With the World Trade Organization ruling that the European Union unfairly subsidized Airbus, a new front will soon be opening in the worldwide trade war. The United States will now be able to retaliate against the EU by placing tariffs on EU goods. But that isn’t a victory for US consumers, who now will face higher prices on many...
Gold has seen a slight retrenchment in price this week as China begins its “Golden Week” surrounding the October 1st national holiday. This period of travel and holidays sees a slowdown in the Chinese economy, which as the world’s second-largest results in an impact on many world markets. Among those is the gold market, which for the last several...
For over 20 years central banks around the world have collaborated in planning sales of gold through the Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA). Central banks at the time of the agreement’s adoption were net sellers of gold, but the sale of gold by any individual central bank would have depressed the price of gold, thus leading to lower prices...
So much focus has been placed on China’s economic growth and its role as a major trade partner, but relatively little focus has been placed on how that has come about. China’s economic growth is in large part due to money creation, meaning that its enormous economic growth is ultimately unsustainable. Some of that monetary creation has been the...
There’s a lot of retirement advice out there that is just plain dated. Much of it is focused on those who are already in their 40s and 50s and have sizable nest eggs already. And even more of it is written from the perspective of those who came of age during the stock market heyday of the ‘80s and...
The Fed’s rate cut last week was supposed to operate like clockwork. Everyone expected the 25 basis point cut, it was merely the next step in what will likely be a continuing series of cuts, and there was no anticipation of anything unusual. Yet what ended up occurring has rattled markets and left many observers wondering how weak the...
The dream of a comfortable retirement is one that motivates many an American worker. But like many other things in life, the definition of comfortable retirement is one that varies from person to person. For some, retirement means sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking beer. For others, it means living an active life full of sports and...
There weren’t really any surprises last week when the Federal Open Market Committee decided to cut its target federal funds rate another 25 basis points, to a target of 1.75% to 2.00%. That had long been expected and even priced in by many investors. But there were two anomalies that bear mentioning. The first is that there were three dissenting...
When investing in markets, it’s sometimes a good idea to look at what other people are doing. Sometimes that take the form of looking at what they’re doing and doing exactly the opposite, like taking a short position on a hot stock because it’s fundamentally undervalued. Other times that takes the form of watching closely as those in the...
The past decade has seen interest rates at historically low levels for the longest period of time ever. The effect that has had on the economy has been enormous, with governments, corporations, and households all taking on massive amounts of debt in order to take advantage of low borrowing costs. But despite interest rates being so low, economic performance...