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.
Interest in silver investment has increased significantly in recent months. According to a report commissioned by the Silver Institute and put together by Metals Focus, silver investment has increased across a range of available instruments including physical metal, exchange-traded products (ETP) and in the futures markets.
Increased market volatility, a return to easy-money policies by central banks, geopolitical uncertainty and deteriorating economic conditions have spurred investment in safe-haven assets including silver. The silver price began the year at $15.44 per ounce. As of the end of September, the white metal was up 11%. Silver posted a yearly high of $19.30 on Sept. 4, a level not seen since 2016.
So, what do you have in your basement?
My house in Kentucky is built on a concrete slab. And right now I’m in Florida. Here we call a basement an in-ground pool. So, I can’t really answer that question. But my grandfather had a basement. It was full of junk.
I’m guessing that’s probably the norm.
It was a bumpy ride in the markets this week. Right now, volatility is the name of the game – in both stocks and precious metals. People are getting nervous out there with some pretty grim economic data this week stirring up recession fears. Meanwhile, the US government just keeps spending money it doesn’t have. Host Mike Maharrey talks about all of this and more in this week’s episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast.
During his podcast earlier this week, Peter Schiff said “the party is over” in the stock market. As if on cue, the Dow Jones is off to the worst start in a quarter since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Dow plunged 494.4 points on Wednesday, a 1.86% decline. Combined with Tuesday’s 343.7 point drop, the Dow is down more than 3% in two days. The 800-plus point slide is the worst start to a quarter since the last three months of 2008. In the fourth quarter of that year, the Dow fell 19.4%.
The percentage of US dollars held as currency reserves globally dropped to the lowest level in nearly six years in the second quarter of 2019 according to the latest IMF data. Meanwhile, Chinese yuan made up the biggest percentage of reserves ever.
The dollar’s shrinking share of global reserves comes as countries like Russia and China move toward de-dollarization in an effort to undermine the ability of the US to weaponize the dollar as a foreign policy tool. The global gold rush on the part of central banks is part of this movement.
Here is a summary of some of the significant economic data/news that came out last week.
Third-quarter 2019 new orders for durable goods remain on track for a second annual decline. August 2019 Real New Orders for Durable Goods showed a monthly gain of 0.2% [1.0% ex-Commercial Aircraft], but an annual decline of 4.9% [down by 2.1% (-2.1%) ex-Commercial Aircraft].
