The Federal Reserve raised rates yet again during its May FOMC meeting. Now everybody is trying to decipher the messaging coming out of the Fed to figure out what’s next. But what if the words Powell and Company are saying don’t really matter? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the latest moves by the Fed and suggests we should focus on the realities over the rhetoric.
The March Trade Deficit decreased for the first time in four months. The total deficit came in at -$64.2B, which is the second smallest deficit since January 2021. This might seem like good news but it’s yet another indication of a weakening economy.
On May 2, a Texas House committee passed a bill to create 100% reserve gold and silver-backed transactional currencies. Enactment of this legislation would create an option for people to conduct business in sound money, set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money, and possibly create a viable alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
All major categories of silver demand charted highs in 2022, contributing to a new total global silver demand record of 1.242 billion ounces.
This is one of several silver-related stories in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
The CoTs report is a breakdown of open interest in the major futures markets as reported by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Please note: the CoTs report was published 04/28/2023 for the period ending 04/25/2023. “Managed Money” and “Hedge Funds” are used interchangeably.
The Fed is still bailing out banks.
The Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) reached a new all-time high in April, suggesting that the banking crisis has not yet passed.
And while the aggregate balance sheet looks to be shrinking, the detailed data shows it is more complex than that.
Silver has seen a relatively weak delivery to start the action in May. While this could be considered disappointing to some who were looking for fireworks, a look beneath the surface shows that all is not well.
Many people are concerned about a possible move toward central bank digital currency and we’re starting to see organized pushback on the idea. But as Friday Gold Wrap host Mike Maharrey explains, a lot of people are so caught up in taking on CBDC that they’re missing the more fundamental problem with government-issued fiat currency. Paper money isn’t the solution. It is the parent of the problem.
Seasonally Adjusted Money Supply in March fell $257B. As the chart below shows, this is now the 8th consecutive monthly drop. Going back to the 1970s, the drop in March was actually the biggest on record on an absolute and relative basis.
Silver delivery from the COMEX was low in April, but there is more to the story.
This analysis focuses on gold and silver within the Comex/CME futures exchange. See the article What is the Comex? for more detail. The charts and tables below specifically analyze the physical stock/inventory data at the Comex to show the physical movement of metal into and out of Comex vaults.
