Gold soared as investors got scared by reports of an allegedly impending military conflict. Was it worth reacting sharply to geopolitical factors? What happened? Investors got scared of the Russian bear and inflationary hydra. The threat of Ukrainian invasion and renewal of a conflict weakened risk appetite among investors.
Full Article →The Many Paths to Successful Retirement Savings
There are so many ways for retirement savers to invest their hard-earned dollars it can make your head spin. There are high risk investments like options. There are lower risk investments like Treasuries. There are both long-term investments and short-term investments. No wonder retirement savers get confused.
Full Article →The Next Wave of Supply Chain Crisis
The Fed is going to kill the supply chain. The expectations of the Fed raising interest rates will cascade a new set of problems throughout the companies that we depend on. Don’t be shocked if eggs cost 10 dollars a carton.
Full Article →Neither Inflation Nor Fed Moves Gold
Inflation spiked 7.1% in December, and the Fed is likely to raise interest rates already in March. Still, gold remains uninterested. “Inflation is too high,” admitted Lael Brainard during her nomination hearing in the Senate for the Vice Chair of the Fed. You don’t say, Governor Obvious!
Full Article →The Economic Dominoes Are Falling
Inflation is through the roof and Netflix isn’t the only thing that’s going up in price. In this video Augusta Precious Metals director of education Devlyn Steele breaks down what the price increase could mean about our economy as a whole.
Full Article →Dollar Decline About to Accelerate?
Last week’s Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index reports put those measures of inflation at 7.0% and 9.7%, respectively. Manufacturers had to bear the brunt of the inflation surge in 2021. The worst may be yet to come for consumers as producers pass on their costs to wholesalers and retailers.
Full Article →Fidelity Triggers Frenzy Among Gold Investors
Fidelity International recently dove into an issue we’re grappling with every day: food, gas, rent, everything is getting more expensive. Though we’re most interested in how that affects us here in the U.S., nations around the world have been recording their highest inflation in decades. Across the board, prices have spiked in a relatively brief span of time.
Full Article →Powell’s Toughest Choice So Far: Frying Pan or Fire?
The U.S. economy teeters between two catastrophes: wild and untamed hyperinflation that turns cash into wallpaper, or an epic crash that would make 2008 look like a day at the beach. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has led the U.S. government’s monetary policy to this point.
Full Article →Powell Lends Smile to Gold
Powell testified before the Senate. He didn’t say anything new, but gold rallied a bit. “We are going to end asset purchases in March. We will raise rates. And at some point this year will let the balance sheet runoff,”
Full Article →Conventional Investment Advice: WRONG!
In uncertain times, diversification is key to being able to survive market turbulence. Every investment advisor under the sun preaches diversification. Unfortunately, conventional asset allocation models prescribe only superficial diversification across stocks and bonds…
Full Article →Weak Payroll Saved Gold: For How Long?
Job creation disappointed in December. However, it could not be enough to counterweight rising real interest rates and save gold. Luckily for the yellow metal, nonfarm payrolls disappointed in December. Last month, the US labor market rose, adding just 199,000 jobs (see the chart below), well short of consensus estimates of 400,000.
Full Article →Pro Tip for Higher Metals Returns
Mints and refiners who produce bullion rounds and bars have struggled to keep up. The industry has not been immune from labor and supply shortages faced by most businesses. The result has been higher premiums and wider bid/ask spreads for silver.
Full Article →Precious Metals Could Prove Essential as 2022 Challenges Emerge
A lot of folks experienced a challenging 2021 – hopefully you were not one of them. Unfortunately there are real reasons to believe 2022 could be exceptionally difficult for retirement savers. Part of the reason, of course, is inflation. Last April, observers were stunned…
Full Article →Gold Market 2022: A Story of Fall & Revival?
2021 will be remembered as the year of inflation’s comeback and gold’s dissatisfying reaction to it. Will gold improve its behavior in 2022? You thought that 2020 was a terrible year, but we would be back to normal in 2021? Well, we haven’t quite returned to normal.
Full Article →Fed Hawks Grow Stronger: Will Gold Stand It’s Ground?
2022 may be the year of Fed hawks. After tapering, they may hike rates and then start quantitative tightening. Will they tear gold apart? Now, I could exclaim that hawks are coming, but that wouldn’t necessarily give hope to anyone fighting the bearish trends in the gold market.
Full Article →There’s no question, we are living in uncertain economic times. This year is already off to a roaring start, as easily spooked Wall Street investors are “bracing for” the Fed’s first rate hike in three years. Of course, that’s just one piece of the uncertainty puzzle as 2022 starts to take shape…
Full Article →After the CPI surged last year to its highest level since 1982, politicians are feeling pressure from constituents to do something about it. Biden announced $1 billion in grants, loans, and other assistance for small meat producers. Another costly government program will, supposedly, help tame rapidly rising beef and poultry costs…
Full Article →Is the 2022 Economic Bubble Going to Pop?
In this video, Devlyn Steele outlines the definition of a financial bubble, the history of bubbles, and his outlook for 2022 and beyond. It’s time to get serious, the big question is, what is economically going to happen in 2020? We’ve never faced the challenges we’re facing here in 2022.
Full Article →Bang to Plunge: 2022 Gold Replays 2021
The start of 2021 wasn’t successful for gold: after a few days of rally, the yellow metal entered a bearish trend. 2022 looks uncomfortably similar. Will the yellow metal resume its long-term bullish trend in 2022? Well, this is what a majority of investors that took part in Kitco News’ annual outlook survey believe…
Full Article →The Ship of Theseus is an old philosophical thought experiment and asks a question about identity. Suppose you replace all of the boards of a ship with new ones—is it still the same ship? We are not going to try to resolve this millennia-old paradox. Instead, we are going to add one more element, and then tie it to the monetary system.
Full Article →One of, if not the primary concerns of the stock market boom over the past two years is that it’s powered by printed money instead of a strong economy. Given that the U.S. stock market was already in its longest bull run in history prior to 2019, and that seemingly every analyst was already tapping a foot…
Full Article →Mr Gold – What Year Is It?
Although your calendar may say otherwise, gold is in the 1960s. The question is whether we will move into the 1970s or speed-run to the mid-2010s. Did you go overboard with your time travel and lose track of time? Probably not, but just in case, I assure you that the current year is 2021.
Full Article →Is Build Back Better Dead?
In this video, Devlyn Steele examines projections about this bill and its potential to harm America and American retirement accounts. It’s gratifying to see a United States senator going with his gut — using good sense instead of politics to determine whether a bill is good for the country or not.
Full Article →How High Inflation Wrecks Nations
Will Inflation Crash the Economy in 2022? It’s understandable if you’re tired of hearing about rising inflation. But it has become an economic mainstay in the Biden Administration. And each month seems to bring fresh records not experienced in decades.
Full Article →There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Retire
Why Retiring In 2022 Could Be the Worst Decision of Your Life: If you were planning on retiring in 2022 or soon after that, thanks to several recent economic developments, now might be the worst time to do that…
Full Article →2022: The Year of (Gold) Inflation
High inflation won’t go away in 2022. Good for gold. However, it is likely to continue to climb and reach its peak. That sounds a bit worse for gold. If 2021 was tough for you, I don’t recommend reading Nostradamus’ predictions for the next year. This famous French astrologer saw inflation, hunger, and much more coming in 2022…
Full Article →Is the End of ‘Transitory’ Inflation the End of Gold Bulls?
Welcome, my son. Welcome to the inflationary machine. Welcome to the new economic regime of elevated inflation. That’s official because even central bankers have finally admitted what I’ve been saying for a long time: the current high inflation is not merely a transitory one-off price shock…
Full Article →Three Reasons 2022 Will Be Unforgettable
After the crazy year we’ve just had, one good question to ponder for a moment is: What does the U.S. economy look like as we head into next year? To answer that, this article will examine three sectors by looking at economic activity (including Wall Street), the inflation situation, and of course physical gold. So brace yourself…
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