Stefan Gleason

President Joe Biden will meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday to hold high-stakes talks on the still-unresolved debt ceiling standoff. Both sides agree that the government will need to take on more debt in order to pay its bills.

On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that ‘financial and economic chaos will ensue’ if the U.S. government’s borrowing limit isn’t raised. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, she also said on ABC’s “This Week” that a default would bring about an ‘economic calamity.’

There are many reasons to buy and hold physical gold. The lack of counterparty risk, the diversification, and the hedge against inflation are among the top reasons to own the monetary metals. The public is only in the early process of figuring out why gold ownership is an absolute MUST during a banking crisis.

Sound Money Bills Moving Forward Rapidly in Many States: Because there is so much activity happening at the state level with respect to sound money legislation, here is a quick update on some of the most important bills that are currently pending.

Contrary to popular misconceptions perpetuated by the Fed, the root causes of inflation aren’t tied to employment or economic growth. Inflation occurs when the currency supply expands too rapidly as confidence in the ability of U.S. dollars to retain their value falls.

January’s jobs report was ‘stunningly good,’ according to CNBC promoting traders to buy up U.S. dollars and short gold and silver. The official unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest since 1969. Skeptics say something smells fishy.

According to Fed chairman Jerome Powell, disinflation is now taking hold. Yes, the very same person who had to walk back his ridiculous pronouncements in 2021 and 2022 that inflation was “transitory” now wants us to believe inflation is steadily declining

Among the top New Year’s resolutions investors can make is to pay less in taxes. Without doubt, taxes can be one of the biggest drains on realized investment returns. Fortunately for holders of physical precious metals coins, rounds, and bars generate no tax consequences…

While investors continue to await a possible Federal Reserve pivot toward monetary easing, the pivot has already occurred in major asset markets, including precious metals. Last week was indeed pivotal for multiple asset classes.

Currency traders may be looking ahead – specifically to the likelihood of a U.S. economic downturn in 2023. The potential of another housing-led Great Financial Crisis also looms. The full effects of the Fed’s latest rate hike won’t be known for months, but higher borrowing costs will hit struggling consumers

As long as silver continues to trade above its low from late August, it will continue to show a positive divergence versus gold. When silver leads, that generally a bullish a sign for the precious metals space. A strong close above $21 would point to a new uptrend.

Banks operating outside the United States are presently most vulnerable. A spike in interest rates concomitant with a spike in the exchange rate of the Federal Reserve note “dollar” is wreaking havoc in global debt markets and driving capital flight

Longtime precious metals naysayers such as personal finance guru Dave Ramsey are pointing to gold and silver weakness throughout most of the year as evidence that they don’t protect against inflation. Are the anti-gold bugs right?

A bad run for gold and silver markets this summer is dimming hopes for the metals being able to finish out the year with some good gains. Major economic indicators have also been trending down this summer. However last week brought some disappointing jobs data.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is talking tough and warning of more interest rate pain to come. At the same time, Fed officials are now admitting that their sized-up rate hikes won’t even be sufficient to tame the price inflation they have helped create.

So much for “inflation reduction.” Just a few days after signing Green New Deal legislation, rebranded as the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden has moved to completely undo its core promise by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into another new bailout package.

Even as silver prices have begun to rally off their lows for the year, the white metal remains one of the best bargains in the investment universe. Few other assets are as cheap on a historical basis as silver is today. Just don’t talk about Silver Eagles…

With last week’s second 75 basis-point rate hike, the Federal Reserve now claims it has achieved a “neutral” monetary policy stance. That would mean, in theory, that interest rates are neither stimulating nor restraining the economy.

After going essentially straight up for more than a year, the Dollar Index chart is now looking extremely overbought. The Federal Reserve note may be due for a retracement against its foreign counterparts. That will likely spark a rally in metals markets.

All presidents make mistakes, whether it’s failing to limit the growth of the federal budget or being unable to anticipate turns in the economic cycle. But the Biden administration has been unique in consistently getting just about everything wrong while stubbornly refusing to change course.

The U.S. economy appears headed for a hard landing. After months of ignoring the steadily growing inflation problem, the Federal Reserve is now using monetary blunt force to try to rein in rising prices.

The explosion in retail demand for gold has made headlines, but retail investors aren’t the only ones steadily stockpiling the yellow metal. As doubts over currencies increase and as the world becomes increasingly polarized, nations are seeking to hedge their risks with the tried-and-true asset capable of doing so: gold.

Friday’s Consumer Price Index Report sent shockwaves through financial markets. The 8.6% annual reading was yet another new multi-decade high – dealing a body blow to analysts who believed inflation pressures had peaked.

Talk of “peak inflation” is helping to drive investor inflows back into stock and bond markets. As the narrative goes, inflation readings have hit their highs for the year. The Federal Reserve will hike rates until monetary policy “normalizes,” then declare victory over the very problem its policies unleashed.

Central bankers and bureaucrats are seizing on recent turmoil in cryptocurrency markets to push aggressively for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). They made their case to other global elites gathered in Davos on Monday…

Good news for gold holders is that the safe-haven metal is holding up better than conventional financial assets. Stocks are breaking down at the same time as purportedly “risk-free” Treasury bonds are collapsing in value at a rate never before seen

Markets responded to the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated 50 basis-point rate hike yesterday by rallying. Investors breathed a sigh of relief when Fed chairman Jerome Powell said a 75 basis-point future hike is off the table.