The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
SchiffGold’s It’s Your Dime features “straight talk” interviews with movers and shakers in the world of precious metals, investing and economics.
In this episode, host Mike Maharrey talks with SchiffGold senior precious metals specialist Joel Bauman. In an interview recorded earlier this month, they discuss the current state of the precious metals market and Joel talks about where he thinks it’s heading in the near future. Along the way, Joel and Mike get into several interesting subjects including gold and silver’s role as a portfolio hedge, ETFs vs. physical gold, counterparty risk and the cryptocurrency phenomenon.
The Federal Reserve followed its script yesterday and raised interest rates another 25 basis points. But the central bankers did surprise some people by hinting at just two more hikes this year. Analysts have been fixated on the possibility of four 2018 rate increases.
The Fed’s slightly more dovish tone on rate hikes sent gold climbing. The yellow metal gained about 1% in the aftermath of the FOMC meeting.
Nevertheless, even while dampening expectations of faster tightening, the Fed continued to talk up the economy. In fact, the central bankers project continuing rate hikes all the way into 2020. In his most recent podcast, Peter said the Fed sounded even more optimistic about the economy than it has in the past. He called it “all politics,” designed to maintain the illusion that everything is great.
Everything is great. We’re riding high. The stock market is up. Employment is up. Analysts and pundits see nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
It sounds an awful lot like 2007.
It’s like deja vu all over again.
Could we be on the verge of a retail apocalypse?
February marked the third straight month of declining retail sales. Analysts had not expected another drop, but they got one nonetheless. Sales fell 0.1% in February. Analysts had expected an uptick of 0.3%.
This is not good news for a retail sector that is already teetering on the brink.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Retail sales unexpectedly fell again in February. It was the third straight monthly drop and the first time the US economy has seen three straight months of declining retail sales since 2012.
Sales fell 0.1% in February. Analysts had expected an uptick of 0.3%. According to CNBC, households cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, pointing to a slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter.
So, why is this happening? Peter Schiff offered a simple reason in his latest podcast.
Americans are broke.
Jobs numbers came out Friday better than expected.
According to the Labor Department, the US economy added 313,000 jobs last month, the most since October 2015. Economists had anticipated a gain of about 200,000. Wage growth was less stellar, ticking up just 0.1%. Analysts projected a 0.2% increase after a pretty significant jump of 0.3% in January spooked markets with inflation fears.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said if he was a conspiratorial person – and he’s not – he would say, “Wait a minute, this looks too good to be true.”
We’ve been talking a lot about the rising levels of debt – both government and household. Set in an environment of rising interest rates, this is a huge problem very few people seem concerned about.
We’ve been enjoying a big party and it’s about to come to an abrupt end.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
