The September trade deficit smashed the record set just last June.
September 2021 charted a total trade deficit of -$80.9 billion. That was up a massive 11.2% over the August trade deficit of -$72.8 billion and crushed the previous June record of -$73.2 billion by over 10.5%.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its FOMC meeting on Wednesday and finally announced the much-anticipated QE taper. The Fed will cut its bond-buying program by about $15 billion a month. But so what? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey digs into the Fed announcement and raises some very important questions.
When we talk about “inflation,” most people immediately think about rising prices. That is indeed one of the effects of inflation. But that isn’t inflation itself. Properly defined, inflation is an increase in the money supply. In fact, that used to be the standard definition of inflation. Over time, the government has changed the definition. Today, pretty much everybody defines inflation as rising prices.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its November FOMC meeting on Wednesday and finally did something other than talk. The central bank announced it will begin to taper its massive quantitative easing program.
The mainstream blames inflation on “supply chain bottlenecks.” But they have it completely backward. In reality, Federal Reserve-created inflation is causing the supply chain mess.
The Federal Reserve has held interest rates artificially low for decades. Even after pushing rates to zero in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, “normalization” only managed to raise rates to 2.5% — hardly “normal.” The central bank began cutting rates in 2019, even before the coronavirus pandemic.
But what difference does it make? Why do artificially low interest rates matter? Peter Schiff explains in this clip from his podcast.
The use of silver in electronics and electrical applications is expected to rise by 10% over the next five years. And this doesn’t include the expected demand increase for silver in the solar energy sector.
This is one of several silver-related stories covered in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
Gold has been rangebound of late, bouncing between $1,750 and $1,800 an ounce for several months. Given the inflationary environment, one would expect gold to be soaring. So, what’s going on with the yellow metal? And when will the price of gold go up? Peter Schiff tackled this question during a recent Q&A session on YouTube.
Trade deficits used to be an important market mover. In fact, many blame the 1987 stock market crash on a much worse than expected trade deficit. That led to weak dollar and bond markets that bled over into the stock market. But today, traders mostly ignore the trade deficit. In fact, the US trade deficit set another record in September and the markets didn’t blink. Peter Schiff talked about it in his podcast.
Hedge funds closed shorts and went long in both gold and silver in October.
Please note: the COTs report was published 10/29/2021 for the period ending 10/26/2021. “Managed Money” and “Hedge Funds” are used interchangeably.
The Commitment of Traders analysis last month highlighted the potential over-extension of the shorts leading to a rebound. This proved to be the case in a big way. Unfortunately, the momentum lost steam and the $1810s for gold presented too much resistance.
