Peter’s Blog

Last week, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released its monthly employment report, which painted a conveniently rosy economic picture just ahead of the election. The report showed the official unemployment rate was down (4.9%) with 161,000 new jobs added in October. Average hourly earnings and wages also jumped up 0.4%. There was some bad […]

With presidential candidates, sometimes it’s tough to cut through the political minutia to find out what they think about important issues. The debates didn’t seem to shine much of a light on topics like the Federal Reserve and interest rates, so here’s a quick look at how Clinton and Trump are leaning when it comes […]

With the election looming, the Fed met all expectations of delaying a rate hike in November. Whether or not a hike happens in December, the benefit to owning gold is that “real” interest rates could stay low or negative regardless of the outcome. Learn about all that and more in this week’s Fed Up Friday. […]

On Wednesday gold prices broke the $1,300 level, their highest since early October as election anxieties brought stocks and the dollar downward. Gold ended the day surrendering half its gains following the release of the Fed’s rate announcement and found support below the $1,300 level with lows just above $1,295. The Fed’s delay was highly […]

In mid-October, a steady stream of financial analysists and investors came out bullish for gold in 2017. Market veterans, like Raoul Pal, see buying gold as the best hedge against the coming recession, which is currently being covered over by low interest rates, bad data, and election year politicians.

The people of Venezuela are currently suffering from triple-digit inflation and their bolívar fuerte (“strong bolívar”) currency isn’t worth 0.10 US cents at the moment, according to Bloomberg. As the country approaches hyperinflation levels, buying everyday items (when available) takes so many bank notes businesses have abandoned counting and starting weighing money instead. Boxes and bags […]

Friday’s release of the latest GDP numbers at 2.9% showed the biggest economic growth in two years. With the presidential election less than two weeks away, the timing of the release along with the estimate itself seems overly convenient for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Weak GDP numbers and a stagnant economy have been one of Donald […]

Despite today’s GDP numbers and many expecting a rate hike in December, get ready for years of continued low interest rates for a struggling economy. A rate hike this year will simply be “too little, too late” for our weakest economy since 2008. Learn more about how the Fed factors into all of this in this week’s Fed […]

St. Louis US Federal Reserve President James Bullard recently suggested the Fed is likely to maintain its strategy of small, incremental rate hikes for the next few years. This includes one likely December hike and then only one or two more for the next several years. Bullard estimates rates to stay at .68% through 2019. […]

If you look up the words “currency” and “money” in a thesaurus, each word will probably be listed as a suitable linguistic substitution for the other; however, their economic function is almost completely opposite. Understanding the difference between currency and money is critical to making smart decisions about preserving your wealth.