Gold is the “shining embodiment of wealth.” It is not only used to add “extra bling” to our lives; it is also an important component in expensive high-tech electronics and medical devices. Even more fundamentally, gold is money.
But why is gold so expensive — even more valuable than other rarer metals? A video put together by Business Insider offers some perspective. Simply put, it’s a matter of supply and demand. People want gold and there isn’t very much of it.
News of a possible “phase 1 trade deal” and movement toward a resolution of the Brexit fiasco have buoyed stocks and put a lid on silver and gold this week. But positive vibes on these two fronts overshadowed a lot of economic data that came out this week that was less than ideal. It seems the American consumer might be getting close to being maxed out. In this episode of the SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey digs into a big pile of debt and more.
Central banks globally added a net 57.3 tons of gold in August, continuing a gold-buying spree that’s been going on for months. Countries like Russia and China are seeking to minimize exposure to the US dollar and undermine the ability of the US to weaponize the greenback as a foreign policy tool. But there are even more fundamental reasons central banks hold gold, as outlined by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands.
Stocks took off on Friday on several big news items – most significantly President Trump’s announcement that the US and China have worked out phase one of a trade deal. In his podcast, Peter broke down the news. He also made an interesting observation: Trump and the Federal Reserve seem to be reading off the same script.
Everybody is talking about the possibility of a trade deal.
Well, maybe not everybody. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey rehashes his standard trade war observations and then moves on to bigger news – Jerome Powell’s announcement that the Fed is resuming QE. Of course, Powell didn’t exactly say that. In fact, he tried to say the opposite in a statement that Mike describes as “word salad.” In this episode, Mike breaks down what’s going on with the Fed and why it matters a lot more than the possibility of a trade deal. He also covers some important gold-specific news that came out this week.
The central bank gold-buying spree shows no signs of letting up. In fact, it ramped up again in August after ebbing slightly in July, according to the latest data released by the World Gold Council.
After a relatively modest net increase of 13.9 tons in July, central banks globally took in a net 57.3 tons of gold in August.
ETF gold holding reached all-time highs in September.
Globally, gold-backed ETFs added 75.2 tons of metal to their holdings last month, according to the most recent data released by the World Gold Council. That brought total gold holdings to 2,808 tons, eclipsing the previous record set back in 2012 when the price of gold was near $1,700 per ounce.
China has accumulated more than 100 tons of gold since it resumed buying the yellow metal last December in a quest to diversify its reserves away from the US dollar.
The People’s Bank of China added another 5.9 tons of gold to its hoard in September, according to data on its website reported by Bloomberg. It was the 10th straight month of gold-buying for the Chinese central bank and it added to the 99.8 tons accumulated during the prior nine months.
The following article was written by South Carolina state Rep. Stewart Jones. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.
The Federal Reserve just lowered interest rates for the second time this year and announced more quantitative easing by injecting even more US dollars into the market. The days of cheap money will soon come to an end, and I fear that many people won’t realize what’s happening until the rug is pulled out from under them.
