Precious metals news

The total market capitalization of equities is now back to 140% of GDP. That level is at the ceiling of the ratio’s history, and it is purely due to unprecedented central bank actions.

Spain has approved the first nationwide basic income, but there are doubts the initiative will reduce high levels of unemployment and inequality.

The national debt is projected to be on track to widen to more than 100% of national GDP by the end of the year, which would exceed the record set after World War II.

Is a pullback due for gold and silver? They’ve admittedly had a nice run—as of May 22 gold was up 17.5% from its March low and silver 41.5%—so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them cool off.Add to that the seasonally weak summer months are right around the corner and a decline certainly seems possible.Will seasonal patterns play out this year? If so we just might see a buying opportunity, which could be especially important for those that don’t have as much bullion as they want or missed out on earlier opportunities…

The number of companies or countries at risk of having their credit ratings cut has been pushed to an all-time high by the coronavirus pandemic, S&P Global analysis shows.

Global equities have gained further momentum as investors take heart from the easing of lockdowns and governments prepare another barrage of spending to prop up a sputtering global economy.

It is a safe bet to assume that both central banks will spend more on asset-buying this year than they initially planned or announced. And that they will announce this sooner rather than later. How long the bond-buying game will go on, on the other hand, depends on how fast and how strong the post-lockdown recovery will be. And that is the major uncertainty.

And the punchline: Japan may not be done with helicopter money. “There’s a possibility of a third extra budget,” said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

During a recent 60 Minutes interview, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said there is “no limit” to what the Fed can do. Indeed, the central bank has pulled out all the stops.
But while the actions of the central bank are extreme, we've seen them operate out of this playbook before, if not at this level.
The Federal Reserve and the US government are rerunning the exact same policies they turned to in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, but on a much grander scale. We have bigger QE, more money printing, more government spending and bigger deficits. Case in point — the money supply grew at a record rate in April with no sign of slowing down.
We have been arguing that the Fed’s solution is actually the root of the problem. During a recent podcast, Peter Schiff said it was a mistake when they implemented this kind of policy after the '08 crash, but they got away with it. They won’t get away with it this time.
In the following article published on the Mises...

COMEX gold prices have been unable to gain traction above $1750 and move toward new highs. Why?

There seems to be mounting optimism that the US economy will rebound relatively quickly as states begin opening up and there is progress toward a coronavirus vaccine. But the optimism ignores deep problems in the US economy the existed before the pandemic  - chief among them staggering levels of debt and the proliferation of zombie companies.
In the last couple of years, corporate debt has blown through the roof. So much so that the Federal Reserve issued warnings about the increasing levels of corporate indebtedness late last year.

We are delighted to send you the 14th edition of our annual In Gold We Trust report, titled “The Dawning of a Golden Decade”.

* My speculation about possible government purchases of stock futures may beched. * But, then again, it may not be! Back in early February I asked, in a column, "What's With Futures at 3 am…

Count Ritholtz Wealth Management among the $1bn-plus RIAs which have taken out government-backed coronavirus relief loans.

In an unprecedented push to overcome the deepest recession in living memory, according to an official familiar with the plan.

The euro-area economy is faring worse than hoped, facing a recession as bad as the European Central Bank’s more pessimistic forecasts, according to President Christine Lagarde.Output in the region is set to shrink between 8% and 12%, she said, with estimates for a milder slump now “out...

Profits at China's industrial firms fell at a slower pace in April, helped by improvements in automobiles and electronics, but the damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis is set to keep the economy and businesses under pressure for most of this year.

Economic prospects for the developed world this year have darkened again in the past month as the coronavirus pandemic has rolled from Asia to the Americas, with a V-shaped sharp recovery expected by less than one-fifth of economists polled by Reuters.

In the middle of a global economic shutdown that has led to soaring unemployment rates around the world, some strategists are arguing that rapidly rebounding equity markets have become “divorced from reality.”

The Federal Reserve’s next front in the battle to support the U.S. economy is to prevent millions of American small businesses from becoming the Achilles heel of the recovery.