Australian gold output will peak in just four years and then begin a steep decline, according to a report issued by a Melbourne-based industry adviser.
According to MinEx Consulting analysis reported by Bloomberg Business, Australian mine output will max out in 2021 and then fall by half into the mid-2050s, as aging mines close down.
People seem to enjoy pitting gold and Bitcoin against each other. But do I really have to pick just one?
While cryptocurrency and precious metals have many similarities, in many ways they are polar opposites. And you can have both.
We live in a world full of bubbles. We’ve reported extensively on the stock market bubble, the student loan bubble, and the auto bubble. We even told you about a shoe bubble. Last summer, US Global Investors CEO Frank Holmes called global debt “the mother of all bubbles.”
So what happens when these bubbles start to burst?
In a recent interview, outgoing German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned about bubbles and said global debt could set off the next financial crisis.
After some gains last week, the dollar has shown weakness in recent days. In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff said he thinks part of the dollar weakness is because the reality is starting to set in when it comes to tax cuts.
In the first place, it remains uncertain whether or not Congress can even get anything done. Obamacare repeal 3.0 went down in flames last month, and Republicans have shown few signs of being able to come together to pass significant legislation such as tax reform.
But as Peter pointed out, there is a more fundamental problem with the Trump tax cut proposal.
We’ve heard a lot about Russian election hacking over the last year. But Jim Rickards said there is only one Russia story that really matters – that is the country’s efforts to break away from the hegemony of the US dollar and the dollar payment system that currently dominates global trade.
Over 60% of global reserves and 80% of the world’s payments are in dollars. But Russia is taking steps to free itself from dollar dominance. And As Rickards points out, the most aggressive weapon in the Russian war against the dollar is gold.
As we reported last month, gold creates a foundation for Russia and China to shift economic power from the West to the East.
We talk a lot about India’s love affair with gold. The Asian nation ranks as the second largest gold consumer in the world, behind only China. Gold is intimately intertwined with Indian cultural and marriage rights, and it serves as a vital cog in India’s economy, both above ground and underground. But the yellow metal has a new lover vying for its attention.
Germany.
Cryptocurrencies have shown a lot of resiliency. Every time doubters proclaim Bitcoin is on the mat for good, it manages to claw its way back up.
Bitcoin went into a freefall after the Chinese government announced plans to ban cryptocurrency trading on all domestic exchanges. But early Monday, the digital currency hit its highest level since early September.
The steady climb of Bitcoin and its meteoric rise this year have led to some speculation that digital currencies may usurp gold. There have been headlines proclaiming cryptocurrencies are killing the yellow metal. But there are some fundamental reasons cryptos will never replace gold.
After nearly tripling in August, demand for gold in India remained strong last month, despite a tax rule that put a damper on high-dollar jewelry purchases.
Gold demand rose 31% year-on-year in September. Imports came in at 48 tons, according to a Reuters report.
Higher purchases by India, the world’s second-biggest consumer, could lend support to global prices that are trading near their highest level in a week. The higher imports may also widen the South Asian country’s trade deficit.”
The Indian government has reversed a tax rule that was putting a damper on gold demand in the country.
The government included Indian jewelers under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act last August. The rules increased compliance requirements for high dollar jewelry purchases. Buyers had to provide their income tax identity for transactions above 50,000 rupees ($766). According to the Economic Times, the requirements were hindering high-value deals.
The price of gold has fallen four straight weeks, primarily driven down by anticipation of Federal Reserve monetary tightening. The kickoff of the Fed’s balance sheet normalization program and the expectation of rising interest rates have helped spark a dollar rally. But few people seem to be paying any attention to the pitfalls of quantitative tightening. In fact, the Fed’s policy to push interest rates higher could turn out to be a havoc-wrecking juggernaut.
