Despite significant selling by Turkey that slowed net central bank gold buying in the second quarter, central banks added a record amount of gold to their reserves through the first half of 2023.
There’s a big problem that pretty much everybody is ignoring.
In just two months since Congress reached a deal and suspended the debt ceiling for two years, the national debt has surged by a staggering $1.2 trillion.
Within a week of the debt ceiling suspension, the national debt cracked $32 trillion and as of July 28, it stood at $32.66 trillion.
Investment demand for physical gold was up by 20% in the second quarter compared to last year, continuing a trend we’ve seen over the last 12 months. This helped push overall gold demand up 7% year on year when including over-the-counter (OTC) sales and stock flows.
JP Morgan forecasts $2,000 gold by the end of the year with the price continuing to rise to record highs in 2024.
In his latest note, JP Morgan executive director of global commodities research Greg Shearer projects the price of gold will average around $2,175 an ounce by the fourth quarter of 2024. That would represent an 11% increase from the current price.
Good news. The looming US recession has been canceled.
Or has it?
After hitting the highest level since 2019 in the first quarter, Chinese gold demand continued on a solid path through Q2.
Through the first half of the year, Chinese gold consumption surged by 16%, according to the latest data from the China Gold Association (CGA).
John Hussman predicted the 2000 and 2008 stock market crashes. Now he’s saying the current stock market bubble will “end in tears.”
In a recent note, the Hussman Trust president said the S&P 500 needs to plunge 64% in order to “restore run-of-the-mill long-term prospective returns.”
A bag of “junk silver” given to a woman by her father more than 50 years ago is now worth at least five figures.
The Oklahoma woman received a bag of 2,000 silver half-dollar coins as a gift back in 1970. While the face value of the coins is just $1,000, the silver alone is worth over $17,800.
The number of corporate debt defaults in 2023 has already exceeded the total number of defaults last year.
According to data from Moody Investment Services, 55 American-based companies defaulted on loans through the first half of 2023. That was a 53% increase over the total number of defaults in 2022.
