Precious metals news

Morgan Stanley Investment Management's Andrew Harmstone advises investors to keep their portoflio risk level low and maintain a defensive position while looking for opportunities to add value in an environment of "extremely high" volatility.

The group of 19 nations using the euro as their currency will see a record decline of 7.75% this year, and grow by 6.25% in 2021, the European Commission said in its Spring economic forecast.

The euro dipped to its lowest level in almost two weeks on Thursday, on nagging concern over the direction of the European Central Bank's stimulus scheme following a German court ruling earlier this week.

The Bank of England said Britain could be headed for its biggest economic slump in over 300 years due to the coronavirus lockdown and kept the door open on Thursday for more stimulus next month.

The pandemic is taking a toll on tax receipts, leading the central bank to establish a municipal debt facility. Without a turnaround, the consequences for the financial system could be dire.

That’s according to a new survey from the Society for Human Resource Management which found that 52% expect to be out of business within six months.

The CEO of the world's biggest asset manager confirmed as much: speaking on a call with clients, Larry Fink who runs the $7.5 trillion Blackrock, said that bankers told him they "expect a cascade of bankruptcies to hit the American economy."

With the world already reeling from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a reignition in U.S.-China trade tensions would be the "the last thing" anyone needs, according to JPMorgan Asset Management's Alexander Treves.

Global cases: More than 3.75 million. Global deaths: At least 263,000. Most cases reported: United States (1,228,603), Spain (220,325), Italy (214,457), United Kingdom (202,356), France (174,224).

Natural or man-made/manipulated? The debate rages on, though evidence is starting to mount on the side of at least *some* manipulation.

“You can’t count out gold as dollar strength is not due to higher interest rates but weaker global currency outlook,” George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management said in a note.

In an effort to “fight” the consequences of the politically orchestrated “lockdown,” the Fed pumps vast amounts of money into the economy. It injects base money into the banking system.

Some of the areas most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic get relatively fewer forgivable business loans from the government, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The eye of the storm was in April more than it was in March. In looking at the whole first quarter, the consensus was looking at -4% at an annual rate and it came in at minus 4.8%. To put that in perspective, that is the worst we've seen since the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have spent the better part of three years trying to kill the London interbank offered rate. Now, they’re looking to it once again to underpin hundreds of billions of dollars in loans as they seek to rescue their economies.

Exchange-traded funds offering exposures to junk bonds may lack the full Federal Reserve safety-net investors are betting on, warn analysts at Goldman Sachs.

The S&P 500 Index has rallied 28% from its low this year on March 23, with Wall Street praising the Federal Reserve for basically creating money to purchase a broad range of securities, effectively supporting asset prices.

Garrick's CEO: We’ve taken quantitative easing to another level, and of course that puts pressure on paper money, and you measure that with the price of gold,” Bristol noted. “We’ve seen prices go up across the world.

Join Mike Maloney as he takes an x-ray machine and a scalpel to the budget books of the US Government. In this Special Report you’ll get an in-depth look at why Mike believes the USA has painted itself into a corner without any thought of how to get out. What are the ramifications? As Mike says, we may very well be witnessing the end of the current fiat system. This is a very detailed video, so get comfortable and make sure you watch to the end for the conclusion. If you can understand what Mike is revealing here - you’ll be well-placed to make plans for your immediate future.

There were 11 defaults from loan issuers in April, the most ever during a month, exceeding the previous record of 10 in October 2009, in the wake the last major financial crisis, according to the S&P/LSTA Index.