On the surface, everything still looks fine at the COMEX, but the data reveals more going on.
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.
Silver demand set a record in every category last year based on final data released by the Silver Institute this week.
Total global silver demand in 2022 came in at a record $1.242 billion ounces. This represented an 18% increase in silver demand over 2021.
There has been a lot of talk lately about de-dollarization. As just one example, the BRICS nations recently announced they are developing a new currency. Peter Schiff recently appeared on Commodity Culture with Jessie Day to talk about the trajectory of the dollar. He said that the death blow for the dollar is coming. And when it does, people will run to gold.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a bill into law making gold and silver legal tender in the state. The new law also effectively repeals the state capital gains tax on gold and silver. Enactment of this legislation will relieve some of the tax burden on investors, and take a step toward treating precious metal bullion as money instead of a commodity.
Gold has alternately rallied and tanked over the last week based primarily on how investors view the inflation fight. When they think the Fed is about to win, they buy gold. When they think the fight may have to continue, they sell.
In a recent podcast, Peter explained that investors are right to buy gold based on inflation. But they’re completely backward in their reasoning.
Today is tax day.
I’m not pleased.
I don’t know about you, but that means my bank account balance will be significantly smaller later this evening. I’m going to have to write a big check. But hey, this is the price I pay for a more civilized society.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on Real America with Dan Ball to talk about the weakening US dollar, the less-than-stellar jobs report, and the trajectory of the economy.
Peter kicked off the interview with a startling statement when Dan said whether it’s oil, de-dollarization, or President Biden’s horrible economic policies, everything is pointing toward a recession this year.
After ending 2022 on an upward trend, China’s gold market continued to rebound during the first quarter of 2023.
Wholesale gold demand in China during Q1 hit the highest first-quarter level since 2019. Meanwhile, gold imports charted the strongest start to a year since 2015.
By hiking interest rates, the Federal Reserve has pulled some of the monetary stimulus out of the economy. While the Fed hasn’t done nearly enough to put the inflationary fire it lit with more than a decade of easy money, the cooling consumer price index (CPI) indicates that this has put a modest dent in price inflation — for now. But the Biden administration has opened the fiscal stimulus spigot even wider and this is mucking up the inflation fight. In fact, unless the federal government reins in spending, there is no way inflation will lose this fight.
That’s not going to happen.
With the CPI coming in slightly cooler than expected and producer prices unexpectedly falling, a lot of people think the Fed pivot is now in play and we will soon see an end to monetary tightening. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the possibility of a pivot, market reaction, and most importantly, the possible ramifications.
