Gold, Silver, and Currencies

By Noska Photo @ Shutterstock.com There are better places for investors looking to avoid inflation pressures in their portfolios than TIPS. Alexandra Scaggs reports in Barron's: Investors in search of ways to protect their income against inflation may need to look further than they think: The market created for that purpose may not be a great choice, for either income or returns.Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, have attracted investor cash this year as investors bet that a mix of economic reopening and U.S. government stimulus will drive prices higher in the U.S. Funds … [Read more...]

At FT, Pascal Blanque, explains that inflation is imminent and that investors must prepare themselves for what's to come. He writes: A change in market regime often occurs with a change in the mandate of central banks. The central focus on inflation targeting that started with the arrival of Paul Volcker at the helm of the Fed in 1979 is fading. This much is clear from the new priorities recently adopted by two central banks: achieving full and inclusive employment by the Fed and reducing global warming by the Bank of England. For investors, this means the rise in bond yields might not be … [Read more...]

Could bitcoin be outlawed? That's what Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates believes could happen. Mark DeCambre reports at MarketWatch: Bitcoin is enjoying its moment in the sun now, but the world’s No. 1 digital asset could face major resistance by government’s looking to rein in the decentralized crypto, according to Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio. “Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other moneys to be operating or competing, because things can get out of control. So I think that it would be very likely that you will have it under … [Read more...]

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...]

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 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...]