During a recent interview, President Donald Trump lamented the fact that we don’t have a bigger bubble and blamed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump said that even though Powell was his pick, he “disagrees with him entirely.” He said that if it weren’t for the Fed, we’d have even stronger GDP growth.
Frankly, if we had a different person in the Federal Reserve that wouldn’t have raised interest rates so much, we would have been at least a point and a half higher. I’m not happy with what he’s done.”
As Peter Schiff pointed out in his podcast, this is the exact opposite of Trump’s position when he was campaigning. Now that he’s in the White House, Trump has turned into a Keynesian on steroids.
Consumer debt climbed to a new record once again in April. The question is how much money can American consumers borrow before the bubble pops?
Americans borrowed money at the fastest pace in five months in April, according to the latest Federal Reserve Consumer Credit Report. Total consumer credit increased by $17.5 billion. That’s an annual growth rate of 5.2%
Americans currently owe nearly $4.07 trillion.
Well, you missed out. You could have been $100,000 richer. But you didn’t plunk down $25 for a map. And you’re probably not in Canada.
Too bad. As my dad used to say, “When you snooze, you lose.”
But a few people did cash in on a treasure hunt up in the Great White North. And those folks are $100,000 better off for their efforts.
Gold has crashed through another key resistance level and is on track for its fourth consecutive weekly gain. What is driving gold into the spotlight? Host Mike Maharrey talks about it in this week’s episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast. He also raises an important question – what is all this going to look like when the recession really takes hold?
If you were thinking federal government spending might slow down a bit after the national debt crossed the $22 trillion mark – well, it didn’t.
Last month, the federal budget deficit came in at $208 billion, according to Treasury Department data. It was the largest May deficit in history.
Uncle Sam spent $440 billion last month, up 21% year-on-year. Receipts increased to $232 billion, up 7% from May 2018.
Another billionaire investor likes gold.
During an interview on Bloomberg TV, Paul Tudor Jones didn’t mince any words when asked about his view on the markets.
I think one of the best trades is going to be gold.”
A European payment system set up to circumvent US sanctions on Iran will be ready soon, according to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
This is yet another move in a global effort to minimize dependence on the US dollar.
The following is a market update as it related to precious metals prepared by SchiffGold intern commodities analyst Jason Mezhibovsky and SchiffGold News managing editor Mike Maharrey.
Equities Overdone
Most mainstream analysts believe we remain in the midst of the longest bull market in history. If you consider the post-crisis S&P 500 low of March 9, 2009, as the beginning of this bull run, then it’s well over a decade long.
Peter Schiff believes the bull market actually ended last fall. He predicted that the December rate hike would be the last. Turns out he was correct in that prediction.
After a dip in demand in 2018, it appears Indians are buying gold again.
Anecdotal data seemed to indicate strong demand for the yellow metal in India during the Akshaya Tritiya holiday. Retailers reported sales were up by as much as 25%. As it turns out, demand was indeed strong. Gold imports into India were up 36% year-over-year in May, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.
China added to its official gold reserves for the sixth straight month in May as it continues efforts to minimize exposure to the dollar.
The People’s Bank of China increased its gold reserves by another 15.86 tons last month, according to data released by the bank on Monday. That raises the official Chinese gold reserves to 61.61 million ounces (1925.26 tons).
