephen Roach’s warning that “the era of the US dollar’s ‘exorbitant privilege’ as the world’s primary reserve currency is coming to an end.”
Roach isn’t the only person in the mainstream sounding the alarm about the dollar’s demise. In a note published last week, Guggenheim Investments Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd said that while “there are no signs the world is questioning the value of the US dollar” right now, it’s clear that the greenback is “slowly losing market share as the world’s reserve currency.”
When the May jobs report came out with 2.5 million jobs added a drop in unemployment to 13.3%, I told several friends the numbers seemed implausible.
It appears I might have been right.
The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics survey takers mistakenly misclassified about 4.9 million people as employed, although they were unemployed.
