"Everything you need to know about gold"
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The gold market has become a social gathering place for an odd combination of participants. Those participants range from the gullible and the disillusioned to those seeking the next big thing.
Permeating the atmosphere surrounding the commotion are false fundamentals and faulty logic. Fundamental analysis, or what passes for it, gets distorted and perverted beyond recognition.
GOLD’S DECEPTIVE NEW HIGHS (audio version)
The latest gold analyses have shifted to a more accommodative nature regarding the yellow metal’s failure to extend its gains after breaking above $2000 for the fourth consecutive year. Here is a chart (source) that depicts what most analysts and investors are seeing…
GOLD BULLS TOO PRICE-DEPENDENT?
Theoretically, a higher price can indicate an increase in value for a good, a service, a stock, etc. That does not mean that a higher price is always indicative of an increase in value.
On occasion, the higher price tells us something else. For example, most people are quite sensitive to the higher prices they pay for groceries and gasoline. Since the forced shutdown of the economy in response to Covid, prices for food and energy have risen along with most other goods and services.
The emphasis on “NOT” in the title of this article is critical to a better understanding of what inflation is – and isn’t. We hear all the time: “Inflation rose sharply last month as consumer prices increased by .6%”, or something similar.
We also hear that higher prices themselves are a cause of inflation. Example…
Do cryptocurrencies still have value? Some would say yes, absolutely. Others might be rethinking previous expectations for cryptocurrencies. We give the nod to the former – with some strong caveats.
The value of cryptocurrencies has to do with the transaction process. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have value because they provide a process for the private transfer of money.
SIGNIFICANCE OF 1980 GOLD PEAK
When President Nixon slammed shut the gold window for foreign holders of U.S. dollars, it was the final step in a planned exit from the gold standard. It was also tacit admission that the United States government, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve, had debased the world’s s reserve currency beyond a point that could no longer be ignored.
GOLD LEAVES SILVER BEHIND
Complicated and convoluted technical analysis, inflamed fundamentals, never-ending last chance warnings and all the supposed evidence to the contrary – there is nothing that justifies the ultra-bullishness of silver stackers and investors. We might say “gold leaves silver behind, waiting, and in the dust.
COST OF PRODUCING GOLD
Ever wonder how much it costs to produce an ounce of gold? Most of us tend to focus on the market price for gold since that is what we hear referenced on a daily basis.
That makes sense. However, investors and owners of gold mining stocks have valid reasons to pay more attention to production costs of gold in addition to the market price. After all, you have to get the gold out of the ground first, before it can be refined and sold.
NEW HIGHS FOR GOLD?
All of the talk about new highs in the gold price seem to be wishful thinking unless one is focused on only nominal prices. Below is a chart of monthly average closing prices for physical gold since the summer of 2020…
DID THE FED CAUSE THE 2008 RECESSION?
A review of the history regarding Fed interest rate policy yields information that says “yes”.
On June 30, 2004, the FOMC began to tighten policy by increasing the Fed Funds target rate to 1¼%. By June 2006, two years later, the target rate was at 6 1/4%. It remained at that level for the next year – well into 2007.