If you follow the markets at all, you’ve heard about the big surge in GameStop stock driven at least in part by retail investors informed by social media. Now the Reddit investors have turned their eyes to silver. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey breaks down the GameStop phenomenon and argues that there are good reasons to be bullish on silver – not just the attention of the Reddit crowd. He also touches on this week’s Fed meeting and gold demand dynamics.
The Federal Reserve played the same tune during its first Open Market Committee meeting of the year, but the partygoers on Wall Street didn’t dance. In his podcast, Peter Schiff talked about Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference and said the Fed chair is “completely clueless” to the true nature of the problems facing the economy. And so is the mainstream.
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.
On Friday afternoon, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did a Q&A session with Princeton economist Alan Blinder. Powell admitted that the central bank had “crossed a lot of red lines,” but insisted he was comfortable with the actions given “this is that situation in which you do that, and you figure it out afterward.”
In his podcast, Peter Schiff called it the Nancy Pelosi version of monetary policy. “We need to print the money to see where it goes.”
Jerome Powell went on 60 Minutes last week and said there was “no limit” to what the Fed could do to support the economy. Of course, that’s not really true. All the central bank can really do is print more dollars. And the economy isn’t just about dollars. It’s about stuff. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, Mike Maharrey talks about the real problem facing the economy – Powell’s “cure.” He also puts silver in the spotlight.
Earlier in the week, gold sold off on the announcement that initial trials on a coronavirus vaccine looked promising and on Thursday, gold was selling because, as CNBC put it, the yellow metal was “pressured by hopes of a swift recovery from the coronavirus-driven recession.” During a recent podcast, Peter Schiff said this just goes to show that people don’t understand gold or why its price is generally rising and why they need to buy gold now.
Are negative interest rates in our future?
Jerome Powell says absolutely not. But Jerome Powell also once said balance sheet reduction was on autopilot and that the Federal Reserve wasn’t going to cut interest rates. What the Fed chair says today doesn’t necessarily line up with what the Fed chair does tomorrow.
In fact, the markets are starting to bet on negative rates. They are, after all, the next logical step in the Fed’s trek down the path of extraordinary monetary policy.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dumped cold water on the notion that we’re going to have a quick recovery during a speech this week and begged Congress for more fiscal stimulus. As Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey put it, Powell and the federal government are the arsonists trying to fight the fire they started. In this episode, Mike talks about Powell’s speech and points out just how clueless he really is. He also covers some of the week’s economic news and its impact on the gold market.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell went negative in a webcast speech on Wednesday, May 13.
I’m not talking about negative interest rates, although that could be coming down the pike as well. Powell went negative on the prospects of a quick economic recovery.
He’s right about the prospects for the economy, but he’s wrong about the solution. That’s because he doesn’t even realize it’s Fed policy at the root of the problem to begin with.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride on Wall Steet. Stocks whipsawed up and down — mostly down. Gold dipped and then rebounded. And the Fed cut rates in a move that looked an awful lot like a replay of 2008. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey gives an overview of the topsy-turvy week, and tries to make sense out of what’s going on and where it might lead us.
