Precious Metals Analysis

Bars of gold are flying off the shelves in South Korean convenience stores. This is yet another example of the movement of gold from West to East. Korea’s largest convenience store chain, CU, has teamed up with Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) to offer customers fingernail-sized gold bars.

Gold was up 4 percent in April, despite some profit-taking, along with headwinds from a strong dollar and waning hope for an interest rate cut. Gold hit a new all-time high of 2,431 in April, but pulled back later in the month as hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the near future faded.

Factoring in sizeable over-the-counter (OTC) buying, gold demand charted its strongest first quarter since 2016. By including over-the-counter buying by investors, gold demand grew by 3 percent year-on-year, reaching 1,238 tons, according to data compiled by the World Gold Council.

There are cracks in the foundation of dollar dominance. Could Chinese gold be the straw that breaks the dollar’s back? In a column published by the Telegraph, economist Julian Jessop points out that people have been predicting the dollar’s demise for decades. Eventually, they’ll be right.

Central banks continued to steadily add gold to their reserves in March. On net, central banks globally increased their gold holdings by 16 tons, according to the latest data compiled by the World Gold Council. Buyers added 40 tons of gold to their reserves. This was offset by a net 25 tons in sales.

If the hotter-than-expected March CPI data wasn’t enough to convince you, there is more evidence that the “cooling inflation” we saw late last year was transitory. The PCE data for March came out Friday – hotter than expected. You might be picking up on a theme here…

The Federal Reserve has a $34.5 trillion problem. And the problem is growing. Yes, I’m talking about the national debt. How is the debt the Fed’s problem? It hamstrings the Fed’s ability to fight price inflation. In a recent interview, Crescat Capital macro strategist Tavi Costa told Kitco News that soaring debt levels could ultimately render…

Did you know Thomas Jefferson and many other prominent Founding Fathers predicted our current economic problems? No, they didn’t have a crystal ball. They didn’t need one. All they needed was an understanding of money and human nature. The founders recognized the “evils” of paper money…

Big money managers are starting to jump on the gold bandwagon as inflation worries grow. Over the last few weeks, gold held its ground despite headwinds including a strong dollar and rising bond yields. Geopolitical tensions have supported safe-haven buying but it appears a new player is entering the market – hedge funds

Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year. That’s because American money is junk. But that wasn’t always the case. In an article published by the Wall Street Journal, Reworld, a Pennsylvania waste management facility, claimed that Americans toss about $68 million worth of coins every year.

Indians are known to have a love affair with gold. India ranks as the number two gold-consuming country in the world behind only China. But Indians are also pretty fond of silver. In fact, India is the world’s biggest silver consumer.
And Indian silver demand is surging.

After moderating credit card spending in January, American consumers pulled out the plastic yet again in February. Credit card balances surged, driving overall consumer debt up by another $14.1 billion – Americans now owe $5.05 trillion in consumer debt, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.

Gold has surged to record highs of over $2,350 per ounce, and there is reason to believe this bull run has plenty of legs left. Gold dipped below $2,000 for the last time in mid-February. Since that time, it has gained nearly 18 percent. But despite the rally, a lot of investors in the West have not jumped on the bandwagon – yet.