Category Archive: 6a) Gold & Monetary Metals

Who Knows the Right Interest Rate, Report 3 Feb 2019

On January 6, we wrote the Surest Way to Overthrow Capitalism. We said: “In a future article, we will expand on why these two statements are true principles: (1) there is no way a central planner could set the right rate, even if he knew and (2) only a free market can know the right rate.” Today’s article is part I that promised article.

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New Crypto Valley Association President seeks to heal divisions

The new President of the Crypto Valley Association has vowed to turn around the divided organization. Daniel Haudenschild was elected on Thursday evening together with a new board following months of unrest. Speaking to swissinfo.ch two days after his shock departure from Swisscom Blockchain, Haudenschild said his priorities are to heal divisions, build bridges between other blockchain groups in Switzerland and bring international business and...

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Swisscom Blockchain head departs abruptly

Daniel Haudenschild has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Swisscom Blockchain with immediate effect. The state-owned telecommunications group gave no reason for the shock move by the top manager and shareholder of its blockchain advisory unit. News of Haudenshild’s departure clearly came out of the blue for the Swiss blockchain sector.

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Buy Bitcoin or Gold? Bitcoin Buyers Investing In Gold In 2019

Buy bitcoin or gold? Bitcoin buyers are investing in gold in 2019. Poll of 4,000 bitcoin buyers shows their No 1 investment in 2019 is gold. “Gold lost to bitcoin and now it’s going the other way…” says ETF strategist. “Gold is a store of value and there’s no disputing that…”

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Gold Consolidates Above $1,300 After 1.2 percent Gain Last Week

Gold futures settled above $1,300 an ounce on Friday, with prices for the yellow metal at their highest since June as the U.S. dollar pulled back and investors eyed geopolitical turmoil and global growth worries. Rising gold prices reflect “political uncertainty” in the U.S., Eurozone, Venezuela and pockets of South America, as well as China-U.S. trade talks, said George Gero, managing director in RBC.

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Modern Monetary Theory: A Cargo Cult, Report 20 Jan 2019

Newly elected Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) absolutely needed to be “a larger part of our conversation.” Her comment shines a spotlight on MMT. So what is it? According to Wikipedia, it is: “a macroeconomic theory that describes the currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as the evidence that a currency monopolist is restricting the supply of the financial assets needed to pay taxes...

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The Dollar Works Just Fine, Report 20 Jan 2019

Last week, we joked that we don’t challenge beliefs. Here’s one that we want to challenge today: the dollar doesn’t work as a currency, because it’s losing value. Even the dollar’s proponents, admit it loses value. The Fed itself states that its mandate is price stability—which it admits means relentless two percent annual debasement (Orwell would be proud).

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Xapo shifting services from Hong Kong to Switzerland

Bitcoin services provider Xapo is winding down activities at its Hong Kong base and transferring key operations to Switzerland. Xapo president Ted Rogers said the move has been driven by Switzerland’s friendlier regulatory environment. “It was once thought that Hong Kong was the holy grail of crypto regulations,” Rogers told swissinfo.ch at the World Web Forum in Zurich. “But it has become more opaque.”

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Political Turmoil in UK & US Sees Gold Hit 2 Week High

For first time in over 16 years, palladium futures settle at a premium to gold futures. Gold futures on Wednesday resumed their climb toward the psychologically important price of $1,300 an ounce, settling at their highest in nearly two weeks on the back of political turmoil in the U.K. and U.S.

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Gold Holds Steady Near $1,300/oz As Geopolitical Risks Including Brexit Loom Large

Gold Holds Steady Over £1,000 – Increased Likelihood Of A Disorderly Brexit. – Gold supported near $1,300/oz ahead of important British Brexit no-confidence vote. – Gold is consolidating in range between $1,280 and $1,300/oz (over £1,000/oz and €1,100/oz) – A break of resistance at $1,300 will likely see gold rise rapidly in all currencies.

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Rising Interest and Prices, Report 13 Jan 2019

For years, people blamed the global financial crisis on greed. Doesn’t this make you want to scream out, “what, were people not greedy in 2007 or 1997??” Greed utterly fails to explain the phenomenon. It merely serves to reinforce a previously-held belief.

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Gold Outlook 2019: Uncertainty Makes Gold A “Valuable Strategic Asset” – WGC

As we look ahead, we expect that the interplay between market risk and economic growth in 2019 will drive gold demand. And we explore three key trends that we expect will influence its price performance: financial market instability, monetary policy and the US dollar, structural economic reforms.

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Blackrock Say Gold Will Be A “Valuable Portfolio Hedge” In 2019

“We’re experiencing a slowdown,” says Blackrock fund manager. Global Allocation Fund adding to gold exposure through ETFs. Gold “has had a very consistent record of helping mitigate equity risk when volatility is rising”. Gold bullion has been a “store of value for a very long time”.

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China Adds 320,000 Ounces To Gold Reserves – First PBOC Purchase Since October 2016

China increases gold holdings by large 320,000 ounces. Gold bullion remains a tiny component of the People’s Bank of China massive foreign exchange (FX) reserves which rose to $3.073 trillion. China’s gold reserves rose for first time since October 2016 to 59.56 million ounces by the end of December (1,853 metric tons) from 59.24 million ounces. Gold climbed 5% in December on equity rout, growth concerns

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Surest Way to Overthrow Capitalism, Report 6 Jan 2019

One of the most important problems in economics is: How do we know if an enterprise is creating or destroying wealth? The line between the two is objective, black and white. It should be clear that if business managers can’t tell the difference between a wealth-creating or wealth-destroying activity, then our whole society will be miserably poor.

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Change is in the Air – Precious Metals Supply and Demand

Last week, the price of gold rose $25, and that of silver $0.60. Is it our turn? Is now when gold begins to go up? To outperform stocks? Something has changed in the supply and demand picture. Let’s look at that picture. But, first, here is the chart of the prices of gold and silver.

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Are Stocks Overvalued, Report 24 Dec 2018

We could also have entitled this essay How to Measure Your Own Capital Destruction. But this headline would not have set expectations correctly. As always, when looking at the phenomenon of a credit-fueled boom, the destruction does not occur when prices crash. It occurs while they’re rising.

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Gold Prices Likely To Go Higher In 2019 After 4 percent Gain So Far In Q4

Gold traders appear excited about gold again as stocks are on pace for their worst year since 2008, and their worst December since 1931. Bullish bets on the yellow metal outnumbered bearish ones for the week ended December 11, resulting in the first instance of net positive contracts since July, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data.

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Why Do Investors Tolerate It, Report 17 Dec 2018

For the first time since we began publishing this Report, it is a day late. We apologize. Keith has just returned Saturday from two months on the road. Unlike the rest of the world, we define inflation as monetary counterfeiting. We do not put the emphasis on quantity (and the dollar is not money, it’s a currency). We focus on the quality. An awful lot of our monetary counterfeiting occurs to fuel consumption spending.

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Gold and Silver Gained 2 percents and 3 percents Last Week While Stocks Dropped Nearly 5 percents

Gold acted as a safe haven last week and is again acting as a safe haven in December. It has performed well despite the rout in stocks in Ireland and globally. U.S. stocks including the S&P500 and Nasdaq were down nearly 5% last week, while gold was 2% higher and silver over 3% higher.

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