Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has become Pres. Donald Trump’s favorite scapegoat. As “his” stock market gets more and more volatile, Trump needs somebody to blame — especially during election season. The Fed chair makes the perfect target.
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.
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.
The US stock markets had another big day Wednesday with a number of the indexes, including the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, in record territory. So, what’s with the recent move up in US stock markets?
Donald Trump and a lot of Republicans have been taking credit for it, saying their economic policies are causing a boom. But in his latest podcast, Peter Schiff thinks the real impetus for this leg up is the dovish tone of recent Federal Reserve comments.
Friday was an active day in the markets. The S&P 500, the Russell 2000 and the Nasdaq all hit record highs. The Dow Jones didn’t quite crack into record territory, but it was up over 100 points. Meanwhile, the dollar fell and gold was up more than $20.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said he thinks the dovish speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole drove all of this. And it could have longer-term ramifications.
Through the last several presidential administrations, the US has maintained a “strong dollar” policy. As Peter Schiff pointed out in his most recent podcast, it wasn’t so much that you could pinpoint the specific tenets of the policy. It was more about the rhetoric that came out of Washington D.C. Everybody talked about the strong dollar being in the national interest.
Having the belief that there was some kind of hidden strong dollar policy helped to create confidence in the dollar. Even periods where the dollar was declining, perhaps it would have declined even more had it not been for the belief that there was some kind of strong dollar policy.”
But times have changed. As Peter put it, “It should be pretty obvious that Donald Trump has a weak dollar policy.”
The dollar declined sharply, pushing gold up late last week as Pres. Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. Trump took aim at the Fed during an interview on CNBC, saying he’s “not thrilled” with the central bank’s push to raise rates.
Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. I don’t really — I am not happy about it. But at the same time, I’m letting them do what they feel is best.”
Trump also blasted the European Central Bank and the Bank of China, accusing them of currency manipulation. Trump says the two banks are intentionally weakening their currency to disadvantage the US.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said he thinks the president is saying all of this in order to have a place to put the blame when the economy tanks.
As expected, the Federal Reserve nudged rates up another .25 basis points on Wednesday. Perhaps more significantly, the Fed took a more hawkish tone than expected, signaling it would likely increase rates two more times this year for a total of four hikes. The central bank had been projecting three 2018 rate increases.
A buildup in inflation pressures was a major reason for the Fed’s more hawkish tone. According to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped by 2.8% year-over-year in May. The central bankers projected inflation will likely run above their 2% target into the near future. Analysts expect the CPI to hit 2.1% this year and run at that level through 2020.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said higher inflation might be a victory for the Federal Reserve, but it will be a big loss for consumers. In fact, we are heading for a no-growth, high-inflation economy.
Mises Institute president Jeff Deist recently interviewed Danielle Booth, a veteran of the Dallas Fed and author of Fed Up: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America, to discuss whether—or if—the Fed can ever return to “normal” monetary policy.
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.
