Precious metals news

Analysts expected a 3rd straight month of declines in new home sales in March, but they did not see this bloodbath coming. New Home Sales crashed 8.6% MoM (vs -0.6% exp). That drags new home sales down 12.6% YoY.

Gold prices climbed on Tuesday as investors sought the safe-haven asset amid fears over global growth and soaring inflation, though bets of aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes kept bullion pinned near four-week lows hit in the previous session.

Swiss shipments of gold to the United States surged in March to their highest since May 2020, Swiss customs data showed, as investors spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the threat of a global economic slowdown stocked up on bullion.

While recent shocks have made the current inflationary surge and growth slowdown more acute, they are hardly the global economy’s only problems. Even without them, the medium-term outlook would be darkening, owing to a broad range of economic, political, environmental, and demographic trends.

The Asian region faces a "stagflationary" outlook, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official warned on Tuesday, citing the Ukraine war, spike in commodity costs and a slowdown in China as creating significant uncertainty.

The nation’s preference for lockdowns risks worsening already severe supply-chain snarls that have fanned price pressures worldwide, according to Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Societe Generale SA.

After February's plunge, analysts expected preliminary March data to show a modest rebound in durable goods orders and they were right in direction but not in magnitude. Flash March Durable Goods Orders rose 0.8% MoM (from an upwardly reviused -1.7% MoM in February)

Wells Fargo & Co. has cut staff in its mortgage lending business as rates soared above 5% in recent weeks, putting the brakes on refinancings. The San Francisco bank (NYSE: WFC) declined to say Monday how many were laid off and in what roles and locations the cuts were made. “The home lending displacements last...

In April 2002, four months after the collapse of the currency’s peg to the dollar, Argentina’s inflation reached 10% per month. The economic debate saw a range of proposals—from turning the domestic banking system into an offshore money market (virtually eliminating domestic credit) to giving up Argentine financial and economic sovereignty for a few years. But none was more popular than official dollarization.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to hold his first in-person press conference since the pandemic began, meeting reporters following the conclusion of the U.S. central bank’s two-day policy meeting.

U.S. equity index futures signaled further losses on Monday as investors fretted over monetary tightening and risks from China’s Covid-19 lockdowns, while technology stocks remained under pressure from higher bond yields ahead of a big week for earnings.

U.S. index futures dipped ahead of big-tech earnings that investors will watch for insights into the effect of inflation and consumer spending as the Federal Reserve steps up policy tightening.

As the meat of earnings season begins, it’s worth noting what investors have learned so far. The short version is, apart from a few isolated companies (cough, Netflix, cough), not a whole lot: the projected rise in S&P 500 earnings per share this year stands at 8.9%, compared with 8.1% at end of March, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

China looks increasingly left to its own devices in a bid to rescue its economy and markets from the Covid crisis as the rest of the world withdraws stimulus to battle surging inflation.

Morgan Stanley analysts are warning the S&P 500 is set to “fall sharply” and enter bear-market territory this week as investors grapple with rising interest rates and slowing global growth.

The price analysis last month highlighted how gold was trying to carve out fragile support around $1900 and breakthrough resistance at $1950.
Gold found a spark and broke through $1950, but has been unable to hold above it in the wake of “hawkish” Fed comments. Now, $1900 is being tested and should give clues to the next move. So far, it has held with only a slight dip into the $1800s before recovering. A hard bounce here would prove near-term bullish, but if the price breaks down below $1880 it could be a few more months until gold musters the strength to take on $2000 again.

Everybody and their brother is an expert on inflation now. And everybody thinks they can pinpoint the reason for rising prices. It's Putin! Or maybe it's greedy corporations. Or was it COVID?
As Ron Paul explains, it was none of the above.
The blame for this inflationary fire falls squarely on the shoulders of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently participated in an IMF roundtable with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and several other figures in global politics and banking. In his podcast, Peter Schiff broke down Powell's comments and revealed that just about everything Powell said was wrong.

All of a sudden everyone is an expert on inflation. Your brother-in-law, your local paper, and even dilettantes at dubious outlets like the Washington Post or The Atlantic feel compelled to explain our current predicament. With the admitted rate of consumer inflation running somewhere around 8 percent, and the real rate much higher, even central bankers can’t hide the reality from us. So the commentariat has to explain to us why this is happening and make sure we blame the mysterious workings of capitalism for our troubles. In other words, economics is back.

The International Monetary Fund’s significant downward revision to its 2022 World Economic Outlook, just one quarter into the calendar year, has generated headlines and hand-wringing around the world. But no less important is the dour forecast for 2023, which implies a broader crisis of prevailing growth models.