Peter's Blog

Taking a Pea Shooter to a Bazooka Fight: SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Podcast Dec. 17, 2021

We got more bad inflation news this week as the Federal Reserve wrapped up its final FOMC meeting of the year. Supposedly, the central bank has launched its war on inflation. Has it though? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about inflation and the Fed meeting and explains […]

Russians on a Gold-Buying Spree

Russians have gone on a gold-buying spree. According to Russian media reports, investors in the country have bought a record amount of gold since 2014 despite prohibitively high taxes.

Federal Tax Revenues Surge 20% – Will it Last?

The federal government continues to run big budget deficits as spending skyrockets. Increasing tax revenues are the only thing keeping the deficits from blowing up even further. But how long will this tax windfall last?

Expectations Are Finally High Enough for Sky High Inflation

The latest seasonally adjusted inflation rate for November was .76% month over month, with a non-seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.81%. These numbers were generally in line with mainstream expectations that have finally gotten high enough to match the blistering hot inflation numbers coming out month after month.

I See Red! SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap Dec. 10, 2021

Pretty much everybody now expects the Federal Reserve to go to war against inflation, but the central bank has a problem not many people seem to be talking about – an economy buried under debt. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about consumer debt levels and their ramifications. […]

ETFs Globally Add Gold for the First Time Since Summer

Global ETF gold holdings increased in November for the first time since this summer. Gold-backed ETFs saw net inflows of 13.6 tons last month. Total holdings rebounded from year-to-date lows to 3,578 tons. According to the World Gold Council, investment demand for larger gold ETFs returned with decades-high inflation and heightened market volatility.

Data Anomaly Causes October Trade Deficit to Shrink

The October trade deficit fell but the drop was primarily due to a data anomaly. October 2021 charted a total trade deficit of -$67.1 billion. It was the lowest trade deficit since April 2021. Month-on-month, the trade deficit fell 17% from the record set in September.

US Debt: The Landscape Has Changed and the Fed Can Do Nothing About it

Similar to August and September, the total national debt has not increased due to the current debt ceiling that’s in place. Similar to August, the Treasury has raided public retirement accounts to continue funding government spending (light green bar below). Looking at the bigger picture, Covid has forever shifted the landscape of US Debt.

Ireland Adds Gold to Reserves as Inflation Worries Increase

Over the last several years, we’ve seen strong central bank gold-buying. The surge in gold purchases has primarily been driven by a handful of consistent players. But over the last several months, we’ve seen several new countries enter the market. The most recent is Ireland.

Hedge Funds are Driving Price Action in the Gold Market

Looking at the data, it appears hedge funds are currently driving price action in the gold market Please note: the COTs report was published 12/3/2021 for the period ending 11/30/2021. “Managed Money” and “Hedge Funds” are used interchangeably.