Laurent Maurel

The situation in the US labor market now highlights its profound fragility, after two years of embellished statistics. In September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics made the largest negative revision in the history of payrolls.

Mitch Vexler, a real estate developer turned whistleblower, detailed what he considers to be a ticking time bomb at the heart of the US financial system: the way property taxes fuel public school funding and school bonds.

On September 8, the French government will face a decisive confidence vote. The risk is clear: if the government fails and the general strike brings the country to a standstill, France could plunge into a systemic bond and banking crisis within a matter of days, with no credible political support...

We are at a turning point. Markets are behaving as if the liquidity party could last forever, even though the hidden reserve that supported it has disappeared. And it is precisely this kind of configuration that paves the way for the most brutal reversals.

The long-term outlook – sustained inflation and long-term interest rates anchored on an upward trajectory – is one of the pillars supporting gold prices over the long term. This is particularly true given that, at this stage, no one is really significantly exposed to it.

Central banks are preparing for a world where the dollar will no longer be the only credible store of value. As monetary uncertainty grows, gold is regaining its central role as a trusted asset that is outside the system, liquid, and free of counterparty risk.

The obvious loss of effectiveness of the Bank of Japan's interventions is reflected in the immediate reaction of assets deemed to be barometers of confidence, foremost among them gold in local currency.

Japan is said to have agreed, in return for tariff cuts, to use part of its sovereign wealth funds to finance US strategic projects. Confidence is crumbling. Gold is becoming the last credible refuge for Japanese households and institutions.

The silver market is at a critical juncture, marked by a growing dislocation between the physical and paper markets. While Western banks are still trying to manipulate silver prices via the paper market, physical demand is accelerating. This growing appetite for physical silver in the face of con...

Government bonds are no longer perceived as risk-free assets, and their long-term growth potential is now in doubt. In this context, accelerating the pace of debt emissions becomes a real challenge. If the Fed were in turn to intervene in very short maturities to artificially support Treasury emi...

The UK bond market is under pressure, in an unstable global context marked by friction between the Fed and the Treasury and high sensitivity to uncertainty. Physical gold is becoming an instrument of economic survival and a bulwark against the erratic decisions of the authorities.

In a climate of widespread mistrust of the dollar and US economic policy, a fundamental trend is gathering pace: de-dollarization. China, at the forefront of this strategy, is methodically reducing its dependence on the greenback while at the same time stepping up its purchases of gold and the in...

In a stagflationary environment — marked by sluggish growth, persistent inflation and growing consumer unease — the yellow metal is once again playing its role as a safe-haven asset.

If the yield curve steepening bet reverses, it could have a significant impact on the gold price. In a scenario where long rates fall rapidly - for fear of recession or a return to caution by central banks - gold would benefit. Falling real interest rates would make the metal more attractive, and...

The U.S. economy is showing much deeper signs of fragility than the markets seem to comprehend. Suffocated by soaring prices, American consumers are forced to resort to credit on a massive scale. The next inevitable step will be an economic slowdown. Gold continues to play a strategic role in an...

The financial world may be on the verge of a regime change. Financial repression, thought to have been relegated to the past, is making a discreet comeback through the Japanese door. The Tokyo authorities are already trying to manipulate the yield curve by adjusting the supply of debt, hoping to...

The gradual disappearance of structural buyers of sovereign debt - central banks, Japan, pension funds - ushers in a new era in which debt is no longer “free by design”, but must once again become desirable in a competitive universe. In this new context, physical gold is regaining its role as a s...

When the bond market, and in particular that of US sovereign bonds, becomes unstable or loses investor confidence, it's not just bad news for financial portfolios: it's a crack in the very foundations of the global financial architecture.

In case of a loss of confidence in the sustainability of the US budget, physical gold, already considered a safe-haven asset, could emerge as the ultimate systemic safe-haven, outperforming all other asset classes in times of global monetary disorder.

As debates rage in the US over the future trajectory of the economy and markets, the continuing rise in the budget deficit remains a major source of concern. It is precisely this worrying trajectory of public debt that gold seems to continue to follow closely, helping to explain its current surge.