Bed Bath and Beyond might be a canary in the coal mine.
The home goods retailer filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. And according to research by UBS, this is likely just the beginning of a surge of retail store closures.
Americans continue to deal with rising prices even as the economy deteriorates. But the US isn’t the only country with an inflation problem. As Peter Schiff explained in a recent podcast, every country has let the inflation horses out of the barn. When you couple that with the de-dollarization trend, it’s bullish for gold.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the US fell by 1.2% in March. It was the 12th straight month of declines in the LEI.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on Real America with Dan Ball to talk about the weakening US dollar, the less-than-stellar jobs report, and the trajectory of the economy.
Peter kicked off the interview with a startling statement when Dan said whether it’s oil, de-dollarization, or President Biden’s horrible economic policies, everything is pointing toward a recession this year.
During testimony on Capitol Hill, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank may have to raise interest rates higher than previously expected to bring down price inflation.
Despite the speed of Fed hiking and the enormous amount of debt in the US economy, most people in the mainstream seem convinced the central bank can keep hiking rates without breaking the economy.
Economist Thorsten Polleit disagrees.
The markets still seem to believe the Federal Reserve can ratchet price inflation back down to 2% while bringing the economy to a relatively soft landing. In his podcast, Peter Schiff throws cold water on this hopeful narrative. He goes through the economic data that came out last week shows that all roads appear to lead to a hard landing and higher inflation.
Despite the hotter-than-expected CPI data for January, most people still seem confident that the Federal Reserve can win the inflation fight, drive CPI back to 2% in relatively short order, and then return to the easy monetary policy we all have come to expect. Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey does not share this optimism. In this episode, he outlines three reasons the Fed won’t win the inflation fight.
Joe Biden might be confident in the US economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell might be confident about the US economy. But the average American? Not so much.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell for the second straight month in February, dropping from a downwardly revised 106.0 in January to 102.9.
The better-than-expected non-farm payroll report for January along with the smaller interest rate hike delivered by the Federal Reserve at its February meeting increased optimism that the central bank can bring price inflation back to 2% without tanking the economy. But the shrinking money supply undercuts this soft landing narrative.
With a debt ceiling debate now underway, a dumb idea has once again raised its ugly head – the trillion-dollar coin. This week on the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey uses this so-called “solution” to the debt ceiling problem as an opportunity to teach some economics. In this episode, he also touches on the GDP data that came out yesterday.
