Jerome Powell was on Capitol Hill this week (at least virtually) to talk to Congress. During his two days of testimony, the Fed chair insisted that there is no inflation. In fact, he claimed it will take years for the central bank to reach its 2% target. SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast host Mike Maharrey says Powell is lying. But if you listen closely and read between the lines, you can dig a bit of truth out from the lies.
Some policy shifts recently announced by the Indian government in its Union Budget will likely have a positive impact on the country’s gold market. India ranks as the second-largest gold-consuming country in the world, second only behind China.
The three key policy changes that will likely affect the gold market are:
Is Jerome Powell the most dovish Fed chair yet?
Peter Schiff said he wasn’t when he first took the position and was raising interest rates. But he is now. The minutes from the January FOMC meeting released last week bear this out.
“We’re all doves now. That is the problem, the Fed gets progressively more dovish,” Peter said in a recent podcast.
A bill introduced in the Kansas House would recognize gold and silver specie as legal tender and repeal all taxes levied on it. The legislation would pave the way for Kansans to use gold and silver in everyday transactions, a foundational step for the people to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
If you are a longtime follower of SchiffGold news, you may recall that back in 2016, a piano tuner in Shropshire England discovered 13 pounds of gold stashed inside a piano. At the time, I said the story should be filed under the category of “worst places to store your gold.” I haven’t changed my mind on that, by the way.
Anyway, this week, there was a story about this find that updates some of the details.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January meeting this week. It featured some pretty thick Fed-speak. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey translates and tells you what the Fed is telling you about inflation. He also talks about why he thinks gold and silver are both struggling in an economic environment that should be bullish for precious metals.
Why buy gold?
The Relevance of Gold as a Strategic Asset report released by the World Gold Council offers four reasons to add gold to your portfolio.
The bond market is getting clobbered. Long-term interest rates are rising and that is putting significant pressure on gold. Peter Schiff talked about rising rates and the gold market in a recent podcast. He said the rise in long-term yields is a function of inflation and people seem to forget that inflation is good for gold.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he wasn’t worried at all about inflation. But there are signs that inflation is heating up everywhere, from surging commodity prices to rising bond yields. In his podcast Friday (Feb 12) Peter Schiff talked about increasing inflation and the unreasonable expectations Wall Street has when it comes to the Fed’s willingness or ability to do anything about it.
In the Friday Gold Wrap podcast this morning, I talked about the minimum wage. Making a point about how raising prices lowers demand, I pointed out that McDonald’s wouldn’t sell many $15 hamburgers. But you know, there is a way Micky-Ds could make that work. Wrap those burgers in gold.
