The dollar has shown some resilience this week. The dollar index clawed back after hitting multi-year lows last week. Meanwhile, gold saw its worst single-day decline in more than a year on Tuesday.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the upward pressure on bond yields. In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff said he thinks this is the reason we’re still seeing some life in the dollar and downward pressure on gold.
Inflation came in hotter than expected at 2.1%. A CNBC report said the number “pushes the economy toward a potential danger zone for inflation.”
Analysts had expected January inflation to come in at 0.3, after being up by 0.1 the previous month. Instead, the December number was revised up to 0.2 and January came in at 0.5. As Peter Schiff pointed out in his podcast, if you multiply 0.5 by 12 months, it comes to 6% inflation per year.
In his Feb. 16 Liberty Report, Ron Paul talked about inflation and its effect on everyday Americans. He said when it comes to this subject, the mainstream is all mixed up. More significantly, the creation of new money doesn’t impact everybody equally. Some benefit at the expense of others.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Inflation is back. So what does this mean for gold?
The consumer price index came in hotter than expected at 2.1%. A CNBC report said the number “pushes the economy toward a potential danger zone for inflation.”
Jim Rickards has been talking $10,000 gold for a while. This seems like an absurd number, but Rickards insists the dynamic exist to push gold to that level – when the world financial system collapses under its own weight.
Rickards has been making the rounds again lately, saying gold is in the midst of its third bull run and has plenty of room to go.
In my view, we’re in the third bull market of my lifetime. The first one was 1971 to 1980. Gold went up over 2,000%. The second one was 1999 to 2011. Gold went up 655%. We’re in a new bull market that started in December 2015. Gold’s up 27% since then. Gold was up in 2016-2017. First back-to-back year of gold gains since 2011-2012. So, 2018 will be a breakout year … we’re actually in the third year of a bull market with a very long way to run.”
Precious metals dealers are bullish on gold and silver in 2018.
According to an informal survey conducted by the nonprofit Professional Numismatists Guild, retailers anticipate gold will reach $1,460 this year, and perhaps climb even higher. They also like silver’s prospects, projecting the price to hit the $20 per ounce mark.
The dollar continued to tank Wednesday, hitting a 3-year low after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he welcomed a weakening dollar.
The dollar index measuring the greenback against a basket of six major currencies slipped below 90 for the first time since December 2014. Meanwhile, gold climbed, hitting its highest level since August 2016.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on InfoWars with Alex Jones and took on the notion that Pres. Trump is in the process of fixing the economy. In fact, Peter pushed back hard against Alex, saying we are on the verge of a crash and Trump is going to get the blame.
I agree with you. The economy is going to blow up. But it’s going to blow up like a bomb. It’s not a good thing. It’s a bad thing. Unfortunately, that’s what Trump has inherited from Obama. But it’s not even really just Obama. It’s the Federal Reserve. It’s the monetary policy that has been passed like a baton from Clinton, to Bush, to Obama, and now to Trump.
Peter predicted the collapse will happen under Trump’s watch. Peter has said in the past that Trump is not helping himself by taking credit for the soaring stock market. And when things go south, he’s going to get the blame.
He owns the stock market bubble. He and the Republicans own the economy now thanks to the tax cuts. They’re not going to make any difference, but they are going to give the Democrats a reason to blame it all on Trump and the Republicans.”
Why should you buy gold?
A report published this week by the World Gold Council pinpoints four key reasons.
Gold is a highly liquid yet scarce asset, and it is no one’s liability. It is bought as a luxury good as much as an investment. As such, gold can play four fundamental roles in a portfolio.
If you believe the conventional wisdom, gold should be languishing right now.
It isn’t. People are buying gold.
So, what gives? Could it be that the conventional wisdom is wrong?
