The Federal Reserve FOMC met this week. When it was all said and done, the Fed did nothing. We’re stuck in neutral.
As expected, there was no rate hike. Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank would likely maintain this neutral stance into the foreseeable future, staying patient, neither raising nor lowering rates. So, why in the world did markets react like the Fed just jacked up interest rates? On this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about it. He also gives an overview of the most recent World Gold Council demand report.
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting wrapped up yesterday with Fed policy still in neutral.
As expected, the FOMC left interest rates unchanged and seemed to indicate it doesn’t plan to do anything at all in the near-term. Jerome Powell’s comments dampened expectations that the central bank might move to cut rates in the coming months.
The committee is comfortable with current policy stance. Don’t see a strong case for a rate move either way.”
Most took Powell’s comments to be less dovish than expected, but Peter Schiff said he thinks the Fed is a lot more dovish than it admits.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT to talk about rising oil prices, how they relate to inflation and what it could mean for the US economy.
The mainstream pundits and economists keep telling us inflation is “tame.” But is it really? Or are they just not looking in the right place? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about inflation and how it factors into the bubble economy. He also covers the week’s activity in the gold market and gives you your daily dose of dumb.
We got more signs that the economy is slowing down this week. And yet pundits and policymakers keep insisting everything is great.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff says he thinks people like Donald Trump and Larry Kudlow know deep down that things aren’t that great, but they want to keep kicking the can down the road for political reasons.
In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about recent Congressional hearings that featured Rep. Maxine Waters scolding bankers for creating the student debt crisis, ignoring the fact that the student loan program was nationalized a decade ago.
Peter described it as the political theater of the absurd.
Gold has been rangebound for months, gyrating up and down around the $1,300 mark. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about this “wash, rinse, repeat” cycle we’re seeing in the precious metals markets and then pivots into a discussion of some more fundamental dynamics. Mike touches on the financial condition of the US federal government, surging central bank demand for gold and the positive dynamics he’s seeing in the silver market.
Ever since the beginning of the “Powell Pause,” Peter Schiff has been saying it won’t be enough.
If the Fed doesn’t want to upset the markets, soon it will be forced to go back to QE and zero percent interest rates.”
Peter isn’t alone in saying this. After the most recent FOMC meeting, Ryan McMaken at the Mises Institute echoed Peter’s message.
Put simply: the days of quantitative easing are back, and we’re not even in a recession yet.”
Jim Grant recently appeared on the Santelli Exchange on CNBC and the conversation quickly turned to this notion that “intellectuals” have the wherewithal to run the economy. Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey recently explained two very important economic principles that make it impossible for central planners to ever truly succeed. As he put it, they might be smart, but they aren’t smart enough to know they’re not smart enough. Nevertheless, this doesn’t seem to dampen the fatal conceit and hubris of central bankers who think they can micromanage a complex economy.
Grant put it another way. He called it the ignorance that knows not it’s ignorant.
There was a lot of Fed-talk on Friday and the big theme was inflation.
For quite a while, Peter has been asking an important question: what is the Federal Reserve going to do when the inflation level gets above 2%? Well, it looks like its setting the stage.
