Peter's Blog

Another Recession Signal: Plunge in Demand for Gold in the Electronics Sector

With much stronger-than-expected second-quarter GDP growth and continued labor market strength, a growing number of people in the mainstream now think the US has escaped the clutches of a recession despite the Fed driving interest rates to the highest level in 16 years. But there are plenty of signs that a recession is looming. For instance, a […]

Another Recession Warning: Credit Card Spending Suddenly Plunges

Flashing another recession warning sign, credit card spending suddenly fell off a cliff in June. American consumers have been using credit cards to make ends meet for months, but with credit card debt at record levels, rising interest rates appear to have slammed the door on spending. Credit card debt contracted in June for the […]

Gold and Silver No Longer Subject to State Capital Gains Taxes in Arkansas

On August 1, a law making gold and silver legal tender in Arkansas went into effect. The new law also effectively repeals the state capital gains tax on gold and silver. Enactment of this legislation will relieve some of the tax burden on investors, and take a step toward treating precious metal bullion as money instead of a […]

Fitch Slashes US Credit Rating

The debt ceiling deal was supposed to stabilize things for the US government. By suspending the debt limit for two years, Congress mitigated the fear of a US default, but the deal apparently wasn’t enough to paper over the dysfunction in Washington DC. On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings downgraded the US’s long-term credit rating from AAA […]

Central Bank Gold Demand in First Half of 2023 Was the Highest on Record

Despite significant selling by Turkey that slowed net central bank gold buying in the second quarter, central banks added a record amount of gold to their reserves through the first half of 2023.

The US Government Has Borrowed Over $1 Trillion Since the Debt Ceiling Deal

There’s a big problem that pretty much everybody is ignoring. In just two months since Congress reached a deal and suspended the debt ceiling for two years, the national debt has surged by a staggering $1.2 trillion. Within a week of the debt ceiling suspension, the national debt cracked $32 trillion and as of July 28, […]

Strong Investment Demand for Physical Gold Continued in Second Quarter

Investment demand for physical gold was up by 20% in the second quarter compared to last year, continuing a trend we’ve seen over the last 12 months. This helped push overall gold demand up 7% year on year when including over-the-counter (OTC) sales and stock flows.

JP Morgan Projects Record Gold Prices in 2024

JP Morgan forecasts $2,000 gold by the end of the year with the price continuing to rise to record highs in 2024. In his latest note, JP Morgan executive director of global commodities research Greg Shearer projects the price of gold will average around $2,175 an ounce by the fourth quarter of 2024. That would […]

Big Drop in Cardboard Box Sales Scream Recession

Good news. The looming US recession has been canceled. Or has it?

Chinese Gold Demand Charts Healthy Increase Through First Half of 2023

After hitting the highest level since 2019 in the first quarter, Chinese gold demand continued on a solid path through Q2. Through the first half of the year, Chinese gold consumption surged by 16%, according to the latest data from the China Gold Association (CGA).