The Treasury added $341B of debt in August. This was the largest increase in the debt since January and is more than 10 times larger than the increase in July. Another major occurrence was the increase in short-term debt. The Treasury increased Bills by $210B, the largest increase since June 2020. This is a move that runs counter to the recent months where the Treasury has been actively decreasing short-term holdings.
The trade deficit fell in July to -$70.7 billion. It was the fourth straight month of drops. While the deficit continues to fall from all-time highs, it is very large relative to deficits prior to 2022. Despite the large 33% fall from the -$107 billion in March, the current deficit would have been an all-time record as recently as last June. It is also larger than July 2021.
Everybody knows that the best time to shop is during a big sale. Well, with a spot price under $19 an ounce, silver is a bargain.
For the next week, you can take advantage of the lowest silver spot price in years, and we’ll even sweeten the deal with free silver with qualifying orders.
As highlighted last month, short positioning in gold was at the highest level since April 2019. This laid the seeds for a potential short squeeze. While a squeeze did unfold, it was brief. Sellers have regained control of the market and are driving the price back down.
Please note: the COTs report was published 9/2/2022 for the period ending 8/30/2022. “Managed Money” and “Hedge Funds” are used interchangeably.
According to the BLS, the economy added 315k jobs in August, which was on par with analyst estimates. While the job numbers continue to appear strong, a deeper look into the data shows some trends that may indicate weakness.
The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank published a rather surprising paper that swerves into the truth – the Fed can’t win this inflation fight. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the paper. He also discusses the possibility of a dollar decline and gives his first impression of the August jobs report.
Is the Federal Reserve worried about the tanking mortgage and housing market? If their holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are any indication, the answer is, yes.
The Fed has finally started shrinking its overall balance sheet as promised, but they are not shedding MBS according to plan.
The photography industry was once one of the biggest consumers of silver. With the advent of digital photography and cell phone cameras, the use of film gradually declined. But there has been a revival in film and the use of silver in photography increased last year.
This is one of several silver-related stories in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
As we round out August in the COMEX, gold delivery was strong and silver was dominated by the odd mechanizations of Bank of America.
This week, President Biden announced a plan to forgive $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debt. It sounds nice and some people will certainly benefit, but as SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast host Mike Maharrey explains, we’re all going to pay for this. In this episode, Mike also talks about Jerome Powell’s upcoming Jackson Hole speech, the state of the economy and some interesting gold market news.
