SNB & CHF

Welcome to the third installment of our Ask Keith Anything video series. We published the call for questions far and wide to our readership, and the response was overwhelming! We received questions from all over the world. Now we’ve published the results! In this episode, Keith answers your questions on Bitcoin,  supply chain bottlenecks, banking, book recommendations, the gold and silver markets and so much more![embedded content] Additional Resources Ask Keith...

We are all prone to believing the recent past is a reliable guide to the future. But in times of dynamic reversals, the past is an anchor thwarting our progress, not a forecast. Are we heading into another real estate bubble / crash? Those who say “no” see the housing shortage as real, while those who say “yes” see the demand as a reflection of the Federal Reserve’s artificial goosing of the housing market via its unprecedented purchases of mortgage-backed securities...

It was last August when Jerome Powell began to admit that inflation just might be a problem. But even then, he was only willing to say that inflation would likely be “moderately” above the arbitrary 2 percent inflation standard. Back in August, low inflation—not high inflation—was still perceived to be the “problem.” But things had certainly changed by late November when Powell was forced by reality to retire “transitory” as the preferred adjective to describe price...

Overview: The markets are mostly treading water ahead of the FOMC decision later today. Tech stocks tumbled in Hong Kong and the Hang Seng fell a little more than 1%, while India was the worst performer in the region falling over 2% following an unexpected and intra-meeting hike by the Reserve Bank of India.  It raised the repo rate to 4.4% from 4.0%.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is a little lower and has been unable to close the gap from Monday created from the lower...

Petra Gerlach and Attilio Zanetti become Alternate Members of the Governing Board At its meeting of 4 May 2022, the Federal Council appointed Martin Schlegel as Vice Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank with effect from 1 August 2022. He will succeed Fritz Zurbrügg on the Governing Board when the latter steps down at the end of July 2022. Martin Schlegel has been a member of the Enlarged Governing Board and Deputy Head of Department I since 1...

The International Monetary Fund has downgraded the global economy with its latest World Economic Outlook. This is no surprise to those who have been following the monetary system's warnings since 2021. Right on cue, the United States reported economic contraction in Q4 2021. ----EP. 228 REFERENCES---- One More For Euro$ #5: The Mainstream Downgrade Parade: https://bit.ly/381wjf4 Alhambra Investments Blog: https://bit.ly/2VIC2wWlin RealClear Markets Essays: https://bit.ly/38tL5a7...

Part II of II The big picture here is clear and it is essential to understand that it represents a very significant paradigm shift. Whether it is online or offline, whether it is through a mobile app, an exchange or even through physical contracts, ownership titles to gold holdings keep changing hands. And thus, no matter the vehicle that is used to facilitate these transactions, the fact of the matter is that it acts as a gold-backed currency. This alone...

This is one of those cases when Inigo Montoya, the lovable if fictional rapscallion from the movie The Princess Bride, would pop into the scene to devastatingly deliver his now famous rebuke. Last week, China’s one-man Dear Leader said that the country was going to start up its own version of Build Back Better. Immediately cheered by the entire Western media, every single news story contained the same phrase. “All out.” Cue Mr. Montoya’s wry witticism. . Did...

Imposing economic sanctions upon Russia is tantamount to throwing gasoline on a raging fire. The sanctions will not end the Russian invasion of Ukraine and only will make things worse. Original Article: “The Economic Sanctions against Russia Are Destructive and Counterproductive: We Must Oppose Them” The Western sanctions against Russia seem to shock very few Westerners. Yet, for several reasons, these sanctions should at least be the subject of lively debate...

The price of silver has been going down, and then down some more. From over $28 a year ago, and over $26.50 a month ago, it’s now at a new low under $22.50. Four bucks down in a month. However, it’s been behaving differently than gold behind the scenes. Let’s look at the gold and silver basis charts to see. Gold Fundamentals – Gold Basis Analysis The gold basis (i.e. abundance to the market) was humming along around 0.5%. Then, as the price began to rise, it rose...