Peter’s Blog

Gold is an important part of your investment portfolio. But when you’re buying gold, you don’t want to overpay and you need to be on the lookout for scams.

In January, the US Treasury realized its first surplus in 2.5 years. The surplus was short-lived. The Treasury went in the red by $216.6 billion in February.

We got the February CPI data yesterday. There is some bad news in the report and then there is some really bad news. In this episode, SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Host Mike Maharrey breaks it all down. He also talks about gold’s rollercoaster ride this week in the context of inflation and the Russia-Ukraine situation.

Weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I highlighted Comex data points that could signal a big move ahead in gold. The invasion may have been the spark to light the fire, but the data showed the groundwork was being laid back in January. Silver has now sent up its own flare that may be […]

The latest seasonally adjusted inflation rate for January was 0.8% month over month. The non-seasonally adjusted annual rate came in at 7.87%. Both of these numbers were slightly above expectations. Unlike last year, where one component made up the bulk of the move, the past several months have shown increases more evenly spread across the […]

January saw another record trade deficit. The $89.7 billion deficit shattered the $82 billion record set in December by 9.4%! Before March 2021, the Trade Deficit monthly record had been set in August 2006 at -$68B. This record stood for nearly 15 years! Records are now being broken almost every single month.

Gold pushed above $2,000 an ounce on Tuesday and made a run at the all-time record high. The yellow metal was up $54 on the day, closing at $2,052 despite some selling after it nudged the all-time high. Some of this is clearly safe-haven buying due to the situation in Russia, and a lot of […]

Gold flowed into gold-backed ETFs for the second straight month in February. Net inflows of gold into ETFs globally totaled 35.3 tons last month. Total ETF gold holdings globally ended February at 3,650.6 tons, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council.

Debt issuance by the US Treasury has fallen since the binge in December when the Treasury had to replenish its “extraordinary measures” stockpiles (government employee retirement funds) after the end of the “debt ceiling” debate. Still, issuance remains relatively high. The Treasury added another $278 billion in debt during February. Similar to January, the Treasury […]

February was another very strong jobs month with the economy adding an estimated 678,000 jobs vs an expected 400,000. The unemployment rate came in at 3.8%, down from 4%. Labor force participation also improved, rising from 62.2% to 62.3%. Both December and January numbers were revised upwards.