Today, the Australian Central Bank doubled the size of its daily bond purchases to hold down the rise in long-term Australian interest rates. The market says Australian rates are too low and need to rise. The central bank disagrees, but if the market ends up having the correct view of the exchange rate, look for the Australian dollar to start depreciating. The FT has more on Australia’s decision: Australia’s central bank doubled the size of its regular bond purchases on Monday in a move that analysts say will have broad implications as policymakers consider their response to a global jump in … [Read more...]
Gold, Silver, and Currencies
Young Research & Publishing has been providing research and insights on precious metals and currency markets to institutional investors, corporate financial officers, business owners, and individual investors for over four decades. Richard C. Young started Young Research & Publishing in the 70s to publish the authoritative Young's World Money Forecast, a 50-page monthly investment report on the precious metals and currency markets. Today, our research on gold, silver, and currencies is geared toward investors in or nearing retirement who are looking to preserve and protect wealth.
Massive Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund Fraud
Joel Rosenblatt and Chris Dolmetsch report for Bloomberg on the case of Stefan He Qin, a cryptocurrency hedge fund founder who has admitted to $100 million in fraud. They write: The 24-year-old founder of Virgil Capital, which ran two cryptocurrency hedge funds, admitted to duping investors out of almost $100 million and using the money to support a lavish lifestyle. Stefan He Qin pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in New York and faces as much as 20 years in prison at his sentencing in May. Prosecutors said the Australian national stole investor money from Virgil Sigma Fund LP, a … [Read more...]
Bitcoin: When a Store of Value Is Manipulated
What happens when a store of value is manipulated? It no longer becomes a store of value. You know how this story will end. From Andy Kessler in The Wall Street Journal: Meanwhile, lo and behold, around the same time as that letter, Tether temporarily stopped creating any more currency. That might explain bitcoin’s quick mid-January price drop from $42,000 to under $30,000. If fraud is uncovered, look out below. Normally I wouldn’t care. Bitcoin is nothing, it’s vapor, a concept of an idea. Transactions using bitcoin are few and far between. It’s not a store of value—anything that drops … [Read more...]
H2O, Skiing, Hiding A$$ET$, Bitcoin, Ammo & More
In my conversations with you, you’re telling me the skiing out west is great. The liftlines, not so much. Turns out Covid’s a ski buddy. It’s not unusual to see chair, after chair, after chair, with one skier per chair, each from the same group, to social distance. Insane. At least the skiing’s good. You’re telling me from Park City/Deer Valley up to Big Sky and Whitefish, MT, it’s good to be outside. I hear you. We ventured out to the slopes here on the east coast between Christmas and New Year’s and had to contend with Covid liftlines too. The skiing? A little dicey. One run from the top … [Read more...]
The Government Should Ban Bitcoin Now Not Later
Bitcoin is enjoying another wave of investor interest this time with institutional backing. We know some of the smartest investors own Bitcoin. The technology backing bitcoin has some interesting applications in our view, but as far as bitcoin becoming legal tender, at best it looks like a long-odds gamble. No central bank in the world is going to allow a currency with a fixed supply to supplant a fiat currency. The U.S. would be bankrupt in a minute if it couldn’t print its own currency to pay its debts. So would Japan and many other countries. Rather than permitting speculation in … [Read more...]
Stealing Your Dollars in the Dead of Night
Will you even know it when they come for your cash? When they the steal it in the dead of night? When the digitalization of the dollar makes paper obsolete? Think they can’t inflate your money away? Look at interest rates—flat as a gingerbread cookie and stoking the inflationary real estate fire. First-time buyers can barely afford a manger, never mind a three-bedroom, two and a half bath. Remember when you bought your first home when interest rates were closer to the Twelfth Day of Christmas than the first? Back then, at least you could make the numbers work based on your salary. Today, … [Read more...]
Doubting the Dollar?
At the Financial Times, Michael Mackenzie explains the long term forces stacking up against the dollar. He writes: With alarm bells ringing across financial markets in recent days, the US dollar has found its footing, reflecting its haven status whenever equities and investor sentiment take a knock. But that may prove fleeting given the longer term forces stacking up against the world’s reserve currency. Since climbing to its best level since 2002 in the wake of the pandemic earlier this year, the Federal Reserve’s trade-weighted dollar index has been pressured by a combination of rising … [Read more...]
Why the Turkish Lira Just Keeps on Falling
The Turkish lira hit a new record low against the dollar this week as the country's central bank held rates steady. The Wall Street Journal's Caitlin Ostroff and David Gauthier-Villars report: The lira fell 2.1% on Thursday, with $1 buying 7.9792 lira, after the central bank left its key, one-week repo rate at 10.25%, surprising the majority of investors and analysts who anticipated an increase. For several months, the central bank’s main policy rate has been negative when adjusted for inflation, making holding the Turkish lira an unattractive proposition for foreign investors and … [Read more...]
Digital Currencies Would Stifle Economic Freedom
There is a movement afoot in central banking circles to shift from paper currency to digital currency. Sounds convenient and probably like a good idea to many, but the goal from the central banking crowd has almost nothing to do with convenience. Digital dollars would make the job of intervening in markets and manipulating spending and interest rates much easier. Think about an economic stimulus credited to your government issued debit card that has an expiration date. How better to force consumers to spend than to give their money an expiration date? Or what about negative … [Read more...]
Your Best Asset is What You Bring to the Table
Literally. You are the best asset you've got. Are you a farmer who can grow a crop of corn or tomatoes? Are you a skilled mechanic who could help neighbors repair their machines? The skills and production you bring to your community are what pay for your meals, home, and everything else. The money you use to make the transactions is just a means of transferring those skills to others. You've probably read about the current coin shortage in America. While that's inconvenient, businesses have been finding ways around it by using electronic payments or simply rounding to the nearest … [Read more...]
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