Stocks closed out November on a high note with the hope of a trade deal fueling Wall Street. But is this warranted? And are consumers really doing a well as the mainstream would have us believe? Peter Schiff appeared on RT Boom Bust last week to talk about it. He said it’s all a house of cards and it’s going to come crashing down on American consumers.
So, did you go Black Friday shopping this morning?
I didn’t. In fact, I have never gotten up to join the Black Friday hordes. There isn’t a Walmart deal that can entice me to go shopping at 5 a.m. I like to sleep more than I like saving a few bucks. Not only that, I worked at Toys R Us in my younger days and once had to break up a fist-fight over a Power Ranger on Black Friday. It’s scary out there. You need to be careful.
Stock markets hit new highs again this week. If you believe the headlines, the bullishness on Wall Street is mostly a function of trade deal optimism. But there’s another factor driving stocks higher – easy money courtesy of Federal Reserve (not) quantitative easing. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about the impact QE4 is having on the markets and some delicious irony courtesy of a paper published by the central bank that admits its own policy might just be a problem.
Poland has repatriated 100 tons of gold from England. National Bank of Poland Governor Adam Glapiński announced the yellow metal’s return home on Monday.
“The gold symbolizes the strength of the country,” Glapiński told reporters.
Which countries produce most of the world’s gold?
Gold mine output has flatlined over the last several years and that trend appears to be continuing in 2019. Gold production rose fractionally in 2018 by about 1% totaling 3,346.9 tons. That compared with 3,318.92 tons mined in 2017 — a modest 28-ton increase year-on-year. According to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends Q3 report, on a year-to-date basis, mine production ended the third quarter at 2,583 tons. That’s virtually identical to production levels at this point in 2018.
It’s been a pretty dreary week on Wall Street with another round of trade war pessimism. Otherwise, there hasn’t been a lot of economic news to roil markets and precious metals have remained pretty much rangebound. But host Mike Maharrey has a silver lining for you on this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, along with a little Fed analysis.
On Nov. 18, Peter Schiff appeared on RT Boom Bust to talk stock markets, trade war and Federal Reserve policy. He said that right now the Fed is doing a good job stimulating the bubbles, but ultimately, it’s going to end very poorly.
On the trade war front, there seems to be a lot of conflicting information and continual yo-yoing between pessimism and optimism. The Chinese seem less confident while White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow says a deal is close.
Peter said he thinks China is posturing for negotiations.
Seeking financial and economic safety and stability, Serbia has joined the global central bank gold-buying spree.
National Bank of Serbia Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic recently announced that the bank purchased nine tons of gold in October, raising the country’s reserves to just over 30 tons.
People spend a lot of money for headphones and earbuds. I totally get it. I’m a bit of an audiophile myself. There’s nothing like good music played through good-sounding headphones. But in my never-to-be-humble opinion, a lot of the high-end headphones are utter crap. This is because of the obsession with boosting the bass.
Hey! Whoever just said, “OK boomer,” I heard that! And I’m not a boomer. I’m an X-er. So turn up the Nirvana.
There was more optimism about a trade deal this week. There was also more pessimism about a trade deal this week. Markets reacted accordingly. But there was some other interesting news out there. Jerome Powell lectured Congress about the national debt and last month’s inflation data came in hotter than expected. Host Mike Maharrey covers these stories and more, and basically ignores the trade war gossip, on this episode of the SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast.
