Peter's Blog

Fitch Slashes US Credit Rating

The debt ceiling deal was supposed to stabilize things for the US government. By suspending the debt limit for two years, Congress mitigated the fear of a US default, but the deal apparently wasn’t enough to paper over the dysfunction in Washington DC. On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA […]

Central Bank Gold Demand in First Half of 2023 Was the Highest on Record

Despite significant selling by Turkey that slowed net central bank gold buying in the second quarter, central banks added a record amount of gold to their reserves through the first half of 2023.

Easing Price Inflation Is Transitory

Is price inflation really heading back toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target? Most people in the mainstream seem to think so, and the recent drop in the consumer price index (CPI) appears to support this belief. Price inflation has trended downward over the last several months, with the annual CPI falling from a high of […]

The US Government Has Borrowed Over $1 Trillion Since the Debt Ceiling Deal

There’s a big problem that pretty much everybody is ignoring. In just two months since Congress reached a deal and suspended the debt ceiling for two years, the national debt has surged by a staggering $1.2 trillion. Within a week of the debt ceiling suspension, the national debt cracked $32 trillion and as of July 28, […]

Strong Investment Demand for Physical Gold Continued in Second Quarter

Investment demand for physical gold was up by 20% in the second quarter compared to last year, continuing a trend we’ve seen over the last 12 months. This helped push overall gold demand up 7% year on year when including over-the-counter (OTC) sales and stock flows.

JP Morgan Projects Record Gold Prices in 2024

JP Morgan forecasts $2,000 gold by the end of the year with the price continuing to rise to record highs in 2024. In his latest note, JP Morgan executive director of global commodities research Greg Shearer projects the price of gold will average around $2,175 an ounce by the fourth quarter of 2024. That would […]

Big Drop in Cardboard Box Sales Scream Recession

Good news. The looming US recession has been canceled. Or has it?

What’s Next? SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap July 28, 2023

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates yet again during its July meeting. So, what’s next? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the Fed meeting and the weird messaging, and then speculates about the central bank’s next move given the current economic backdrop. He also talks about a […]

“Lower” 3% Inflation Is Still Squeezing Our Wallets

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled in June. Year on year, the CPI increased by 3%. That was trumpeted as great news with some pundits suggesting perhaps 3% is low enough. It’s not.

The Fed Follows Its Script and Hikes Again; What’s Next?

I’ll say this about the Federal Reserve: it tends to follow the script. Everybody expected that the central bank would hike rates at the July FOMC meeting, and that’s exactly what it did. The Fed boosted the federal funds rate another 25 basis points to 5.25 to 5.5%.