Inflows of gold into gold-backed ETFs set a quarterly dollar record in Q1 2020 as holdings increased by the most tonnage in any quarter since 2016.
Gold-backed ETFs added 298 tons of gold through the first three months of 2020, amounting to $23 billion in net inflows. That pushed total holdings to a new record of 3,185 tons, according to data released by the World Gold Council.
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya made waves when he said during a CNBC interview that the government should not bail out companies impacted by the coronavirus shutdowns. “On Main Street today, people are getting wiped out. Right now, rich CEOs are not, boards that have horrible governance are not,” he said. “What we’ve done is disproportionately prop up poor-performing CEOs and boards, and you have to wash these people out.”
During an interview on RT, Peter Schiff said he’s been saying the same thing since day one.
Central banks continued their gold-buying spree in February, although the pace of gold purchases has slowed compared to last year’s near-record purchases.
On net, central banks globally added another 36 tons of gold to their reserves in February, according to the latest data released by the World Gold Council. That was about 33% higher than January’s total.
The stock market continued to rally last week despite the fact that the economy remained on lockdown. Stocks made gains even after the weekly report revealing that another 6.6 million people filed for unemployment, bringing the three week total to nearly 17 million people. That’s 10% of the workforce.
In what kind of world does this make sense? Peter Schiff talked about it in his podcast.
As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, a lot of people seem to be putting an awful lot of faith in government officials to save them. I don’t know. That just seems less than ideal to me.
The economic lockdowns continued and another 6.6 million Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed this week. But the stock market rallied? How can this be a thing? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains what’s going on. And then he asks the burning question: what’s next? What is the exit strategy from all of these unprecedented government and central bank actions?
Earlier this year, Ray Dalio quipped that “cash is trash.” During a recent Reddit “ask me anything” session, Dalio doubled down, warning that the rush into the US dollar is a mistake.
Why?
Because the Federal Reserve has fired up the printing press and is pumping out cash at a dizzying pace.
The US national debt pushed above $24 trillion on Tuesday.
The US government was already running massive budget deficits long before the coronavirus pandemic and the debt was piling up at a dizzying pace. Response to the outbreak has put spending and debt in hyperdrive.
President Trump recently signed a $2 trillion stimulus bill, ostensibly to support the economy through the coronavirus crisis. Pundits hailed it as a great bipartisan accomplishment that will help ease the pain of this economic slowdown. Of course, there will still be pain. And the government stimulus may actually cause more pain than it eases in the long run.
Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is making the media circuit and pontificating about the evolving economic crisis. As Peter recalled on his podcast, it wasn’t long ago that Yellen was saying she didn’t think we would ever see another financial crisis “in our lifetime?”
Yet, here it is, just a few years later, and we already have another financial crisis.”
