The year 2020 will not go down as a banner year, but it was fantastic for gold and silver. Both metals charted their best years since 2010.
On New Year’s Eve 2019, gold was trading at $1520.90. It closed the year at $1892.90 for a 24.5% gain.
The year 2020 is coming to a merciful end. As it was with pretty much everything, it was a nutty year for the economy and the precious metals markets. We all hope 2021 will be better, but it seems unlikely that it will be any less nutty. In this special Thursday episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey takes a look back at 2020 and speculates on what could lie ahead in 2021.
Saxo Bank recently projected silver will soar to $50 an ounce in 2021, powered by loose monetary policy along with the push for “green energy.” Bloomberg Intelligence is now making a similar call, saying silver will be “the primary metal” benefiting from electrification and quantitative easing in 2021.
Gold set a new record earlier this year and briefly traded above $2,000 an ounce. In a recent report, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone predicted silver will follow gold toward a record high of its own.
The Federal Reserve held its last meeting of the year this week. There were no big surprises policy-wise. But Jerome Powell and company made it clear that the easy-money spigot will remain wide open pumping trillions of dollars created out of thin air into the economy. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Mike Maharrey talks about the Fed meeting and the ramifications of its monetary policy.
Investment in physical silver is expected to surge by 27% to 236.8 million ounces in 2020, a 5-year high. This was one of the highlights of the annual Interim Silver Market Review highlighted in the December issue of the Silver Institute’s Silver News.
Three bills prefiled in the South Carolina House would cut taxes on precious metals and take important steps toward treating gold and silver as money instead of as commodities. Passage of these bills would also set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
South Carolina is the first state to propose this kind of legislation for the 2021 session, but more states will likely follow suit. This is part of a broader movement at the state level to support sound money.
Coronavirus vaccines began rolling out this week, boosting optimism that the economy will soon rebound. But as Peter Schiff said in a podcast last month, there is no vaccine for what ails the economy. Even if the vaccine proves effective and governments ease off the draconian policies they have implemented in response to the pandemic, governments and central banks will have to continue stimulus programs and loose monetary policies. That’s good for gold.
Commerzbank sees things the same way, projecting gold’s bull run will continue through 2021 with the yellow metal rising to $2,300 by Q4.
There is a lot of talk about student loan forgiveness. The idea is wildly popular and it would relieve a huge burden crushing millions of Americans. But is there any downside to this idea? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the student loan debacle and the possible downside of loan forgiveness. He also touches on the shaky labor market and why the bond market can’t tell us anything about inflation.
Saxo Bank projects silver will soar to a record $50 an ounce in 2021, powered by loose Federal Reserve monetary policy and a weak dollar, and turbocharged by surging demand for the white metal in the solar energy sector.
After a dismal November, gold and silver are starting to show some signs of life. But what caused the big drop in the price of precious metals last month? Was it warranted? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey looks at the economic and monetary fundamentals and tries to bring us back to reality. He argues that despite the optimism about a coronavirus vaccine, nothing will fundamentally change.
