According to the seasonally adjusted data, M2 increased by $23B in May. Except for the contraction last month (the first contraction in 12 years), it was the smallest monthly increase in M2 since the start of COVID.
Well-known investment advisor Rick Rule said the Fed will chicken out on its inflation fight.
Rule runs Rule Investment Media and formerly served as the president and CEO of Sprott US Holdings Inc. In a recent interview, Rule said that the Fed could get inflation under control with significantly tighter monetary policy for a sustained period of time. But he said he doesn’t think the central bank has the wherewithal to follow through when the economy starts to crash.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe plans to issue gold coins as a way for investors in the country to store value as inflation runs rampant in the economy.
The United States isn’t the only country battling rapidly rising prices. The inflation rate in Zimbabwe spiked from 132% in May to 191.6% in June, and the Zimbabwean currency is quickly devaluing against other global currencies, particularly the US dollar.
Enter gold.
Goldman Sachs sees a big upside in gold raising its target price to $2,500 an ounce by the end of the year.
The investment bank cites recession worries and persistent inflation as reasons to be bullish on gold.
They tried to deny it for months, but now everybody knows we have an inflation problem. The president, Congress and all of the central bankers at the Fed are trying to find ways to solve this problem. But as host Mike Maharrey explains in this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, all of their solutions are the equivalent of dumping buckets of water on a drowning man.
After a weak swipe at inflation at its May meeting, the Federal Reserve delivered the biggest rate hike since 1994 at its June FOMC gathering. But is it enough to tackle persistently red-hot inflation?
Ron Paul doesn’t think so. He notes that the recent rate hikes have only raised rates to the level they were before the pandemic.
The Federal Reserve cannot increase rates to anywhere near the level they would be in a free market because doing so would increase interest payments to unsustainable levels for debt-ridden consumers, businesses, and the federal government.”
As Americans labor under the burden of inflation, the Biden administration keeps telling us the economy is just fine. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said we are “transitioning” to “steady and stable growth.” As a result, she claims the American people are in a place where they can “take on inflation.”
Americans aren’t buying it. In fact, they’re buying less of everything as rising prices squeeze their wallets. Consumer confidence has plunged to historically low levels. But as bad as things are, the worst could still be yet to come because the proposed solutions are worse than the problem.
After last week’s FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell claimed that a “soft landing” was still possible. In other words, he thinks the central bank will be able to slay red-hot inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
Is this feasible? Or is it a fairytale?
These people never learn. Or they just don’t care.
The Biden administration is reportedly still considering sending out gas rebate cards to help Americans cope with rising gasoline prices. But this kind of government handout is one of the primary reasons we’re suffering through this inflation firestorm to begin with.
A 75 basis-point rate hike wasn’t even on the table a month ago. It appears that the central bankers over at the Fed were crawling around under the table because they found a 75-basis point rate hike.
The Fed went big at the June FOMC meeting in response to hotter-than-expected May CPI data just a week earlier. Jerome Powell admitted that Fed members were “surprised” but another big spike in prices.
So, what’s the plan here? Well, by all indications, there isn’t one.
