Jerome Powell took center stage last week and the Federal Reserve chair didn’t do anything to dampen expectations of a rate cut. His comments sent both stocks and gold higher.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT Boom Bust with University of Amherst economics professor Richard Wolff to talk about the Fed and its impact on the markets. Pete said no matter what the Fed does, a recession is coming.
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.
President Trump launched Tariff War 2.0 yesterday. And we haven’t even wrapped up Trade War 1 yet.
The president shocked markets when he announced a 5% tariff on all Mexican products in an effort to force Mexico to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the US. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey gives you the details and talks about the impact of these new tariffs on the markets. He also discusses what the bond market is telling us about a looming recession, some interesting news out of Russia, and the latest goings-on in the silver market.
There is plenty of debate about tariffs right now. A lot of people oppose them because they support free trade. A lot of people support them because they believe they protect US industry. Others think tariffs are a great tool to force other countries – specifically China – to engage in fair trade. In today’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey argues that no matter what you think about tariff policy, you should pause and count the cost because tariffs are taking money out of your wallet. Mike also talks about the possibility of China using its “nuclear option” in the trade war and gives an overview of the news that drove the precious metals markets this week.
General George Custer met his doom charging into a battle he thought he could win, against an opponent he did not understand. Based on his views about the fast-emerging trade war with China, it looks to me that Donald Trump, another blonde with a very high opinion of himself, is charging into an economic version of the Little Bighorn.
By mistaking the real nature of international trade, the costs of tariffs, the effects of currency movements, and the supposed ease with which the United States could quickly re-establish itself as a low-cost manufacturer, Trump risks shredding the safety nets that have undergirded the US economy for decades and plunging us into a war we are ill-equipped to fight.
Monday was another rough day on Wall Street as the ongoing trade war weighed on stocks. The Dow dropped 617 points and closed below Friday’s low. The NASDAQ was down 3.4% on the day. The Russell 2000 was also off by more than 3%.
In his podcast Monday evening, Peter Schiff said he thinks the bear market rally is over.
Long live the bear market. This bear market rally is dead. We are going a lot lower.”
Trump has leveled a lot of criticism at the Federal Reserve over that last several months. This has led some people to proclaim that the president is an enemy of the Fed. But as Mike Maharrey explains in this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Trump is no Ron Paul. The president’s beef with the Fed is more about policy and less about the central bank itself. And we should never forget — policy has consequences. In this episode, Mike gives a simple overview of how the Fed creates boom-bust cycles and why Trump needs more boom. He also covers the latest on the trade war and what’s going on in the gold market.
As the trade war continues to unfold, investors should keep an eye on the dollar
Heated rhetoric between the US and China continued as negotiators from the two countries prepared to sit down for the latest round of trade talks. Pres. Donald Trump accused the Chinese of “breaking the trade deal.” Meanwhile, the Chinese threatened to retaliate if the US increases tariffs. Trump has said he will move ahead and hike tariffs to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports at the end of this week.
There has been significant volatility in US stock markets so far this week. The Dow was down over 470 points Monday morning. Dip-buyers saved the day and the Dow ended up only down 66 points. But then the bottom fell out on Tuesday, with the Dow plunging 473 points.
Tweets by President Trump threatening more tariffs and raising questions about whether China and the US can work out a trade deal sparked this market volatility and the ensuing sell-off.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff raises an interesting question: was this by design?
Just a few weeks ago, the mainstream was worried about economic growth. Now, all of a sudden, the mainstream is bullish about economic growth. It seems like the high from the Fed’s monetary heroin has fully taken hold. And it’s not just in the US.
In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about how central bank monetary policy and government economic stimulus is impacting economies. It’s fun being high … until you’re dead. He also covers some interesting developments in the gold market.
