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 bulls are running down Wall Street, but are bears lurking just around the corner? The mainstream doesn’t think so, but Peter Schiff does.
The Dow Jones climbed nearly 400 points Thursday after the Chinese announced a willingness to resume trade talks with the United States. No agenda was set, but the mere prospect of progress injected a shot of optimism in the market. Walmart also helped drive the surge, rising 10% after it beat earnings expectations.
In his most recent podcast, Peter asked the obvious question: why did the slimmest hope that we could see some resolution in the trade war give the stock market such a big bounce? It’s not like the market tanked because of the trade spat. In fact, everybody expects America to win. It’s the Chinese market that has been killed because of the trade war. It didn’t rally at all based on the prospect of talks
Gold got off to a roaring start in 2018, with the price rising more than 4% during the first quarter. But the yellow metal finished June down the same amount and has continued to fall during July. Despite the weakness in gold over the last couple of months, the World Gold Council says several factors provide some optimism for the rest of the year. In its mid-year outlook report, the WGC pinpointed three primary macro trends that will likely boost gold in the coming months
The price of gold has languished in recent weeks. After falling below $1,300 in May, the yellow metal has hit 2018 lows this month. Dollar strength along with the anticipation of further Federal Reserve rate hikes have bolstered the dollar and weighed on gold.
Peter Schiff has been saying this dollar strength is merely an upward correction in a bear market. Peter’s not alone in this view. Some mainstream analysts have even acknowledged the dollar surge is likely temporary.
So what about the gold market? Should we just give up on it? Well, as we’ve pointed out, fundamentals point to an overall healthy market for the yellow metal. And we’re not alone in our thinking. An article in the Economic Times of India points out three reasons gold will likely come out of its slumber. Interestingly, we’ve touched on all three of the factors this article mentions.
Dan Kurz runs the DK Analytics website where he posts detailed breakdowns of complex economic issues. We recently interviewed Dan as part of our It’s Your Dime Series. In his most recent post, Dan used his analytical skills to break down the first 18 months of the Trump administration.
Dan finds a little good, a little bad and even some ugly in the first year-and-a-half of Trump’s term. Dan likes the fact that the president has called out fake news, the fact that he seems to be pushing back against the establishment/deep state and his Supreme Court picks. On the other hand, Kurz believes the growing trade war could be bad news for the US economy and sees some troubling Hooverism developing.
In last Friday’s podcast, Peter Schiff talked about the potential impact of the trade war, arguing it could prick the US bubble economy. As a follow-up, in his latest podcast, Peter talked more about why a trade war could be worse for the US economy than most pundits seem to think, and he dug down to the root cause of the trade deficit.
The bottom line is slapping tariffs on Chinese imports isn’t going to solve the problem.
There was a lot of trade war talk at the end of last week. In fact, on Friday, some pundits said the trade war officially began. Last Thursday, President Trump said the US may ultimately impose tariffs on more than a half-trillion dollars’ worth of Chinese goods, and a round of tariffs went into effect. The United States began collecting tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods. China implemented additional tariffs on some import products from the United States immediately after US tariffs took effect, according to Chinese state media.
The stock markets shrugged it off. Both the NASDAQ and Dow were up over 100 points. In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said the markets seemed to be saying, “Who cares about a trade war? Bring it on!”
The price of gold hit six-month lows in recent days, primarily driven down by a surging dollar. Peter Schiff has been saying investors shouldn’t get too caught up in greenback hoopla. This is likely an upside correction in a dollar bear market. As it turns out, Peter is not alone in this assessment. At least a few mainstream analysts agree, and they see gold rallying by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg.
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.
It looks like we’re heading toward a full-blown trade war.
As the war continues to escalate. Pres. Trump has levied more tariffs on Chinese imports in retaliation for China’s retaliation after the US announced its first round of tariffs. A lot of people seem to think this is bullish for the dollar. In fact, the greenback has surged in recent weeks. But in his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said this is a bunch of nonsense.
