Gold and silver whipsawed to end last week. Gold fell over $30 on Thursday when weekly jobless claims and the ADP private payroll numbers came in better than expected. But the yellow metal gained back much of the loss on Friday after a less than overwhelming Labor Department May jobs report. In this article, we break down the job numbers and come to the conclusion that the economy is far weaker than anybody is admitting. Meanwhile, the Fed is still printing money. This is a double-whammy on the economy and a lot of people still don’t get it.
Hurricane season started this week. That means those of us who live in Florida are in preparedness mode – or at least we should be.
For you landlocked readers, the notion of a hurricane kit is probably foreign to you. But for those of us who live in hurricane-prone coastal areas, updating the hurricane kit is a right of passage from spring into summer.
With some positive economic data coming out this week, investors suddenly went bullish on the economy again and decided that the Fed is surely going to deal with inflation now. Will it though? In this Friday Gold Wrap Podcast episode, host Mike Maharrey speculates about the Fed’s next move. He also looks ahead and talks about the long-term future of the dollar. Can we assume it will always be the reserve currency?
Central banks globally added another net 69.4 tons of gold to their reserves in April, according to preliminary numbers compiled by the World Gold Council.
Gold-buying by central banks slowed last year from the record pace we saw in 2018 and 2019. That trend has continued into 2021, but buying is ahead of last year’s pace as many countries continue to load up on the yellow metal.
Last year, China launched a digital yuan pilot program. The Chinese government-backed digital currency got a boost when the country’s biggest online retailer announced the first virtual platform to accept the Chinese digital currency. China isn’t the only government exploring the possibility of digital money. Sweden has developed a digital currency of its own. The European Central Bank is pushing for a digital euro. And Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina recently told CNBC that digital currency is “the future of our financial system.”
So, how long before a digital dollar comes to the United States? Well, it’s already in the pipeline.
President Joe Biden released his 2022 budget this week. The $6 trillion spending plan offers a glimpse into Biden’s long-term fiscal strategy – borrow and spend to infinity and beyond.
The Biden budget would take the US to its highest sustained spending levels since World War II.
And here you thought the pandemic emergency was winding down and spending would go back to normal. Well apparently, this is the new normal.
If you’ve been to the grocery store, or the gas station, or the building supply store, you know we have an inflation problem. Last month’s hotter than expected CPI confirmed what we already intuitively know. But the folks over at the Federal Reserve continue to tell us there’s nothing to worry about. They insist inflation is transitory.
Their reassurances notwithstanding, people are worried. Searches for the word “inflation” hit an all-time high on Google trends in May.
Last month, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law that creates a commission to study the feasibility of creating a gold bullion depository in the Volunteer State.
A state bullion depository would not only create a safe place to store precious metals; it would increase the state’s financial independence. It could also facilitate the everyday use of gold and silver in financial transactions in Tennessee and set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
For months, the markets have responded to inflationary pressures by piling into dollars and selling gold. They’ve taken this counterintuitive approach because they believe the Fed will tighten monetary policy to fight inflation sooner rather than later. But we’re starting to see a shift in sentiment. Traders seem to be realizing that inflation might be here to stay, and that is bullish for gold and bearish for the dollar.
As a dad, I have to confess to delivering my fair share of dad jokes. You know what I mean, right? I’m talking about those jokes that make the kids’ eyes roll into the back of their heads and elicit groans from the wife.
Let’s be honest; dad isn’t funny. And that’s what makes dad jokes so funny.
So to kick off your weekend, I bring you some dad jokes related to gold I plucked off the interwebs.
