Central banks

The ECB has just raised its deposit rate to 4% and halted its sovereign debt repurchases, with the stated aim of stamping out inflation. Unfortunately, this will probably have little effect, as oil prices are slowly but surely climbing.

30-year Treasury bonds have fallen by more than 50%. Losses are starting to mount again, and this is worrying many observers. Although the US is not exposed to the risk of default, this decline reflects the effects of tighter monetary policy.

IMF data shows gold reserves at the Central Bank of Russia rose by 3 tonnes (≈ 100,000 oz) in August. This means that its gold reserves are back to where they were at the start of the year - 2,333 tonnes.

In the United States, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.6% in August and by 3.7% year-on-year. This is an acceleration on the 0.2% monthly increase and 3.2% annual gain published in July. The year-on-year increase is higher than the economists' forecasts. In other words, August's CPI exceeded...

Precious metal prices, particularly silver, are closely linked to energy prices. Bank demand for gold looks set to be extremely strong in the final quarter of 2023, especially as the banking crisis is likely to spread internationally, as it did in 2008.

China added to its gold reserves for a 10th straight month, extending a push to bolster its hefty stockpile as it tries to diversify away from the US dollar.

Gold is testing all-time highs in many currencies. Gold in yen is achieving this performance at a time when the Japanese bond market is going through an unprecedented crisis of confidence.

It is becoming clearer an clearer that China will not be the leading power in tomorrow's world. Since the pandemic, China's economy and banking sector have been in dire straits. The country is looking for new sources of growth. At the BRICS summit, held in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24, Xi Jinpi...

Matthew Piepenburg sits down with Rick Rule and Jim Rickards to discuss the future of the USD, the rising BRICS tide and the Realpolitik of any realistic gold-backed BRICS trade currency.

On July 27, figures released by the US administration showed GDP up by 2.4%, well above the 2% anticipated by analysts. The U.S. economy seemed to be resisting the sharp rise in interest rates better than expected. But the administration published a terse correction: the increase in GDP was not 2.4%...