Entries by Keith Weiner

Monetary Facts

 Milton Friedman said that if a country had bad economic policies, its currency would weaken, which would restore balance. Imports would drop and exports would rise. Japan’s insane policy has so far crushed the yen by 22%. The results? As Mish writes, imports +9.4%, exports +3.8%. Their trade deficit fell to the worst level in decades. […]

What is the Meaning of GLD Gold Outflows?

A quick glance at the data for ounces held by each Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) shows that right after the crash of 2008, ounces began to pour into GLD. Ignoring a little jitter, there was no significant outflow until 2013. GLD has lost over 20% of its metal so far this year, dropping from about […]

Bernanke “No Tapering”: Silver Goes Up and Down Again

In February, I wrote What Drives the Price of Gold and Silver? If there is a credible rumor that the Fed is planning to further extend its “Quantitative Easing”, how would you expect the monetary metals to react? Typically, the gold price would rise and the silver price would rise even more. The question is why. […]

The Dollar Price Rises 33% in Lumber

      Yesterday, we showed pictures of the price of a dollar in gold, silver, euros, and yen. Here is a picture of the price of a dollar in board-feet of lumber. This is a bit silly, as lumber is not a currency. But it is interesting that it shows the same phenomenon. Also, […]

The Dollar is Going Up

Let’s take a look at a few graphs of the dollar, from Feb 1, 2013 through Friday May 17, 2013. Yes, I said graphs of the dollar. I’ve priced the dollar in gold first (of course), then silver, the euro, and even the yen. The pattern is obvious. The dollar is going up. I did […]

The Dollar is Going Up Part II

Meanwhile, the spread between the interest rate and the dividend yield or earnings yield makes an attractive arbitrage. If you are the CFO of a public company and your shares pay a 4% dividend and you can borrow at 2%, it is practically a “no brainer”. The problem is that incurring debt for no productive […]

Gold:Silver Ratio spikes over 66!

Yesterday in the Gold Basis Report, we wrote: “…we reiterate that we are cautious about the price of silver (measured in grams of gold) and think the ratio is more likely to rise than to fall.” Little did we know. As this 5-minute chart shows, the ratio rose to over 66(!) before coming back down […]