The Federal Reserve raised interest rates yet again during its July meeting. So, what’s next? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the Fed meeting and the weird messaging, and then speculates about the central bank’s next move given the current economic backdrop. He also talks about a lucky Oklahoma woman and her bag of “junk” silver.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled in June. Year on year, the CPI increased by 3%. That was trumpeted as great news with some pundits suggesting perhaps 3% is low enough.
It’s not.
I’ll say this about the Federal Reserve: it tends to follow the script.
Everybody expected that the central bank would hike rates at the July FOMC meeting, and that’s exactly what it did. The Fed boosted the federal funds rate another 25 basis points to 5.25 to 5.5%.
John Hussman predicted the 2000 and 2008 stock market crashes. Now he’s saying the current stock market bubble will “end in tears.”
In a recent note, the Hussman Trust president said the S&P 500 needs to plunge 64% in order to “restore run-of-the-mill long-term prospective returns.”
The number of corporate debt defaults in 2023 has already exceeded the total number of defaults last year.
According to data from Moody Investment Services, 55 American-based companies defaulted on loans through the first half of 2023. That was a 53% increase over the total number of defaults in 2022.
People are confused about the definition of inflation. And because they don’t really know what inflation is, they can’t grasp what’s causing it.
Or how to fix it.
That’s why it’s imperative that we reclaim the meaning of inflation.
Janet Yellen recently said she doesn’t think the US economy will slip into a recession. Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey explains why he doesn’t think we should put a lot of stock on Janet’s prognostications, and he goes on to point out some major fissures in the economy and financial system that are opening up under the surface.
Four months after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the financial crisis sparked by Federal Reserve rate hikes continues to simmer under the surface.
As of the end of the first quarter, Bank of America had over $100 billion in unrealized losses on its bond portfolio. This is the exact problem that torpedoed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
We are all keenly aware of price inflation. We notice those rising prices every time we go into a store. But the inflation boogeyman is hitting you even harder than you realize. Not only are you paying more for pretty much everything you buy, you’re getting less.
Literally.
It’s called shrinkflation.
You had better get ready for the world of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) because they are coming. And they are coming fast.
According to a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as many as 24 CBDCs could be in circulation by 2030.
