Precious metals news

There lies a massive contradiction between words and actions within these numerous speeches and media appearances. If the Fed is so intent on fighting inflation, why are they still stimulating the economy and markets with crisis levels of QE? Why is the Fed Funds rate still pinned at zero percent?

Brazil's economic minister warned Friday that Western central bankers are "sleeping at the driving wheel" as economies slip deeper into a high inflation environment. “Inflation will be a problem, a real problem very soon for the Western world,” he said.

Government spends trillions that it doesn't have. How? Well, The Fed creates trillions of new dollars out-of-thin air! These trillions drive up prices, creating skyrocketing inflation. Oftentimes, government piles on to the troubles by imposing price controls. Price controls have been tried for thousands of years; always with the same disastrous results -- widespread shortages! Are Americans ready to accept that government interventions and The Federal Reserve only multiply problems?

This analysis focuses on gold and silver physical delivery on the Comex. See the article What is the Comex for more detail.
An article earlier this month reviewed the massive volume of physical metal leaving the bank House accounts over the last two years. December 2021 finished the year off with a massive drawdown in House account inventories. While the drawdown continues across most accounts, Bank of America has tried to recoup some of the physical that left their holdings in December. As the data below shows, this has led to an extremely strong January to kick-off 2022.

So, how are your New Year's resolutions going?
Mine are going fantastic!
I didn't make any.

All in all, it is essential for investors to pay close attention to this shift. As central bankers themselves also clearly understand, as fiat currency debasement continues and even accelerates in the coming months and years, physical gold is set to provide the only reliable and time-tested haven from the storm that lies ahead.

It will happen because the current relationship between the state, the economy and fiat currency is wholly untenable. And a gold standard will be reintroduced by the state as the only way to save itself. We can only hope that when they are politically possible the required actions are taken swiftly and without compromise.

The Fed Solicits Input On a New Digital Dollar. I provide comments on 22 Fed questions.

The Fed is so concerned about inflation they are still running QE at rates higher than at the peak of the financial crisis.

Wall Street analysts spend a lot of time worried about quantitative tightening and restrictive monetary policy. But for now, the Fed’s balance sheet is still expanding to new record highs, reaching $8.9 trillion as of the latest data.

https://thedailyshot.com/2022/01/20/investors-havent-been-this-nervous-about-the-stock-market-since-mid-2020/ via @SoberLook

Let’s see how The Federal Reserve is going to compete with other central banks when 19 European nations have negative 2-year sovereign yields. Call them the “Nervous 19.” Note that France has the lowest 2Y yield of the big 3 (France -0.664%, Germany -0.593% and Italy -0.092%).

Investors stepped up selling in global bond funds in the seven days to Jan. 19 as hawkish remarks from U.S. Fed officials amid rising inflationary pressure solidified expectations that the central bank will tighten monetary policy as early as March.

It is often said that perception is reality. Politicians spend a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to shape perceptions. So, how does the average American perceive the US economy? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey talks about economic perceptions - both those the politicians are trying to create and those actually held by American consumers.

Gold headed for a weekly advance, even as an advance in inflation-adjusted bond yields diminishes the appeal of the non-interest bearing asset.

Speaking at The Davos Agenda Friday, Kristalina Georgieva said an increase in U.S. rates could have significant implications for countries with higher levels of dollar-dominated debt.

The rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased to 3.56% from 3.45% last week, according to Freddie Mac.

The era of historically low interest rates, which inflated Canadians’ wealth and facilitated their spending, is coming to an end

European data show soaring prices aren’t just a U.S. problem, but how central banks tackle them is very different. Prices increased by an annual 5% in December in the euro area, the European statistics institute said Thursday. And data from the U.K. the day before showed that inflation there had reached 5.4% the same month, the fastest pace since March, 1992.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday she was confident the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration would take steps needed to bring down inflation over the course of 2022, provided the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. “We have been hit by a pandemic that has created economic challenges that none of us anticipated...