A wider perspective.

Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.

Inflation is a monetary curse

Remarkably, in a speech on monetary policy given at the Jackson Hole conference last Friday, Jay Powell never mentioned money, money supply, M1 or M2. With money supply expanding at a record pace to fund both QE and…

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Market Report: Waiting for Jackson Hole

Gold and silver traded in subdued volumes this week as traders were reluctant to take positions ahead of Jay Powel’s speech at Jackson Hole later today. And it wasn’t just precious metals on hold. Combined with the…

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Eurozone finances have deteriorated

Despite negative interest rates and money printing by the European Central Bank, which conveniently allowed all Eurozone member governments to fund themselves, having gone nowhere Eurozone nominal GDP is even lower than…

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Market Report: Keynesian fears of deflation

This week, gold consolidated the gains of the previous week after the dramatic sell-off on 6—9 August. In European trading this morning, gold was at $1785, up $5 from last Friday’s close. Silver was relatively weak at…

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The dollar’s debt trap

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Nixon Shock, this article explains why fiat currencies have become joined at the hip to financial asset values. And why with increasing inevitability they are about to descend into the…

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Market Report: Gold takedown fails

Gold suffered a massive bear raid over last Sunday night, when traders in Europe and America were not at their desks. Silver got slammed on the back of it. As can be seen in our headline chart, both metals are now well…

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The problem with climate change politics

Climate change bears all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored crisis, useful to shift attention from other political failures. But the absence of financial accountability which characterises government actions also…

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The extinction of gold derivatives

This month is the fiftieth anniversary of the Nixon shock, when the Bretton Woods agreement was suspended. And the expansion of commercial banking into credit for purely financial activities became central to the…

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