Financial crisis

Does gold signal a return of inflation? Everything points to it. Gold has recently become the world’s most traded asset by volume, surpassing U.S. debt and major currencies.

The war in Iran is not only contributing to a resurgence of inflationary pressures across the Atlantic, thereby destabilizing financial markets, but is also accelerating the global shift away from the dollar.

The oil market is entering a phase where volatility is no longer a mere hiccup but a direct consequence of its structure. Recent price movements do not reflect a linear improvement or deterioration in fundamentals, but rather a growing inability of prices to simultaneously reflect both physical r...

In just a few days, the global geopolitical and economic situation has suddenly become tense. The attack by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28 caused a sharp rise in oil prices and reignited fears of inflation.

The gap between the euphoria in the equity markets and the first cracks emerging in certain areas of credit is striking. In this environment, gold plays the role of an insurance against a financial accident or a sudden reversal in liquidity.

The downturn is now global and simultaneous: US consumption is running out of steam, unemployment is rising in Europe, household and business confidence is collapsing in China, while defaults are increasing and bond flows betray a growing flight for safety.

Ray Dalio: "It seems to me indisputably true that gold is a money and it is the money that is least at risk of being devalued and/or confiscated. You should think of gold as being a fundamental money that you should own at least some of."

With the US government shutdown, “fiscal QE” came to an abrupt halt. It comes at a time when the US Treasury has become the central player in providing liquidity to the system. The longer the situation drags on, the more the pipeline seizes up – and the greater the likelihood of an accident.

For two years, observers have been puzzled by a paradox: while the Fed is reducing the size of its balance sheet through quantitative tightening (QT), the M2 money supply is on the rise. The key to this mystery lies in the growing role of money market funds (MMFs).

To function, a gold standard would require a far higher price than today. Will Donald Trump, willingly or not, help China and Russia rebuild the international monetary system? The answer could come within weeks — or months at most.