Gold demand surged to kick off the year, up 34% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022.
Total demand came in at 1,234 tons in Q1. That was the highest quarterly demand since Q4 2018, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. Demand in the first quarter of this year was 19% above the 5-year average.
The price analysis last month highlighted how gold was trying to carve out fragile support around $1900 and breakthrough resistance at $1950.
Gold found a spark and broke through $1950, but has been unable to hold above it in the wake of “hawkish” Fed comments. Now, $1900 is being tested and should give clues to the next move. So far, it has held with only a slight dip into the $1800s before recovering. A hard bounce here would prove near-term bullish, but if the price breaks down below $1880 it could be a few more months until gold musters the strength to take on $2000 again.
The Silver Institute has released its World Silver Survey 2022 report, providing an overview of what happened in the silver market in 2021 and looking ahead to this year.
Even with geopolitical and economic headwinds, the report anticipates further growth in the silver market in 2022.
The Fed faces a real conundrum. Bond yields continue to rise. The only thing that can stop it is a central bank pivot back to rate cuts and quantitative easing. But the Fed needs to raise rates and shrink its balance sheet to fight inflation. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the bond market and Fed’s conundrum. He also goes on a little rant about taxes.
We got the CPI data for March this week. As expected, prices spiked significantly again last month. A lot of people in the mainstream are calling it “Putin’s price hike.” Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey says it would be more appropriate to call it Powell’s price hike. In this episode of the podcast, he digs into the CPI data and explains why the blame for high prices is largely misplaced and inflation probably hasn’t peaked.
Global ETF gold holdings surged in March, charting the third straight month of inflows.
Net inflows of gold into ETFs came in at 187.3 tons last month, as total holdings rose to 3,837 tons, just shy of the all-time record high. It was the biggest jump in ETF gold holdings since July 2020, according to data from the World Gold Council.
Earlier this week, Lael Brainard said the Federal Reserve will run off its balance sheet at a considerably more rapid pace than it did last time around. SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey thinks Brainard and the rest of the Fed officials suffer from delusions of grandeur if they think they can really pull this off. In this episode, he explains exactly why balance sheet reduction is doomed to fail.
Russia has quietly made the case for owning gold.
The head of the Russian Parliament, Pavel Zavalny, made comments recently addressing the subject of economic and financial sanctions. It’s clear that gold is playing a large role in protecting Russian wealth. That role may get bigger and it could create a paradigm shift in how the world does business.
When you change the definition of words, it can create confusion. This is exactly why politicians have worked so hard to change the definition of inflation. As a result, a lot of people are very confused. In this Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains how the meaning of inflation has changed and why it matters. He also talks about signals flashing from the bond and real estate markets.
The Fed threw a pretty weak first punch at inflation with a quarter-point interest rate hike last week. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell followed up with some tough talk this week. The question is what will he do when the economy punches him in the face? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about Powell’s attempt to bully inflation and if it might backfire.
