There was more bad inflation news this week. So, the Fed is about to ramp up the inflation fight, right? Not so fast. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey argues that the central bank isn’t set to go to war with inflation because it can’t. And he explains how St. Louis Fed President James Bullard let the cat out of the bag.
Gold continues to flow out of COMEX vaults at a rapid pace. Inventory fell 3% in the last month alone.
This analysis focuses on gold and silver within the Comex/CME futures exchange. See the article What is the Comex? for more detail.
Chinese gold consumption boomed during the January holiday season. This continued the 2021 trend where Chinese gold demand climbed back above prepandemic levels.
The Federal Reserve still seems to be hoping that inflation will just go away on its own or that it can jawbone it down by projecting a few little rate hikes. But the Consumer Price Index data keeps dashing its hopes. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about the January CPI and the Fed’s proposed “fight” against inflation. He also discusses the demand forecast for silver this year.
After a strong 2021, demand for silver is expected to hit a record high in 2022, according to the Silver Institute’s Global Demand Forecast.
The Silver Institute projects silver demand will hit a record 1.112 billion ounces this year with growth in most key areas. That would represent an 8% year-on-year increase.
Global ETF gold holdings started off 2022 with a healthy increase.
Global gold ETFs recorded net inflows of 46.3 tons last month as gold investment demand returned with decades-high inflation and heightened market volatility. Total ETF gold holdings globally ended January at 3,615.6 tons, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council.
The markets continue to brace for the Fed’s impending inflation fight. But as Peter explained in his podcast, they’re not bracing for the Fed to lose that fight.
And the Fed is going to lose that fight.
With little fanfare, the national debt crossed the $30 trillion threshold this week. That is an unfathomable number. And as host Mike Maharrey explains in this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, it’s worse than that. Most people aren’t concerned. Maharrey argues that they should be, likening the federal government’s borrow and spend policy to a monetary Jenga game.
Is bitcoin an inflation hedge?
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT Boom Bust with Natalie Brunell of Coin Stories to discuss inflation and whether bitcoin is a hedge. Peter said bitcoin is not an inflation hedge. He called it a “speculative token” with its price driven by supply and demand.
But what about gold? It didn’t perform like an inflation hedge in 2021 despite the inflation freight train. Peter said the reason gold has had some problems is because the market wrongly believes the Fed.
The Federal Reserve held its first FOMC meeting of 2022. The central bank didn’t do anything, but the tone coming out of the meeting was widely perceived as even more “hawkish.” Everybody is convinced the Fed really means it now. The inflation fight is on. Is it though? Host Mike Maharrey talks about the messaging and perceptions coming out of this meeting and calls it a big flim-flam.