The following video was published by Peter Schiff on Jul 27, 2017
- Tag Archives Federal Reserve
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Gold Price Jumps in Dollars as ‘Low-Rate Yellen’ Gets Trump’s Backing
Gold price gains continued for Dollar investors on Thursday but held flat for other traders as the US currency touched its lowest Euro value since January 2015 following yesterday’s “no change” decision from the Federal Reserve.
“The actual path of the federal funds rate will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data,” said the Fed’s July statement, seemingly delaying a move to start reducingits $4.6 trillion holdings of QE-bought Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds.
Asian stock markets rose – as did most commodities and major government bond prices – but European equities then slipped as the Dollar bounced from its new 30-month lows versus the 19-nation single currency.
Gold priced in Dollars today set its highest London benchmarking since 14 June at $1262 per ounce.
But priced in Euros, gold fixed at only a 3-session high. The UK gold price in Pounds per ounce reached only a 2-session high.
Thursday morning’s Dollar price stood 2.0% above the 2017 average to date.This post was published at FinancialSense on 07/27/2017.
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Asian Metals Market Update: July-27-2017
Factors which can affect markets
Short covering and renewed building of long positions will be there in gold and silver if they continue to rise today and tomorrow. If gold rises after the US July nonfarm payrolls (on 4th August) then I expect it to rise to $1508.10 before the end of this quarter. Short term gold and silver are bullish. Medium term to long term will trend after the US NFP will be the key.
Expectation that the pace of interest rate hikes will be slower than markets discounted resulted in a crash of US dollar and zoom of gold. Copper had already risen before the FOMC so the impact was not felt. Next in line is next week’s US July nonfarm payrolls. Interest rate chapter of the Federal Reserve is closed for now. Technically a higher close today and tomorrow in gold, silver, copper and crude oil can result in another five percent gains by next week.This post was published at GoldSeek on 27 July 2017.
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World Stock Markets, Gold, Boosted By Dovish FOMC Statement Wed. PM
(Kitco News) – Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight in the wake of a U. S. Federal Reserve meeting that produced a statement most of the markets deemed as leaning to the dovish side of U. S. monetary policy. Recent corporate earnings reports have also been mostly upbeat. U. S. stock indexes are pointed toward higher and record high openings when the New York day session begins.
Gold is posting solid gains Thursday in the wake of the dovish Fed statement that pushed the U. S. dollar index to a 13-month low. Reports overnight said India is moving to make ‘paper’ gold (such as sovereign gold bonds) more attractive to its domestic investors, in order to reduce demand for actual gold bullion.This post was published at Wall Street Examiner on July 27, 2017.
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The Toxic Fruit of Financialization: Risk Is for Those at the Bottom
Those who have pushed the risk down the wealth-power pyramid are confident the Federal Reserve will continue to limit the risks of speculative financialization.
One of the most pernicious consequences of financialization is the shifting of risk from the top of the wealth-power pyramid to the bottom: those who benefit the most from financialization’s leveraged, speculative credit bubbles protect themselves from losses while those at the bottom of the pyramid (the bottom 99.5%) face the full fury of financialization’s formidable risk. Longtime correspondent Chad D. and I recently exchanged emails exploring how the higher debt loads and higher interest payments of financialization inhibits people at the bottom of the wealth-power pyramid (i.e. debt-serfs) from taking risks such as starting a small business.
But this is only one serving of financialization’s toxic banquet of risk-related consequences. Chad summarized how those at the apex of the wealth-power pyramid protect themselves from risk and losses.
At the top levels of the pyramid, members in those groups collect way more interest than they pay out and at the very top, they get a ton of interest and pay little to none. The people at the top can take all sorts of risk, because of this dynamic and further, they also usually have a heavy influence on the financial/political machinery, so they get bailed out by taxpayers when their investments go bad. In addition, because their influence extends to the criminal justice system, they are able to commit fraud and at the same time neutralize regulators and prosecutors, thereby escaping any ramifications from their excessive risk taking and in many cases massive fraud.This post was published at Charles Hugh Smith on WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017.
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North Carolina Governor Signs Bill Eliminating Sales Tax on Gold and Silver
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has signed a bill into law exempting the sale and purchase of gold and silver from state sales taxes. This removes one barrier from buying gold, silver and platinum. It will also help encourage their use and take the first step toward breaking the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money.
Rep. Dana Bumgardner (R-Gastonia) and Rep. Jeff Collins (R-Rocky Mount) introduced House Bill 434 (H434) in March. The legislation exempts precious metals in various forms from state sales tax, including investment metal bullion, US Mint-produced gold and silver, investment coins and non-coin currency.
The House passed H434 on second reading by a 104-8 vote in May. It then gave final approval on the third reading by a voice vote. The Senate concurred with a vote of 35-13 on June 27. With the governor’s signature, the law went into effect retroactively to July 1, 2017.This post was published at Schiffgold on JULY 26, 2016.
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Bank Deregulation Back in Vogue: It’s time to dance the last fandango!
The Great Recession was so great for the only people who matter that it is time to do it all again. Time to shed those bulky new regulations that are like clod-hoppers on our heals and dance the light fantastic with your friendly bankster. Shed the encumbrances and get ready for the new roaring twenties.
The banks need to be able to entice more people into debt because potential borrowers with good credit and easy access to financing are showing no interest in taking the banks’ current enticements toward greater debt. That could indicate the average person is smarter than the banks and apparently recognizes they are at their peak comfort levels with debt. The banks, on the other hand, want to reduce capital-reserve requirements in order to leverage up more.
Thus, President Trump, blessed be he, is working (in consort with the Federal Reserve) on cutting bank stress tests in half to once every two years and working to significantly reduce the amount of reserve capital banks are required to keep. He also wants to make the stress tests a little easier to pass. Such are the plans of his Goldman Sachs economic overseers to whom Trump has given first chair in various illustrious White House departments.
READ MOREThis post was published at GoldSeek on 26 July 2017.
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Markets On Hold Ahead Of FOMC Meeting Conclusion This P.M.
This is a syndicated repost courtesy of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Reposted with permission.
(Kitco News) – World stock markets were mostly firmer in subdued trading overnight, as the marketplace awaits today’s FOMC meeting conclusion. U. S. stock indexes are slightly higher just ahead of the New York day session.
Gold prices are moderately lower today on more profit-taking from the shorter-term futures traders, after recent price gains.
Traders and investors are awaiting the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) that began Tuesday morning and ends early this afternoon with a statement. No changes in U. S. monetary policy are expected. However, the Fed could indicate the timing of reducing its big balance sheet of U. S. securities. The tone of the FOMC statement will also be important for markets. Just recently Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has sounded a more dovish tone on U. S. monetary policy.
In overnight news, the U. K.’s second-quarter GDP came in at up 0.3% on the quarter and up 1.7%, year-on-year. Those numbers were right in line with market expectations.This post was published at Wall Street Examiner on July 26, 2017.
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Asian Metals Market Update: July-25-2017
Factors which can affect markets
Gold and silver need to break and trade over $1262 and $16.64 for another wave of rise. Sell off will be there if gold does not break $1262 and silver does not break $16.64. Trend after the FOMC statement will be the key. Cautious optimism for gold and silver despite the bullish technical. Crude oil seems to have formed a short term floor around $44 while copper seems to be in the race to outperform silver and zinc.
Any reduction in Trump related risk is the only key factor that can cause precious metals to move into a short term bearish phase. I still expect an October interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Whereas markets are factoring in a December interest rate hike. One needs to watch for Trump related news as US economy is on a strong footing. Mild slowdown in US economy (if any) will be cyclical due to advent of American summer driving season.This post was published at GoldSeek on 25 July 2017.
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World Stock Markets Mixed, Quiet; FOMC Meeting In Spotlight
This is a syndicated repost courtesy of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Reposted with permission.
Global equity markets were steady to narrowly mixed in quieter overnight dealings. U. S. stock indexes are pointed toward firmer openings when the New York day session begins. The U. S. indexes are at or near record highs with no early chart clues to suggest they are topping out.
Gold prices are moderately lower in pre-U. S. session trading, on some normal profit taking from recent gains that saw prices hit a four-week high on Monday.
Focus of the world marketplace is on the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) that begins Tuesday morning and ends early Wednesday afternoon with a statement. No changes in U. S. monetary policy are expected. However, the Fed could indicate the timing of reducing its big balance sheet of U. S. securities. The tone of the FOMC statement will also be important for markets. Just recently Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has sounded a more dovish tone on U. S. monetary policy.
In overnight news, the closely watched German Ifo business sentiment index rose to a record 116.0 in July, from 115.2 in June. A July reading of 114.9 was forecast.This post was published at Wall Street Examiner on July 25, 2017.
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Oslo Housing & Trade Balance Say: Tipping Point in Norway
Traditionally, July is a slow month in Norway. Receiving sizable vacation pay in June, most Norwegian take three to four weeks off in July, enjoying most of their five-week annual vacation. If you worked overtime, you could add a few extra weeks, taking back those extra hours worked, turning that holiday into a sabbatical. However, while Norwegians live it up in Spain, Thailand, Croatia, and even America, trouble awaits them when they return home this fall.
While housing prices may have finally reached the long-anticipated tipping point and the monthly trade balance posted a deficit for the first time since December 1998, the Norwegian Krone gained substantial strength, closing at 8.07 against the US Dollar. Going against the wishes and needs of exporters, that is well below the USDNOK=8.45 YTD average (July 23, 2017).
However, Norges Bank indicated that rate cuts are over, following the ECB’s and US Federal Reserve Bank’s lead. Considering the importance of housing in the Norwegian economy and the need to boost exports, compensating for a fading oil sector, we can expect new and more exotic policies to push the NOK back down are already on the way.This post was published at Wolf Street on Jul 24, 2017.
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European Stocks Fall To 3 Month Lows On “Carmaker Cartel” Fears, Sliding PMIs; US Futures Lower
In a mixed session, which has seen Asian stocks ex-Japan broadly higher, the European Stoxx 600 index dropped as much as 0.6% after data Markit PMI data signalled euro-area economy grew in July at its slowest pace in six months while carmakers extended declines on continued concern about antitrust collusion in the industry. Germany’s DAX Index was hardest-hit euro-area benchmark, down as much as 0.8%. Autos continued to be the worst-performing sector on the Stoxx Europe 600 after EU and German regulators said they are studying possible collusion among German automakers. Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday that BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen may have cooperated for decades on technology.
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Concerns have risen that with the Euro trading near its strongest level in 2 years and appreciating 11% against the USD YTD, it may weigh on exporters’ earnings; 1.20 on the EURUSD is being seen a key barrier beyond which European earnings will suffer. As a result, the euro headed for its first decline in three days as data showed the region’s economy cooling at the start of a week packed with earnings results and a Federal Reserve rate decision. Stocks were dragged down for a second day by carmakers amid a collusion probe.This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 24, 2017.
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Did The Dutch Central Bank Lie About Its Gold Bar List?
Head of the Financial Markets Division of the Dutch central bank, Aerdt Houben, stated in an interview for newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad published in October 2016 that releasing a bar list of the Dutch official gold reserves ‘would cost hundreds of thousands of euros’. In this post we’ll expose this is virtually impossible – the costs to publish the bar list should be close to zero – and speculate about the far reaching implications of this falsehood.
Recap This story started a couple of years ago. As I am Dutch and concerned not only about my own financial wellbeing but of my country as well, I commenced inquiring my national central bank about the whereabouts and safety of our gold reserves in late 2013. One of my first actions was submitting the local equivalent of a Freedom Of Information Act – in Dutch WOB – to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) in order to obtain all written communication of the past decades between DNB and the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York (FRBNY). In 2013 I knew a large share of the Dutch gold was stored at the FRBNY, which I deemed to be an unnecessary risk. In a crisis situation, for example, the US government would be able to confiscate Dutch gold stored on American soil. Unfortunately, DNB responded it’s exempt from certain WOB requests under the banking law from 1998, article 3. (I thought the WOB hit a dead end, though recent developments have changed my mind regarding the legitimacy of the rejection. In a forthcoming post more on my WOB from 2013.)This post was published at Bullion Star on 23 Jul 2017.
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How Accurate Are CBO Forecasts? The Answer In Two Charts
Even as the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare in recent months has suffered one humiliating loss after another, at the hands of none other than the very same Republican party, one government agency has been repeatedly scapegoated for the GOP’s failure to come up with a credible and passable alternative to Obamacare: the Congressional Budget Office. Then agan, while hardly an excuse for their sheer incompetence, the GOP is certainly right to point the finger at the CBO’s track record of “forecasts”, one which we have mocked here on occasion after occasion after occasion.
And here, in just two charts, is why when it comes to matters of predictive accuracy, the CBO is almost as bad as the Federal Reserve.This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 22, 2017.
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Dollar Slide Continues
The US dollar lost ground against all the major currencies, save sterling, over the past week, and also fell against most emerging market currencies. There is little from a technical or fundamental perspective, including next week’s FOMC meeting, that suggests a reversal is at hand.
Investors accept that the US economy rebounded in Q2 from another below average Q1 performance. They accept that the jobs market is still healthy. What they doubt is that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the face of price pressures that have moderated. The fiscal course of the Trump Administration is also doubted. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the mess over health care, has left investors with a bad taste of what the legislative meal will look like.
At the same time the trajectory of the US policy mix moves away from the very supportive tighter monetary/looser fiscal policy, negative considerations for Europe have been lifted or substantially reduced. Looking at the charts, the turn came in late April when it became clear the National Front challenge in was going to be repulsed. The political threat in Europe dissipated. The regional economy is enjoying the broadest and strongest expansion in a decade. Given the improvement in the balance of risk, the ECB began adjusting its communication to help prepare the markets for an adjustment in the accommodation. This spurred rise in market rates.
The Dollar Index fell for a second consecutive week. It has fallen in six of the past seven sessions. The week’s 1.25% decline took it blow 94.00, its lowest level since June 2016. This area is important from a technical perspective, and a convincing break could open the door to another 3-5% decline. Daily and weekly technical indicators are over-extended as one would imagine, but only the Slow Stochastics have stopped falling. Given the pace and extent of the Dollar Index slide, and the positioning, we want to be sensitive to any reversal pattern in the coming sessions, but our point is that there is not much nearby chart-based support.This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 21, 2017.
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Congress’s Radical Plan to End Illegal Money
What Constitution?
One of the many downfalls of being the United States Secretary of the Treasury is the requirement to place one’s autograph on the face of the Federal Reserve’s legal tender notes. There, on public display, is an overt record of a critical defect. A signature endorsement of a Federal Reserve note by the Treasury Secretary represents their personal ratification of unconstitutional money.
There it is, plain as day. The former treasury secretary clearly put his signature on money with highly dubious legal credentials. Evidently he must have found it agreeable though. [PT]
If you recall, Article I, Section 8, of the U. S. Constitution empowers Congress – not the Federal Reserve – to coin money and regulate its value. What’s more, Article I, Section 10, specifies that money be coined of gold and silver and cannot consist of bills of credit – such as paper legal tender notes.
As far as we can tell, paper dollars are illegal money on two counts. First, they’re issued by the Federal Reserve. Second, they’re bills of credit with no ties to gold or silver.
What gives? Isn’t the U. S. Constitution supposed to be the supreme law of the land? Don’t be silly. Anyone with half their wits about them knows the U. S. Constitution has been reduced to a mere artifact of history. Does this bother you?This post was published at Acting-Man on July 21, 2017.
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Market Talk- July 21st, 2017
We did eventually see a mixed close in US with the NASDAQ setting new gains but the late rally failed to convince Asian markets of the rally and having seen ECB unchanged, we saw Asian indices small down. It was a reasonably light session to close the week as main core markets drifted. The Nikkei watched the yen trade better (last seen trading towards the 110 handle) so having a negative effect on stocks resulting in a negative -0.2% close. Shanghai and Hang Seng gave a little back also after the recent consistent positive momentum, which is a fair performance when considering recent currency strength. Top talking points were surrounding the disconnect between the bond and stock markets, but also the weakness in the USD and the strength in gold. The USD has been losing support as we approach an almost 2% decline against the Euro but that is having a significant effect on European stocks.
As Mario Draghi has kept the currency going the negative effects are being seen on equities, and a resurgence of bond spread tightening. It appears the fixed-income market is being the adult in the room seeing the road clear to continue the carry tightening play. That said, US stocks have held in well as earnings plays its supporting role but we should have a clearer picture next week when we hear from the Federal Reserve. Core markets closed with almost 2% declines which for foreign investors is really starting to hurt even providing for the recent euro rally.This post was published at Armstrong Economics on Jul 21, 2017.
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Congress’ Radical Plan To End Illegal Money
Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,
One of the many downfalls of being the United States Secretary of the Treasury is the requirement to place one’s autograph on the face of the Federal Reserve’s legal tender notes. There, on public display, is an overt record of a critical defect. A signature endorsement of a Federal Reserve note by the Treasury Secretary represents their personal ratification of unconstitutional money.
If you recall, Article I, Section 8, of the U. S. Constitution empowers Congress – not the Federal Reserve – to coin money and regulate its value. What’s more, Article I, Section 10, specifies that money be coined of gold and silver and cannot be bills of credit – such as paper legal tender notes.
As far as we can tell, paper dollars are illegal money on two counts. First, they’re issued by the Federal Reserve. Second, they’re bills of credit with no ties to gold or silver. What gives? Isn’t the U. S. Constitution supposed to be the supreme law of the land?
Don’t be silly. Anyone with half their wits about them knows the U. S. Constitution has been reduced to a mere artifact of history. Does this bother you?
It bothers us. To be clear, we don’t take the recline and flail of the U. S. Constitution lightly. But we also can’t ignore the pervasive truth of its sad state.
Of course, the dollar has other problems besides the major technicality of being illegal. For example, its payment qualities are suspect.This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 21, 2017.
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Why the Gold Price Could Continue Beyond Today’s 4-Week High
This is a syndicated repost courtesy of Money Morning – We Make Investing Profitable. To view original, click here. Reposted with permission.
Over the last week, the gold price has bounced back above the $1,200 threshold. With the metal currently trading at $1,251, it’s set to post a weekly gain of 1.7%. The price of gold’s rally this week to its highest level since June 23 came mostly on the back of comments from Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB). Draghi said during the bank’s policy meeting on Thursday that the ECB had not yet formalized plans to roll back monetary policy stimulus.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) also said its inflation expectations were not meeting targets, with the current 1.1% inflation rate below the previous forecast of 1.4%. The BoJ noted that a dovish monetary policy would persist for some time.
And that echoed what U. S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in her Congressional testimony last week, when she admitted the global inflation slowdown could call for an ‘adjustment’ to the Fed’s policy.This post was published at Wall Street Examiner by Peter Krauth ‘ July 21, 2017.
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The Elephant in the Room: Debt
It’s the elephant in the room; the guest no one wants to talk to – debt! Total global debt is estimated to be about $217 trillion and some believe it could be as high as $230 trillion. In 2008, when the global financial system almost collapsed global debt stood at roughly $142 trillion. The growth since then has been astounding. Instead of the world de-leveraging, the world has instead leveraged up. While global debt has been growing at about 5% annually, global nominal GDP has been averaging only about 3% annually (all measured in US$). World debt to GDP is estimated at about 325% (that is all debt – governments, corporations, individuals). In some countries such as the United Kingdom, it exceeds 600%. It has taken upwards of $4 in new debt to purchase $1 of GDP since the 2008 financial crisis. Many have studied and reported on the massive growth of debt including McKinsey & Company http://www.mickinsey.com, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) http://www.imf.org, and the World Bank http://www.worldbank.org.
So how did we get here? The 2008 financial crisis threatened to bring down the entire global financial structure. The authorities (central banks) responded in probably the only way they could. They effectively bailed out the system by lowering interest rates to zero (or lower), flooding the system with money, and bailing out the financial system (with taxpayers’ money).
It was during this period that saw the monetary base in the US and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet explode from $800 billion to over $4 trillion in a matter of a few years. They flooded the system with money through a process known as quantitative easing (QE). All central banks especially the Fed, the BOJ and the ECB and the Treasuries of the respective countries did the same. It was the biggest bailout in history. As an example, the US national debt exploded from $10.4 trillion in 2008 to $19.9 trillion today. It wasn’t just the US though as the entire world went on a debt binge, thanks primarily to low interest rates that persist today.This post was published at GoldSeek on Friday, 21 July 2017.