Gold

Gold remains a strong competitor. The yellow metal is particularly popular with countries that want to de-dollarize. Central banks that bypass the dollar system of financing are the ones that have bought the most gold over the last twenty years. The acceleration of de-dollarization will therefore...

The risk is there: "the most fragile countries are not Italy or Spain, but France, Greece and perhaps Portugal." What the Greeks experienced in the 2010s - and they are still paying the bill - could soon happen to the French.

The difference between the number of certificates and the investment in physical metal is now very clearly marked. At a time when the situation on the physical stocks of industrial metals and precious metals is becoming more and more tense every week, it is finally quite logical to see so many in...

Rising wages, falling productivity: inflation is not transitory and is becoming uncontrollable for the Fed, because it is linked to a problem in the supply of raw materials.

Gold is as cheap today relative to US money supply as in 1971 when the price was $35 and in 2000 when gold was $290.

Monetary policies are often analyzed in terms of their impacts or correlations with macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP, unemployment or the balance of payments. They are more rarely analyzed according to the consequences they generate at the individual level.

Inflation figures will probably still be very high in Europe and the United States, especially because of record high fuel prices. But it is the Japanese inflation numbers that now need to be scrutinized.

Looking ahead, gold might attract further interest as a diversifier as central banks seek to reduce exposure to risk amid heightened uncertainty. Our expectation stands for central banks to remain net purchasers for 2022.

This graphic charts 200 years of the gold-to-silver ratio, plotting the pivotal historical events that have shaped its peaks and valleys.

Investors who buy physical gold at this price level are buying insurance against the risk of a monetary policy error by the Fed.