The Federal Reserve raised interest rates yet again during its July meeting. So, what’s next? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the Fed meeting and the weird messaging, and then speculates about the central bank’s next move given the current economic backdrop. He also talks about a lucky Oklahoma woman and her bag of “junk” silver.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled in June. Year on year, the CPI increased by 3%. That was trumpeted as great news with some pundits suggesting perhaps 3% is low enough.
It’s not.
I’ll say this about the Federal Reserve: it tends to follow the script.
Everybody expected that the central bank would hike rates at the July FOMC meeting, and that’s exactly what it did. The Fed boosted the federal funds rate another 25 basis points to 5.25 to 5.5%.
People are confused about the definition of inflation. And because they don’t really know what inflation is, they can’t grasp what’s causing it.
Or how to fix it.
That’s why it’s imperative that we reclaim the meaning of inflation.
Janet Yellen recently said she doesn’t think the US economy will slip into a recession. Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey explains why he doesn’t think we should put a lot of stock on Janet’s prognostications, and he goes on to point out some major fissures in the economy and financial system that are opening up under the surface.
We are all keenly aware of price inflation. We notice those rising prices every time we go into a store. But the inflation boogeyman is hitting you even harder than you realize. Not only are you paying more for pretty much everything you buy, you’re getting less.
Literally.
It’s called shrinkflation.
With the June CPI report coming in even cooler than expected, the mainstream perspective seems to be that the Federal Reserve is winning the inflation fight. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff explains why the dollar is telling a different story.
With three months left, the fiscal 2023 budget deficit has already eclipsed the massive 2022 shortfall.
The US government ran a $227.77 billion deficit in June, pushing the total fiscal 2023 shortfall to $1.393 trillion, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement for June.
Can the Federal Reserve navigate a narrow path and slay price inflation while steering the economy to a soft landing?
During an interview on CNBC Squawk Box, financial analyst Jim Grant expressed his doubts.
He compared Jerome Powell’s task to Captain Chelsey Sullenberger’s when he was forced to land a US Airways plane on the Hudson River after an inflight emergency, noting Powell is “no Sully.”
Grant went on to explain that even if things don’t look so bad right now, rivets are popping in the economy.
As the saying goes, there’s no place like home. And more and more countries think that’s the case when it comes to their gold. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about why many central banks and sovereign wealth funds are bringing their gold home. He also talks about gold’s performance through the first half of 2023 and the June CPI data.
