Market sentiment for gold adjusts to recent Fed officials' comments
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines sentiment as, “an attitude, thought, or judgment prompted by feeling: predilection.: a specific view or notion: opinion.: emotion.: refined feeling: delicate sensibility especially as expressed in a work of art.: emotional idealism.”
As it pertains to the financial markets, market sentiment is the view or attitude that creates our opinion as to whether an asset class is overvalued or undervalued. It shapes and changes the value of a stock or commodity’s price.
Market sentiment is overly sensitive to statements and comments made by Federal Reserve officials because those individuals have the power and influence to change monetary policy. There is a dramatic difference between the perception of upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy changes and the actions of Federal Reserve officials.
The Federal Reserve raised rates at every FOMC meeting this year except in January, from March through November, a total of six rate hikes. Over the last four FOMC meetings (June, July, September, and November) they raised rates by 75 basis points. The aggressive nature of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy moved gold dramatically lower from March up until the beginning of November. Gold traded to its highest value this year of $2078 in March. By the beginning of November, gold prices had dropped to approximately $1621, resulting in a price decline of 21.99%.
During the first week of November, market sentiment shifted because inflation rates had declined fractionally and investors viewed this fractional drop as a signal that the Federal Reserve would begin to loosen its aggressive monetary policy. This caused gold to rise dramatically from $1621 to an intraday high of $1792 by Tuesday, November 15. Because the CPI index dropped from 8.2% year-over-year in September to 7.7% year-over-year in October investors believed that the Federal Reserve would become more dovish regarding upcoming rate hikes.
However, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told a conference in Sydney, Australia Sunday November 13, "We're not softening…Quit paying attention to the pace and start paying attention to where the endpoint is going to be. Until we get inflation down, that endpoint is still a way out there." On November 14 multiple Federal Reserve officials made comments to the contrary.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly, “It’s far from a victory”. Lorie Logan the Federal Reserve’s president of the Dallas central bank said that last week’s report is, “a welcome relief”, but will not alleviate the need for more rate increases possibly at a slower pace.
The statements made over the weekend and on Monday, November 14 dramatically changed market sentiment concerning gold prices. Gold prices hit the intraday high above $1790 the following day and then began to have three consecutive days of price declines from Wednesday to Friday. To add fuel to the fire today St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said that the Fed’s benchmark policy right might need to rise as high as 7%.
The statements moved gold pricing from Tuesday's high to its current pricing. As of 4:27 PM EST, the most active December futures contract is currently fixed at $1751.30 after factoring in today’s net decline of $11.60. The statements will likely continue to create bearish market sentiment for gold.
After nearly hitting $1,780 an ounce this week, gold is starting to backtrack amid hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials. And analysts are warning that a drop below $1,750 an ounce could end the rally and open the door to a steeper pullback.
The extent of the rally in gold took many by surprise these past two weeks. But the precious metal might have moved too high, too fast, RJO Futures senior market strategist Frank Cholly told Kitco News.
Gold advanced from $1,631 at the beginning of November to nearly $1,780 an ounce this week. But the rally seems to have run out of steam, at least for now. December Comex gold futures last traded around $1,759 an ounce, down 0.6% on the week.
"Gold got close to $1,800. And now the market is seeing some profit taking. It does appear to be rolling over. I am not ready to get bearish yet. We are taking a breather," Cholly said Friday.
It is always a good idea to keep an eye on the U.S. dollar. But gold could be paying closer attention to how the U.S. Treasury yields are trading next week, Cholly added. "If gold closes under $1,750, I'd start to get bearish. At $1,725, things turn sour for gold," he said.
Fed officials are pushing back against market expectations
A slate of Fed officials pushed back against the idea of an early pivot because of cooler inflation data in the October report.
"The Fed is reinforcing the idea that they will stay hawkish. And although we'll probably see a 50 bps hike in December instead of 75 bps, the bond market is telling us a bit of a different story. Gold is really going to keep an eye on those interest rates. If interest rates start to come down, then gold will bounce back and be able to challenge $1,800 again and get closer to $1,820," Cholly explained.
Some of the comments markets had to digest this week included Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard's statement that although the Fed had "done a lot," it still had "additional work to do." Fed governor Christopher Waller also noted that "one report does not make a trend," referring to the October CPI. And St. Louis Fed President James Bullard warned that the Fed would still need to raise rates to at least 5.25%.
But the Fed is known for quickly changing its tune, and Capital Economics is projecting that inflation will keep coming down.
"We still believe that October's CPI will be followed by more good inflation news over the coming months, which will mean the fed funds rate peaks at a lower 4.50% to 4.75% early next year," said Capital Economics chief North America economist Paul Ashworth. "At the end of its last tightening cycle in December 2018, officials were still projecting that rates would need to rise by an additional 75bp … And 12 months ago, the Fed was projecting only 100bp of tightening this year."
Next week will be a shortened holiday week, with U.S. Thanksgiving falling on Thursday. The Fed minutes from the October meeting and more Fed speakers are also scheduled for next week. Risk aversion is likely to settle in, and gold could drift lower, OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya told Kitco News.
"We were so close to having most of Wall Street convinced that a soft landing was happening. But what seems the likely scenario is that the recent rebound in risk appetite is ultimately going to play out like a bear market rally," Moya said. "Inflation is going to prove difficult for the Fed to declare victory next spring, and that means the risks that they will have to tighten beyond February should be alleviated."
The Fed is still facing a strong labor market. And this weekend, markets will be parsing through the Black Friday sales data to see how bad was the demand destruction. But Moya is not ruling out that the U.S. consumer remains in good shape.
OANDA analyst also doesn't see gold holding $1,750 an ounce next week.
TD Securities described the rally in gold as a short-covering move. "Positioning risk remains skewed to the upside. A break above $1,850 could catalyze additional gains. But if that occurs, positioning would be skewed to the downside," TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali told Kitco News Friday.
Longer-term, gold's price action depends on how inflation behaves. "If inflation does subside, it opens the door for the Fed to pivot," Ghali added.
Next week's data
Wednesday: U.S. jobless claims, durable goods orders, U.S. new home sales, FOMC meeting minutes
When you think of sales leads, you probably think of cold calls, email blasts, and other traditional methods of direct marketing. But what if I told you there was a way to capture more sales leads from your existing customer base through an app that most people have installed on their phones already? That's right—you can use WhatsApp to generate leads for your business. And this isn't just about capturing existing customers' information for follow-up sales; it's also about getting new customers on board right away. The cool thing is that this works equally well for B2B companies as well as consumer brands; here's how each type can benefit from using WhatsApp:
Generate leads from your WhatsApp status.
Add a link to your website in the status. The WhatsApp status feature lets you create creative and engaging posts that appear on your profile. If you’re using this feature, add a link to your website in the description of your status.
Use call-to-action text in your statuses. Call-to-action text is a short message or phrase used to encourage people to take an action after reading or viewing content. For example, you could ask people who read about one of your products or services if they have any questions or would like more information about it by including “Call me at 555-555-5555 with questions/inquiries” as part of the description for that post (you can also use “WhatsApp me at xxx-xxx if interested).
Build a WhatsApp chatbot.
A great way to build a relationship with your customers is to use a chatbot. A chatbot is an automated program that can answer questions, help with orders, and even promote sales. You could have a chatbot send out sales messages that include product information or any other relevant details about your business. This will allow you to share valuable information with customers without having to be there in person.
A good example of this type of chatbot is the one used by [SaaS company: name]. They use it on their website when people visit the page for their service-based business software. The visitor types in “help” and it gives them instructions on how much it costs per month (or whatever) as well as some features of the service itself like file sharing between team members or video conferencing capabilities if needed by anyone who might want those features included within their own workplace environment at home or work depending on where they go during any given day!
Create WhatsApp groups for discussions.
You can create WhatsApp groups for discussions, but you will also want to use them as a way of inviting prospects and customers to your business.
Creating a WhatsApp group is easy. First, you'll need to download the app onto your phone or tablet. Once it's installed, tap on "New Group". From there, enter a name for your group (you can also choose from other options such as "Family", "Friends", etc.). Once you've done this, tap on "Create Group". Now that you've created your group, it's time for inviting people! Simply tap the "+" sign at the bottom of your screen and select who among your contacts should be invited into that particular group chat—this can be done manually by going through each individual contact or by selecting an entire group at once if you'd like to invite everyone in one sweep. You may find yourself wanting somewhere between 5-10 members per group depending on how many conversations are taking place within said messaging interface; generally speaking though if there are too many people involved chances increase exponentially that someone might say something inappropriate which could end up costing everyone involved even more money due to litigation fees etcetera so keep things manageable here!
Once all invitations have been sent out via WhatsApp itself then go ahead and send another message asking participants what topics they'd like discussed during meetings held within said channel(s) via text messages sent directly through Facebook Messenger instead since this allows users greater control over their privacy settings while also enabling them access across multiple devices without having trouble logging into separate accounts each time they switch platforms!
Use WhatsApp to share product information.
Share product details. WhatsApp is a great way to share your product's features and benefits. You can do this by sending a text message or video to those who have opted-in for updates from you or posting it on your Facebook page.
Share reviews. If you've received positive feedback about your products, post them on WhatsApp! Sharing positive reviews will attract more potential customers to buy from you in future leads generation efforts.
Share videos. Videos are an excellent way of attracting leads as they show real-life experiences with your products and services, making them much more compelling than words alone could ever be!
Share images of the product being used in action by people who have bought it before (or even by yourself if possible). This will give others an idea of what they should expect when they receive their purchase too!
You can capture more sales leads by utilizing the features available on a popular messaging app.
You can capture more sales leads by utilizing the features available on a popular messaging app.
We all know how important it is to have a robust and effective marketing strategy for your small business, but sometimes you don’t want to spend hours every week trying to figure out how you can make your business grow. Luckily, there are some things that you can do with very little effort that will help get the ball rolling in terms of generating new customers and making sure they keep coming back for more! Here are some simple ways that WhatsApp can be used as part of an overall marketing plan:
Send coupons or discounts through group chats
Create a chatbot on WhatsApp that answers questions about your products
Use groups as forums where customers can discuss their experiences with different products or find solutions when they have any issues (this also helps build brand loyalty!)
Conclusion
We’ve looked at how to use WhatsApp to generate leads and how you can use it as a platform for building relationships with potential customers. Now, it’s time for you to start using WhatsApp as your marketing tool. By doing so, you will be able to attract more customers by reaching them on their favorite messaging app—and that’s a win-win for everyone involved!
You can build targeted website traffic for free, using these simple steps:
Targeted Website Traffic Is Available Freely
If you are not at the top of your game when it comes to marketing, then you will be surprised to learn that targeted website traffic is available free of charge.
So how do you get this free targeted traffic? The answer is simple: by generating targeted backlinks on sites that are relevant and authoritative in their niche field.
What does it mean for a link to be “relevant”? A link from a website about fitness would not be considered relevant if it was placed on your website about data storage devices. Likewise, if a fitness site linked back to your site about data storage, your webpages would not rank highly in search engine results because they did not contain any keywords related to health or exercise.
Search Engines
Search engines are the best way to get targeted website traffic for free. The only investment you need to make is time and effort, which can be applied however you like. If you want more targeted website traffic from Google and other search engines, here are some examples of how that can happen:
By creating content on your own site that's relevant to the keywords people enter into those search engines when they're looking for information on content like yours (this would be called "on-page" SEO). So if someone searches "best headlamps" on Google, your article titled "The Best Headlamps For 2019" might show up at the top of their results list because it has a title containing those words! This will bring visitors to your site—and if they stay longer than 5 seconds per visit (or whatever threshold applies), then Google will rank them higher next time anyone searches those same words again later on down the road. That's one example among many possible ones; there are also ways to add metadata tags within each page's HTML code so as not only increase traffic but also make sure those pages rank higher when people look specifically for them by browsing through all sorts of different categories available throughout any given website platform such as WordPress."
Article Marketing
Article marketing is a great way to attract links and traffic. Writing articles on your website can help you get backlinks and traffic from other websites, but it's also helpful in getting more people to visit your site when they come across links to your article while they're browsing the web. In this section, we'll talk about how you can use article marketing to build targeted website traffic.
Write articles for other people's websites. You probably won't be able to sell the rights for most of your own content if you want it published somewhere else (and even if you could, doing that wouldn't be worth the money), but if someone else has an audience that might appreciate what you've written, consider selling them an exclusive license or even just giving them permission outright so long as they credit or link back to your website somewhere within their post (which will still send some traffic).
Submit those articles everywhere possible. There are so many places where people publish content online now—from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter all the way up through blogging networks like Medium and LinkedIn Pulse—that there are thousands upon thousands of different markets out there waiting for articles like yours! If someone doesn't have anything similar yet then maybe their readership would love hearing something fresh from someone new with fresh ideas too! Remember though: Don't submit duplicate versions everywhere at once because this could lead search engines such as Google down another path than intended."
Hosting Videos
Hosting videos is a great way to get traffic because it helps you rank on Google, YouTube and social media.
Link Popularity
Link popularity is the number of links pointing to your site. The more people talking about you, the more traffic you get. The more traffic you get, the more money you make!
If someone has a high link popularity, it means that other sites are linking to them—and this can help drive even more visitors from search engines like Google and Bing. It's a virtuous circle: More people visit their content; those visitors share it on social media; other people read those posts and link back to them again; even more visitors come back for another round…and so on.
Create A Forum
Create a forum on your website. Make sure you have a good title and description of the forum.
Make sure you have a good description of each forum topic.
Make sure you have a good description of each forum post
Blogging
Blogging is a great way to build your brand, and it can help you build a community. It's also a great way to share your expertise, attract traffic to your website, and build targeted website traffic.
You can build targeted website traffic through seo.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of getting your site listed on search engines. It's a long-term strategy that takes time, but can help you attract visitors who are more likely to convert and buy from your site.
This guide will walk you through the essentials of SEO and give you some tips for getting started on your own website.
Conclusion
There are many ways to build targeted website traffic. The key is to choose the most effective method for your business and use it consistently over time. Make sure that each link on your site has the best possible anchor text for its purpose, so that search engines can index them better (and humans will be able to understand what they're looking at).
Are we seeing the first indications of a correction in gold?
This has been a most interesting year for investors and traders who have been active in gold. There have been two completed trends that contained both a multi-month rally and a multi-month correction. During the first week of January gold was already in rally mode, and opened at $1827 on the first day of trading, January 3. By March 8, gold had traded to its highest value this year at $2078 per ounce. The result was a rally in which gold gained approximately $251.
What followed was an extended multi-month correction from March 8th until the last week of September when gold traded to a low of approximately $1620. Gold would test this level on three occasions from September up until the first week of November. During this correction, gold would trade through a series of multiple lower highs and lower lows giving technical confirmation that gold was fully immersed in a bearish scenario.
Another indication was the positioning of three moving averages which moved into full bearish alignment (chart 2 above) which continues to this day. Full bearish alignment using three moving averages results in the longest average (200-day) having the highest value, followed by the 100-day moving average below it, and the 50-day moving average below that. Currently, the 200-day moving average is $1808.60. The 100-day moving average is $1727.50, and the 50-day moving average is $1681.
Chart 3 is a four-hour Japanese candlestick chart of gold futures highlighting the last three highs. After gold hit its highest value this year in March gold prices declined and could be characterized by four consecutive lower highs. However, as you can see on the chart above the first two lower highs occurred in the middle of August when gold hit a high of $1825. That was followed by a lower high at $1738 during the first part of October.
Gold hit approximately $1620 for the third time at the beginning of November which marked the end of the multi-month correction and the beginning of a rally. Yesterday gold hit a high of $1782 and in the last 24 hours has moved to lower pricing. As of 5:16 PM, EST gold futures are currently fixed at $1762.80 after factoring in today’s decline of $13 or 0.73%. This indicates the possibility that yesterday’s high marks the end of this leg of the current rally and could be followed by a correction taking gold to lower pricing. If the current correction results in a higher low than the last low we would get confirmation that the multi-month correction has indeed concluded.
The decline that occurred in gold over the last 24 hours is based upon recent comments by members of the US Federal Reserve in which they signaled that they would not abandon their current hawkish monetary policy to continue to reduce inflation to an acceptable level. The core PCE is still at approximately 6% which is three times the Federal Reserve’s target level of 2%.
While the amount of each rate hike could be reduced, their endgame is still to take inflation close to their target level. Therefore, while we could see interest rate hikes of 50-basis points rather than 75-basis points the Fed today signaled they would continue to raise rates until their objective of lowering inflation is met.
Chaos in the Cryptocurrency Market as the Top Bitcoin Exchange FTX Suffers Bankruptcy
The cryptocurrency market fell to its lowest level in almost two years after a leading cryptocurrency exchange suffered a significant liquidity crisis. FTX has faced bankruptcy after suffering from an $8 billion cash crunch.
Investors lost faith in the exchange because of the ongoing crisis. A bank run ensued, and FTX faced severe cash shortages as it could not pay all users trying to withdraw all their funds at once. So they turned to Binance, the largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange, which has agreed to bail them out.
Many pessimistic crypto insiders worry that crypto assets are starting a vicious downward spiral that will hurt individual investors and the industry for years to come. Many have compared FTX's collapse to that of Lehman Brothers in 2008, which sparked the global financial crisis. In fact, on Wednesday, Nov. 9, Bitcoin fell drastically below $16,000 for the first time since November 2020. While Ethereum lost nearly a third of its value from Monday, as the deal to rescue FTX appeared to have broken down.
"I think it's going to be really bad: it's going to spread to the max," said John Lo, digital asset management partner at investment firm Recharge Capital. "We're going to see crypto names, lenders, and family funds completely bankrupt. It's going to be confusing and tedious."
The Collapse of FTX
FTX's meteoric rise and the catastrophic crash came under the leadership of Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the company in 2019. Within three years, it had become one of the fastest-growing currency exchanges in the world, trading billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies every day. But earlier this month, according to a CoinDesk report, FTX's sister company, Alameda Research, is stashing most of its reserves in FTX's own cryptographic token, FTT. If FTT falls, so will the value of trading and investing giant Alameda.
FTX failed to allay concerns about the report. On Nov. 6, Binance announced that it was planning to outsource $500 million worth of FTT. This sparked a bank run as FTX users traded cryptocurrencies on the platform in an attempt to withdraw their funds. Due to this insane pressure, FTX was unable to make all payments. After the agreement was announced, several reports began to circulate concerning the major issues with FTX's business relationship.
Analysts claim that FTX holds far fewer reserve funds than it claims and that merging client funds with Alameda Research's funds is a very risky move as the exchange aims to continuously protect its clients' funds.
Regulators took notice immediately. According to Bloomberg, both the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have launched investigations into whether FTX mishandled customer funds. Meanwhile, the company was in turmoil as most of FTX's legal and compliance staff resigned late Tuesday, Semafor reported.
FTX consented to be acquired by Binance in order to repay their consumers. On the surface, the transaction appeared to be an exact replica of Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis of 2008, which essentially saved it from bankruptcy. Customers would be able to recover their balances in full, according to Bankman-Fried.
FTX stopped withdrawing cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies from their platform, and many users of the platform began to wonder if they would ever get their money back. FTX's head of institutional sales, Zane Tackett, liked a tweet that claimed the firm "gambled with clients' money and lost. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the exchange's shortage is estimated to be $8 billion. According to Bloomberg News, Bankman-Fried informed investors that the company would probably declare bankruptcy if it did not obtain a capital infusion.
Experts are concerned that the overall crypto decline may worsen if FTX is not supported. Many significant firms, including BlackRock, Sequoia, and Temasek, have heavily backed FTX, which occupies the middle of the cryptocurrency market. (Stars like Tom Brady and Stephen Curry invested in FTX.) These organizations now face significant losses, which might impact funding for the entire crypto industry.
Several cryptocurrency businesses have filed for bankruptcy this year alone, leaving individual investors waiting to get their money back.
FTX and its sister company Alameda were significant investors in the crypto industry simultaneously. For example, they both contributed to last year's $300 million Solana blockchain ICO. Solana dropped by 50% on Nov. 9, and various parts of its ecosystem. Many of its users' objectives are to dethrone Ethereum, as the most popular blockchain seems far away at this point.
Several crypto-related firms also experienced spillover impacts at the same time. Because Bankman-Fried owns more than 7% of the company, Robinhood, its shares fell 13% on Wednesday. According to analysts, these losses will accumulate, and the efforts to integrate crypto into mainstream business will significantly slow down. One user tweeted, "it's that the long-term legitimacy of crypto as an industry is in real danger for the first time."
With the plummeting crypto values, the collapse of FTX is expected to have long-lasting effects. Bankman-Fried presented himself as the likable, morally upright leader of the neighbourhood. He frequently socialized with lawmakers and authorities to persuade them of the advantages of cryptocurrency. Now, Bankman Fried's advocacy may jeopardize a bipartisan law that would subject digital exchanges and brokerages to the mild regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
According to Lo at Recharge Capital, regulators are much more likely to impose tougher sanctions. According to him, "this truly winds back a lot of the goodwill built up in the last two to three years from a regulatory viewpoint." It demonstrates the need for some regulation of centralized money and cryptocurrencies.
About: Prince Chinwendu. (Nigeria) Rapid and sustainable human growth is my passion, and getting a life-changing opportunity into the hands of people is my calling. Empowering entrepreneurs provides me with enormous gratification. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.
Giving up is simple. However, now is not the time to give up.
When was the last time you encountered a challenge that you had neither anticipated nor planned for? You might have had to make one of two decisions on anything personal that was involved. The first step involved accepting what was taking place, giving up on trying to fix it, and denying oneself any sense of hope. Finding a means to handle and manage the problem was the better option, even if there wasn't much you could do to control it. Which one did you pick?
It always takes the least amount of effort to take the easy route. Consequently, whether faced with hard circumstances, an unforeseen circumstance, or even times when you have persistent questions about how to tackle a problem, resigning in the face of a challenge sometimes seems easier. Working through any of these issues could seem too difficult because of the amount of effort you anticipate it will take to go past it.
Make the affirmation: This is not the day to give up when you are faced with a decision on whether to keep trying or give up the next time you find yourself in a crossroads. Quitting should never be an option, no matter how many times it seems you have let yourself down in the past due to acts or inactions performed, including the amount of times you believe you have failed. Simply put, having a defeatist attitude because a scenario or event has gotten too challenging won't get you anything.
I am aware that in some circumstances, accepting this could appear simpler than it actually is. For instance, if you are dealing with a health diagnosis that you were not prepared for and you feel that the future would be unpredictable. Now is precisely the time to remind yourself that today is not the day to give up. Your state of health will be directly impacted by your attitude. You might discover that what and how you believe affects your capacity to confront the future and take care of your wellbeing. What you can do is develop a trust in your inner power, which you can tap when needed. When you do, you'll discover that your mind is stronger and that you are prepared to tackle whatever lies ahead.
Why I'm quitting: The Unexpected
In life, unexpected events can and will happen. Usually, it comes on suddenly and takes you off guard. This would probably be the first situation in which you would desire to stop facing what is in front of you. There is no way to prepare for every scenario and circumstance you might face or are likely to encounter. You have two options when the unexpected occurs, which it inevitably will: You can try to run away or hide from it, or you can face it head-on. Running away from your troubles and issues is, as you are well aware, only a temporary fix. You will always need to deal with whatever happened in your life at some point. You'll discover that your ability to handle any circumstance completely depends on how quickly you can muster your inner resolve and power.
Reason for leaving: Persistent doubts
Your capacity to deal with difficult circumstances, whether they are personal or professional, may depend on how mentally strong you are at the moment. For instance, as long as you are in a good frame of mind, a tiny setback in your life, such as a goal you were unable to finish as quickly as you had planned, should not be a major obstacle for you.
It may be much harder to pick up steam if, on the other hand, you view this as a failure and now feel that you have only ever been a failure in life. Doubts that you let to persist, whether they be regarding your aptitude, capacity, or anything similar, are much more self-defeating. When you feel challenged or come across something that initially looks too difficult to handle, the more doubts you foster, the easier it will be for you to give up.
Your Personal Power and Strength
You may hear other terms like resilience, willpower, grit, and determination used to describe the inner strength you possess. I simply refer to the culmination of all these attributes as your internal power. Every time you want to give up or stop, you need all these components to give you the courage to keep going. You have three distinct powers—the Power of Potential, the Power of Beliefs, and the Power of Affirmations—that are produced from your inner strength. Each of these abilities can be intentionally developed and used for personal growth. You can utilize any one of these abilities at any time to ensure that today is not a day you give up due to the circumstances.
The Strength of Possibility
There is something you have overlooked to take into account whenever you perceive a situation as being too difficult, beyond your ability or capacity, more than you can tolerate, or any other reasoning that could be a combination of these reasons: You have a lot of promise. You must frequently remind yourself of this truth, especially when you are doubting your capacity to deal with a problem or condition.
To look ahead at possibilities and know you have the power to affect change, all it takes is a brief moment of clarity when you realize you can do more with your life. This is because you have the potential to accomplish more with it. Your potential is the capacity to cultivate a mindset of strength and resist giving in to doubts and anxieties, even if you have heard the worst possible news or the unexpected has happened.
The Influence of Belief
What is a current positive self-belief you have? Or is it simpler to imagine something bad?
A belief is a mental assertion you form and maintain, frequently without altering, unless you deliberately choose to do so. It's something you say to yourself repeatedly enough that you start to believe it to be true, especially if you find sufficient proof or results to back it up. For instance, if someone thinks they are a failure in life and they keep seeing other people fail at everything they try, the data would just seem to confirm and strengthen their opinion. The simplest beliefs to form and repeat are those that are negative, particularly when things in life are not going well. However, the greatest influence on your life's success can be had by the strength of your optimistic thoughts.
You need to shift your focus when you are going through a period in your life where it feels like you want to give up and when unfavorable thoughts are recurring in your head. Consider your most recent noteworthy achievement. Keep in mind the specifics and how it felt to succeed in achieving that particular objective. Consider this as you reflect right now: Until you make a first attempt and try, you won't know what you are capable of. By taking the initial step, you were able to accomplish your previous objective. Although you cannot predict the future, you do have the power of your beliefs. You can approach the situation mentally prepared and unafraid.
Affirmations Have Power
Affirmations help you develop the last internal power you possess. These are declarations that are personalized for you and are meant to support you during times when you require courage. For instance, dread and doubt-based emotions can be among the worst ones to feel. Making strong, affirming statements that start with "I am" and end with upbeat words, such as "strong," "powerful," "hopeful," "unafraid," "fearless," "focused," "calm," etc., will help you transform your way of thinking.
There are further situations in which this power may be helpful. For instance, you might be faced with what seems to be an impossibility, and for some reason, you may first think that you are doomed to failure. Or perhaps you come into contact with someone who, despite your best efforts, doesn't have faith in you or won't stand by you. The phrase "I can and I will" and an upbeat statement like "perform to the best of my skills" or "believe in the best about myself" should be the first and last words of your statement. The goal is to assist you in creating a helpful frame of reference, which will then assist you in developing beliefs.
You Are Not Limited.
It's time for a mental self-evaluation whenever you feel like giving up or quitting. In order to find the strength to keep trying, ask yourself these questions: What else can you achieve? What could be accomplished with a little extra work? What do you think about your capacity to handle the current scenario or unforeseen circumstance?
If you're thinking about a task you wish to finish, take into account this: The sky is not the limit in this situation. What matters is what you are prepared to consider, work toward, and commit to. What you can believe has no boundaries.
For every reason to give up, there is an even stronger one to keep trying when it comes to overcoming your fears and doubts. The more difficult the task at hand, the more tenacious your commitment must be. It's not simply a question of how you'll get through what you have to go through; it's also a question of how determined you are to keep going even in the face of fear or uncertainty.
It only takes a shift of attention for you to access the limitless internal strength that you possess. Giving up won't be an option today or any day after you make "I can" and "I will" your personal mantras.
Gold’s recent short-term trend is in a defined cycle – Rally, Consolidate, Repeat
Gold has shifted gears from extended rallies followed by a multi-month correction to its current almost parabolic upside move. This move began during the first week of November and continues to this day. In fact, we are getting the first indications that the extended correction at least for now has concluded and a new stage has begun. The best way to describe the characteristics of this recent rally is using a short-term 60-minute chart which clearly shows that gold is in a defined cycle. That cycle has three components; rally, consolidate, and repeat. The chart below is a 60-minute candlestick chart of gold futures which visibly illustrates that characteristic.
Gold has in all likelihood concluded the multi-month correction that began in March 2022. This extended correction began after gold completed a dynamic rally. This rally took gold futures from approximately $1780 during the first week of January to gold’s highest value in 2022 at approximately $2078, resulting in a $300 gain per ounce. After gold traded $10 below the record high of $2088 the precious yellow metal began an extended multi-month correction from March to November.
The chart below is a daily candlestick chart of gold futures from the beginning of January to November 16. After hitting $2078 in mid-March gold would trade through a series of lower highs and lower lows. Gold would trade to four consecutive lower highs and two consecutive lower lows before finding potential support defined by a near triple bottom that began at the end of September and concluded at the beginning of November at $1621.
Concurrently the Federal Reserve dramatically changed its extremely accommodative monetary policy during the FOMC meeting in March. On March 16, the Federal Reserve implemented its first interest rate hike since 2018. The Fed raised their benchmark “Fed funds” rate by 25 basis points taking the rate from 0 to 25 basis points to between 25 and 50 basis points. During the next FOMC meeting on May 4, the Fed would raise rates by 50 basis points taking Fed funds rates to between 75 and 100 basis points.
The Federal Reserve adjusted the size of each rate hike beginning at the June FOMC meeting. For the next three consecutive FOMC meetings (June, July, and September) the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 75 basis points after each of their Federal Open Market Committee meetings. Currently, the Federal Reserve has set its benchmark rate between 375 and 400 basis points.
The chart below is also a daily Japanese candlestick chart of gold futures with the timeline of rate hikes added to the chart. There is not an exact correlation between the timeline of rate hikes and the lower lows that resulted from them, gold’s price decline of approximately $457 or -21.99% was for the most part the direct result of an exceedingly aggressive series of rate hikes.
It is now anticipated that the Federal Reserve will begin to change the size of any additional rate hikes beginning in December. According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, there is an 85.4% probability that the Fed will only raise rates by 50 basis points rather than 75 at the December FOMC meeting. The thought of the Federal Reserve easing the amount of each rate hike has given a tremendous boost to the price of gold.
The recent climb from $1621 to $1777 (the current price of December futures) is directly attributable to the belief that the Fed will ease the magnitude of the rate hikes in December and 2023. This is why we have seen such a strong rise which has taken gold futures to a higher high than its previous high for the first time since March. In under two weeks, gold has moved over $150 by having a rally, then consolidating, and then repeating the process.
Gold advances on geopolitical trepidation as Russian missiles hit Poland
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been escalating to accelerated levels of military action. According to sources in Ukraine and reported by Reuters news, “Russia rained missiles on cities across Ukraine on Tuesday in what Ukraine said was the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war, echoing a pattern in recent weeks of Moscow lashing out far from the front after battlefield losses.”
Today the Russian military launched over 100 missiles and drone attacks into Ukraine in the latest escalation of its invasion.
This escalation has led to missiles landing in Poland and killing two people in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland approximately 10 km from the border with Ukraine. Concerns have emerged that because Poland is a member of NATO, the Russian missile strike could certainly risk widening the war in Ukraine.
In a report by Reuters today, “Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday, without producing evidence, that Russian missiles had hit Poland, a NATO country, in what he called a "significant escalation" of the conflict.”
However, the Pentagon and the US State Department said they could not confirm the report but were working with the Polish government to gather information. The State Department did acknowledge that the report was “incredibly concerning”.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now in its ninth month and has worsened with the largest wave of missile strikes many of which have targeted the Ukrainian civilian population. This most recent missile strike into Poland if confirmed triggers treaty articles by NATO under which NATO members will meet to assess the threat and if necessary take concrete action.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, “It is up to Ukraine to decide what terms are acceptable for negotiations to bring an end to the war Russia is waging against the country, warning Moscow's strength should not be underestimated despite Kyiv's recent battlefield successes.
This is raised geopolitical uncertainty in the region to a new and heightened level which is been highly supportive of gold prices today. As of 4:54 PM EST gold futures basis, the most active December 2022 contract is up $4.90 and fixed at $1781.80. Today’s geopolitical uncertainty took gold to an intraday high of $1791.80. The dollar was trading higher earlier in the trading session but is currently trading fractionally lower. The dollar index is currently trading down 0.10% and fixed at 106.42.
PCAs Are Coming! What Are They? How Will They Impact Our Lives?
Is This For Real, Or Is It Just One Big Elitist Sham?
Now that we’re coming out the other side of the initial C19 pandemic with the mainstream narrative falling apart, climate change seems to be the hot topic. One strategy introduced to reduce carbon emissions is to issue Carbon Offset Credits to companies in a bid to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. More recently, during the World Economic Forum's Davos Summit, Alibaba President Michael Evans revealed that the elites are working on an individual carbon footprint tracker for consumers. That means you and me.
As it turns out, many countries worldwide have been researching and developing an individual carbon credit system for over a decade, and it seems they're on the brink of being rolled out. Let’s find out what we need to know about this impending dystopian system and why it’s being implemented. We’ll start with when Personal Carbon Allowances (PCAs) became a concept and who’s behind it.
The history of individual carbon credit allowances began with the United Nations' first Earth Summit, held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992. The Summit was significant because it laid the groundwork for the collective climate action of the countries in the UN. Later that year, UN countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce and eventually eliminate carbon emissions to fight climate change. As of 2020, 192 countries have signed up for the Kyoto Protocol, which is basically the entire world.
Interestingly, the Kyoto Protocol laid the foundation for the issuance and trading of carbon credits. So when the concept of carbon credits was introduced, it was intended for institutions, not individuals. However, it didn't take long for the concept of carbon credits to be applied to individuals. The catalyst was British Petroleum or BP, the oil company that used the idea of an individual carbon footprint for its massive marketing campaign in the early 2000s; it even created an individual carbon footprint calculator.
Obviously, these ongoing marketing campaign's purpose was to blame climate change on consumers, not corporations. After all, were it not for the demands of the consumer, then these corporations would not have to pollute as much as they do to provide the goods and services consumers desire.
The UN's first global governance experiment, or global control, was called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which the Millennium Summit established in 2000. 191 UN member states and 22 international organizations agreed upon 8 Millennium Development Goals that were supposed to be achieved by 2015. These included eliminating poverty, combating deadly diseases, and environmental sustainability.
It appears that BP’s concept of an individual carbon footprint was something that the countries looking to meet their environmental MDGs found interesting. As some countries thought creating an individual carbon credit score for their citizens would help them meet their MDGs, the first wave of academic research emerged in the mid to late 2000s.
The British government created a legal framework for PCAs in 2008. To take it one step further, according to Wikipedia, “The Climate Change Act 2008 also grants powers allowing the UK government to introduce a personal carbon trading scheme without further primary legislation.” And similar laws are likely in place in other countries.
Given the concept of a personal carbon allowance has been around for a decade or more, it begs the question of why it’s only surfacing now. The answer seems to be that the UN's MDGs experiment fell short. In 2015, the MDGs were unmet, as environmental issues, deadly diseases, and poverty were still plaguing the planet.
There are many reasons why the MDGs were limited. Still, the main three factors were a lack of funding and coordination and the 2008 financial crisis, which threw many countries into chaos in the following years. So the UN did what every institution does when it fails, rebrand and try again.
In 2015, the UN announced its second experiment in global control called the sustainable development goals or SDGs, which superseded the MDGs as per the UN's website. Note this transition didn’t happen overnight. In 2012, the UN set up the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, or SDSN, to figure out what went wrong with the 8 MDGs and ensure that the SDGs, which were increased to 17, were implemented.
Whereas the 8 MDGs were supposed to be met by 2015, the 17 SDGs are supposed to be completed by 2030. The SDGs are the same as the MDGs, just with more extreme and vague language, probably to allow for interpretations with serious outcomes. You can sum up the SDGs as being the MDGs on steroids because the SDGs are backed by both the public and private sectors.
The MDGs were backed almost entirely by the public sector, which is a big part of why there needed to be more funding and coordination. Global corporations have no shortage of capital, and they're able to coordinate because their operations transcend borders. More importantly, they can ensure compliance with SDGs without governments having to pass any laws.
The Plot Thickens
The 17 SDGs are also part of a bigger plot by the UN called Agenda 2030 and the Great Reset, which includes lots more controversial stuff like the Tri-State City in the Netherlands. This involves removing the Dutch farmers from their land and livelihoods under the guise of climate protection. Notably, the SDGs are based on the Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria (ESG) that the world's largest institutions use to guide their investments and operations.
In theory, the primary benefit of pushing SDGs through ESG is that it makes it possible for these global corporations to crush small competitors and acquire their assets. This is because it won't be possible for small businesses to comply with ESG criteria, and it is arguably the entire purpose of ESG. However, there is a limit to how lucrative this would be for global corporations because they will eventually succeed in acquiring all the resources and customers that exist.
When that happens, these elites will be confronted with an economic reality that most are aware of, a demographic decline in developed countries. Each year there are fewer and fewer consumers with the kind of capital these global corporations need to continue growing. If you read this article about why you will own nothing and be happy, you'll know that demographic decline is why these Global corporations are slowly trying to make us rent everything instead of owning it.
This makes products more accessible on a global scale and creates a constant stream of cash flow. However, even this Hardware as a Service scheme would only last so long. Eventually, these global corporations will run out of people to rent their products to, and they'll again face the economic reality of demographic decline.
This would suggest the primary benefit of pushing SDGs through ESG is temporary and short-lived or is it? So what would make it possible for these global corporations to create an economy where they continue to grow regardless of demographic decline? The answer is their Carbon Credits System.
As it stands, each carbon credit represents one ton of carbon dioxide emissions that were removed or were never emitted. So, when a company does something that removes or prevents future carbon emissions, such as planting trees or installing solar panels at their business, they are given carbon credits by a governmental authority.
These carbon credits are then sold to other companies that want to emit more carbon without penalty. This kind of carbon credits issuance, trading, and redemption is done because of environmental regulations and is called the Compliance Carbon Market. Compliance carbon markets in California, Europe, and China account for 99% of all carbon credit trading.
The remaining 1% of carbon credit trading happens in the Voluntary Carbon Market. This is where companies looking to emit more carbon voluntarily purchase carbon credits from companies who are voluntarily looking to emit less. This is, of course, done to increase their ESG scores.
Spoiler Alert! As I mentioned earlier, carbon credits are supposed to represent one ton of carbon dioxide emissions that were either removed or never emitted. Well, it's estimated that around 85% of all carbon credits are not reducing carbon, and research suggests they actually increase emissions.
United Nations Global Carbon Credits Market
During the UN's COP26 climate Summit in Glasgow last year, 200 countries adopted Article 6 of the 2015 Paris agreement. The main takeaway is that it will create a single global carbon credits market that an upcoming UN agency will regulate.
This “supervisory agency” will also issue “UN-recognized carbon credits to eligible institutions.” It also appears that under Article 6, trades on the UN's global carbon credits market will be tax-free, meaning the global corporations will not only reap the benefit but thoroughly clean up.
As the goal of carbon credits is to reduce carbon emissions, it’s interesting to note that it will be achieved by slowly reducing the number of carbon credits issued to companies each year. The EU Carbon Market is the largest, and the European Union has a carbon credit reduction schedule on its website, stating, “to increase the pace of emissions cuts, the overall number of emission allowances will decline at an annual rate of 2.2% from 2021 onwards compared to 1.74% currently”.
As we know, when the supply of something gradually declines, and the demand for it stays the same or increases, prices eventually rise. This is precisely what's been happening to the cost of carbon credits, especially those in the compliance markets.
And that, folks, is how global corporations can ensure continued growth in the face of a demographic decline. All it takes is a few billion carbon credits issued to them by their friends in government or the United Nations and a bit of supply and demand manipulation through regulation.
Case in point, according to this article, Tesla earns most of its money by selling carbon credits. Considering Tesla is one of the largest companies in the world, it's more than likely other big brand names will follow suit with this economic phenomenon.
Now let’s see how we will measure up in the carbon credit equation and what they have in store for us. As I mentioned at the start of this article Alibaba's President and former Goldman Sachs banker, Michael Evans, revealed that [they] meaning other so-called stakeholders on the panel and in the audience at the WEF’s Davos Summit are working on an individual carbon footprint tracker.
Because Alibaba is a Chinese company, Michael’s comments went viral as people interpreted his remarks to mean they were developing an individual carbon credit system akin to China's social credit system. While it’s true that some corporations are developing ESG scores comparable to China's social credit score, the individual carbon footprint tracker Michael and other wealthy elites are obsessed with is entirely new. In many ways, it's much worse. That’s because almost all the countries at the UN are planning to create an individual carbon credit market practically identical to the one that institutions have today.
How Will it Work?
Each year, you will be allocated carbon credits that allow you to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. The possibility of how much carbon you’re issued will depend on your ESG score may be speculation at this stage, however, note that everything stated here has been researched by governments for years and is probably in development in most developed countries.
If you use up your annual carbon allowance before the year is over, for example, by eating too much meat or traveling too much, you will no longer be able to do carbon-intensive things. That is unless you purchase more carbon credits from individuals who have yet to use up their annual allocation.
If you're wondering how the government will prevent you from purchasing carbon-intensive things, the answer is a central bank digital currency. (CBDC) CBDCs are necessary for an individual carbon credit system to work, as are government-issued digital IDs, which are also prerequisites for CBDCs.
As with the issuance of institutional carbon credits, allocating individual carbon credits will incentivize individuals to minimize their carbon emissions. At first glance, this seems fine, but upon closer inspection, it's easy to see why a carbon credit score is much worse than a social credit score. In a simple social credit score system, you can still get ahead by being a good citizen. In a carbon credit score system, however, the only way we’ll be able to live a good life, or even the life we’ve been accustomed to, is to purchase the carbon credits we need to do things a good life entails.
This includes going where you want, eating what you want, and living in something that's not a pod. For some, a good life will involve having children. Chances are you'll need a lot of individual carbon credits to do all of the above. The main reason is the Scope 3 Emissions Cap that only currently applies to institutions, which I mention in this article and how it impacts companies.
And it looks like individual citizens will be next. That's because Michael pointed out that Ali Baba and the other WEF stakeholders are working on a “Scope 3 Emissions Plus,” which will indeed apply to individuals. This means that in an individual carbon credit system, you will probably have to provide enough carbon credits to cover the carbon emissions of your friend traveling to see you. It could be that you have to provide enough carbon credits to cover the future carbon emissions of your children.
By now, you’ve probably realized that this will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The poor will live in pods and eat bugs, so they can save up their carbon credits to sell to the rich for food and shelter. In turn, the rich will use these carbon credits to continue living as normal. Furthermore, given that the purpose of carbon credits is to reduce carbon emissions, there’s a great likelihood we’ll see the same decreasing issuance for individuals as they’ve proposed for institutions. In turn, this will increase the price of individual carbon credits and make it more challenging to afford the credits to “live a good life.”
It’s already in play on Norfolk Island, a small island off the coast of Australia. With a population of 6000, it seems that was a perfect place to trial this form of control, and it has had an individual carbon credit System since 2011.
Also, the second region, the European microstate of San Marino, is using Ve Chain to set up its own individual carbon credit system to become the first country to comply with the UN's SDGs. It has a population of around 34,000.
We can assume that individual carbon credit systems will be rolled out in smaller countries first. This makes sense given that, so far, most of the research and development of personal carbon credit systems has been theoretical, so more actual testing is needed. Beyond that, we will likely see individual carbon credit systems introduced in the next couple of years.
The ‘ESG-induced energy crisis’ will present the perfect opportunity to do this, as governments can use the allocation of limited energy as justification for the rollout. However, PCAs will only be effective once they implement Digital IDs and CBDCs, and given that governments have been openly testing Digital IDs during the pandemic, they will come first. Notably, a recent article about an individual carbon allowance by the WEF blatantly states that the pandemic was a quote test for what's coming and how the elites are amazed at how easily we submitted.
To add insult to injury, at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), Michael Sheren, Former Bank of England Senior Advisor, stated that carbon will be very close to a currency; tokenizing nature is next.
Will the UN and its cohorts succeed in rolling out its sinister global carbon credit scheme? That depends on if it can get all its ducks in a row by 2030, as this is the deadline for SDGs to be achieved.
History suggests it's unlikely to happen as the UN is in a similar position today as it was with the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, which was the main reason why the UN's MDGs failed. We are now facing another financial crisis that has only just begun. This means that the full extent of the fallout has yet to come, and we already see cracks form on the international stage.
Moreover, for the UN’s SDGs to succeed, it needs just about every country to be on board. This is becoming increasingly less likely by the day as conflicts arise between countries and nationalists candidates turn a cold shoulder to globalist organizations. The UN must get every country on board because if people see other countries overseas or even other states within a country that are not abiding by the SDGs, they might compare and contrast their quality of life.
It happened during the pandemic, with some countries implementing severe restrictions while others did not. More recently, Sri Lanka collapsed under its own weight after it achieved one of the highest ESG scores the institutions’ could offer. It just shows that energy is the economy, and some emissions are required for the world to function.
How can we prepare for such a system if it's successfully rolled out? The most intuitive is to hold and use cryptocurrency or any other money outside this dystopian system so we can continue to transact without restrictions or carbon credit tracking.
The centralized control of carbon credits means the UN and others could limit how many carbon credits you can hold. If they're tokenized, it would be effortless to set these limits. It is also easy to block transactions through CBDCs. This is why using a genuinely decentralized cryptocurrency as a hedge might be a better strategy.
There are ecosystems that are purpose-built to counter the totalitarian initiatives they’re trying to impose. The crypto and blockchain projects that uphold the interests and fundamental freedom of the people provide the foundation for truth, not propaganda, applying critical thinking and seeing through the shams the self-interested elites are propagating. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is no climate emergency that warrants these dystopian measures. It's just all about money and control.
Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.
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