Financial markets

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).

Gold continues to reach new heights. And yet, interest among retail investors, particularly in Western countries, remains very low. To understand these dynamics, we interviewed John Reade, one of the world's leading gold market strategists.

Since the beginning of the year, the greenback has already fallen by nearly 10%, reaching a new low. The dollar's weakness is not the result of an external shock, but rather a deliberate action by the authorities to preserve financial stability.

Fitch's downgrade of France's debt rating last Friday was expected. It remains to be seen whether Moody's and Standard & Poor's will follow suit on October 24 and November 28, which seems quite likely.

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.

The start of the new school year promises to be eventful in the United States. The Fed is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in five years. With the job market remaining fragile, the spectre of recession still looming, and the trade war adding to uncertainty, this decision shows ab...

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.

The US government has started levying tariffs on 1-kilo and 100-ounce gold bars, a decision that could upend long-standing trade routes and disrupt the flow of bullion from Switzerland to the United States.