With the dollar losing clout and the world dividing into competing currency and economic blocs, American investor Ray Dalio said it will be countries less vulnerable to global conflict like those in Southeast Asia that prosper in coming years.
China’s central bank bought gold in November and December, its first purchases since 2019 to diversify its reserves. Hedge funds also boosted their net-long positions. Are gold prices set for records in 2023?
Gold – can’t eat it, can’t use it, but its everything crypto never was: tangible, exchangeable, a store of value, and a kitty for when things get tough. In uncertain markets…. Don’t forget the yellow stuff.
Doomsters have predicted the end of the LME before. Still, after 146 years and counting, the LME is still with us and the go-to nickel price point. However, volumes have tanked since the LME nickel debacle in March of 2022. In fact, the problems no longer relate just to nickel, but the entire non-ferrous metals spectrum.
After yield curve inversions, the Conference Board’s Leading Indicator Index is probably the best leading indictor of recessions. It has triggered before every recession since the 1970s with an average lead time of about 7 months. Via TheMacroCompass.com, the following chart highlights that the indicator is clearly signaling a recession later this year.
Survey after survey has shown that a solid majority of the population is living paycheck to paycheck.
In 1950, there were more than 16 workers for every beneficiary. In 2035, that ratio will be only 2.3 workers per retiree.
A $2.1 million penalty for failing to file a form on time reveals the agency’s true nature.
"The fact that the amounts being borrowed at the discount window are rising in an oscillatory fashion with progressively higher 'highs' and higher 'lows' hints, while not conclusively, that the amounts being borrowed are increasing as the Fed increases rates." ~ Peter C. Earle
The latest jobs report in the United States shows strengths and weaknesses. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in December, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent.
When competence, transparency and accountability are all punished, the Race to the Bottom accelerates.
There’s never a good time for the U.S. government to hit its debt issuance cap — and spark speculation of a possible imminent default if Congress refuses to raise it.
Dow, IBM and SAP say they will lay off thousands of workers as belt-tightening becomes the new business priority.
The BRICS would have to force the West they export to move onto gold too, and watch them suffer devaluation, deprivation, and desperation for once – how bullish for markets!; or...
The magazine cover indicator strikes again!
We have seen this movie before. The Fed tightens, things break, the Fed reacts by opening the monetary flood gates and the cycle begins all over again. Before things break you generally see signs that trouble is coming. We call this rivets popping.
Following the continued decline in existing home sales, new home sales were expected to drop notably in December (after two months of surprising improvements). After rising 8.2% and 5.8% MoM respectively in the last two months (as mortgage rates dipped and homebuilder incentives soared), new home sales surprised once again - rising 2.3% MoM (dramaticaly better than the 4.4% decline expected). However, that surprise was due to a huge downward revision in November data from a 5.8% surge in new home sales to just 0.7%...
Democrats are seizing on a proposal to impose a national sales tax and abolish the IRS as a cudgel against the GOP, despite little chance of the bill passing.
As tensions ramp up between the West and its antagonists, fears are growing that proxy wars could develop into wider armed conflict.
Iran, Russia, and China are holding their third joint naval drill in the northern Indian Ocean, amid speculation that the three countries are teaming up in the face of growing regional tensions with the United States.