Bed Bath and Beyond might be a canary in the coal mine.
The home goods retailer filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. And according to research by UBS, this is likely just the beginning of a surge of retail store closures.
Who produces the world’s gold?
Gold mine production was up modestly in 2022, but it remains below the prepandemic peak.
Seasonally Adjusted Money Supply in March fell $257B. As the chart below shows, this is now the 8th consecutive monthly drop. Going back to the 1970s, the drop in March was actually the biggest on record on an absolute and relative basis.
Silver delivery from the COMEX was low in April, but there is more to the story.
This analysis focuses on gold and silver within the Comex/CME futures exchange. See the article What is the Comex? for more detail. The charts and tables below specifically analyze the physical stock/inventory data at the Comex to show the physical movement of metal into and out of Comex vaults.
Americans continue to deal with rising prices even as the economy deteriorates. But the US isn’t the only country with an inflation problem. As Peter Schiff explained in a recent podcast, every country has let the inflation horses out of the barn. When you couple that with the de-dollarization trend, it’s bullish for gold.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the US fell by 1.2% in March. It was the 12th straight month of declines in the LEI.
In January, the US government ran up against the debt ceiling, kicking off another fake debt ceiling fight. Three months later, Congress still hasn’t agreed on a plan to raise the borrowing limit. Peter Schiff talked about it in his podcast, saying the lack of a higher debt ceiling isn’t the problem; the ever-increasing spending and the debt are the problems. Refusing to raise the ceiling would provide the solution.
The technical analysis last month highlighted how the current price spike looked unsustainable and needed time to consolidate. It also mentioned that we may be at a turning point in precious metals, concluding:
Most attention in the precious metals markets has focused on inflation and the Federal Reserve’s response. The perception that the Fed will continue to tighten monetary policy to fight inflation has created headwinds for gold and silver. But as Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey explains, there is a silver lining in all this – the fundamentals for silver. In this episode, Mike highlights silver’s supply and demand dynamics. He also covers some good news for gold and silver coming out of Arkansas.
