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How Effective Are Crypto Lobby Groups In DC?

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How Effective Are Crypto Lobby Groups In D.C.? 

Can They Educate And Influence Archaic  Politicos? 

Over the past twelve months, we've seen governments worldwide press for aggressive crypto regulation, especially regarding privacy, non-custodial wallets, stable coins, defi, and even NFTs. This has made crypto lobbying more critical than ever, and many crypto lobbying groups have advanced to protect the industry from over-regulation or worse. 

In this article, we’ll look at 

  • What lobbying is
  • The current state of crypto lobbying
  • The prominent crypto lobbying groups
  • What they can do to reinforce the crypto industry

 

What Is Lobbying?

The term ‘lobbying’ is said to have originated from the lobby of England's Houses of Parliament, where politicians would gather to be petitioned by the general public. Today, lobbying is probably one of the most controversial aspects of modern politics. It involves hiring someone to influence politicians to change laws and regulations and is often a well-connected former politician. 

Some would argue that lobbying a politician is not much different from bribing a politician; however, there is a subtle difference. Bribing a politician usually involves paying them directly to do something. In contrast, lobbying usually involves donating to a politician in advance and then sending a lobbyist over to discuss what the donor wants. 

Of course, if the politician doesn’t agree or comply with the conditions, they are not likely to receive any more donations, with the lobbyist moving on to their political opponent. And yes, it is legal, aligning with the First Amendment of the Constitution, which says that the people have a right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

It’s believed the founding fathers of the United States explicitly included this clause in the First Amendment because they knew that influential individuals and institutions will always try to influence laws and regulations via politicians, even if it's illegal and carries a harsh punishment. 

Making lobbying legal makes this influence transparent and creates free-market competition between different lobbyists and interest groups, theoretically resulting in better laws and regulations, especially since anyone is technically allowed to lobby a politician. However, in theory, lobbying is different from how it works in practice.

In practice, whoever has the most money can hire the best lobbyists and therefore have the most significant influence over the laws and regulations of the land. Interestingly, this effect only started to become apparent in the 1970s after the United States officially went off the gold standard and may well have to do with the abnormal concentration of wealth that has been happening since then. 

Today, lobbying is estimated to be an almost $4 billion industry, and interestingly, only around 14,000 people work in the industry, with most of the lobbying happening in Washington, DC. Moreover, the average return on investment for lobbying is about 760x. In other words, for every dollar spent on lobbying, an individual or institution can expect to see favorable laws and regulations that will result in $760 worth of returns. 

Not surprisingly, most of the lobbying money comes from corporations, and the top spenders have mostly been big tech companies over the last decade. However, the composition of last year's top spenders includes real estate and big pharma organizations.


Image source: Open Secrets

The Need For Crypto Lobbying

There is an excellent practical reason why lobbying is legal and especially relevant to cryptocurrency. The simple fact is some politicians can be incompetent. [Well, we all knew that.] But more specifically, they may not be qualified to create comprehensive laws and regulations on complex topics in emerging industries. Many would argue some should have retired years ago. 

It means that lobbyists are often the only way comprehensive laws and regulations can be created. Sometimes, the lobbyists write these laws and regulations, which was actually the case with El Salvador's Bitcoin law. Many political experts have pointed out that there aren't really any feasible alternatives, and the entire political system has effectively evolved to rely on the input of lobbyists to operate. 

Notably, crypto lobbying efforts began after the crypto bull market in 2018 in response to the lack of legislation around crypto taxation and initial coin offerings. By 2019, over 40 companies and organizations were lobbying for crypto interests, spending over 40 million dollars in the first quarter alone. 

In 2020, the interests of all these different entities lobbying for crypto started to diverge, which makes sense, considering that not all of them were crypto companies. Unfortunately, even the crypto-specific lobbying groups began to splinter into their factions. Adding to the chaos was the infamous infrastructure bill the current US administration put forward, containing a series of anti-crypto provisions. 

The most important of which is arguably the poorly defined definition of a broker, a clause in the infrastructure bill worded so that cryptocurrency miners, validators, and even developers could potentially be required to collect KYC from users for tax purposes and practically impossible to do. 

For the first time, all the different crypto lobby groups came together. They worked with pro-crypto politicians to draft an amendment to the infrastructure bill that would change the wording of these anti-crypto clauses so that the crypto industry doesn't get turned upside down in 2023. The amendments to the infrastructure bill didn't pass, and it turns out that the treasury secretary Janet Yellen was actively lobbying against these amendments while they were being considered. 


Image source: Twitter

Crypto lobbying was ramped up after the infrastructure bill fiasco, with asset managers lobbying the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF and DAOs lobbying for reasonable Defi regulations. The existing crypto lobbying groups turned their focus to stable coins, as they were a point of interest for politicians. 

By the end of 2021, some political experts started claiming that crypto entities were “dictating terms in Washington” through their lobbying efforts. A recent report found that over 300 people in Washington are lobbying exclusively for crypto interests, with crypto companies and lobbying groups spending three times more on lobbying in 2021 than in 2020. 

 

Three Prominent Cryptocurrency Lobby Groups

1. The Blockchain Association 

The best-known and most influential crypto lobbying group is arguably the Blockchain Association. The Blockchain Association was founded in September 2018 by a series of crypto companies and VCs, including Circle, Polychain Capital, Digital Currency Group, and Protocol Labs. 

Leading the charge is Kristen Smith, a well-connected and experienced policy professional with senior-level experience in both House and Senate offices. She also has private sector experience, advocating for companies in the telecommunications, Internet, and other tech-focused industries. Kristin holds an MBA in Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a graduate degree from Georgetown University.

The Blockchain Association boasts over 80 members and includes cryptocurrency's creme de la creme, like Defi Protocol, AAVE, Etherium Company Consensus, Crypto Custodian Fire Blocks, Solana, Avalanche, and eToro trading platform. 

Coinbase, headed by CEO Brian Armstrong, was one of the founding members before it withdrew from the lobby group in August 2020 under protest due to a disagreement with unspecified decisions made by the association. 


Image source: Blockchain Association 

In a recent interview hosted by Unchained, the Executive Director at Blockchain Association, Kristen Smith, explained that 2021 was a very tough year for crypto lobbying groups primarily because of all the anti-crypto regulations, proposals, and comments coming from the current administration. 

Kristen said that the blockchain association was even on the brink of suing the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, over her midnight rulemaking and anti-crypto shenanigans, such as her previous lobbying efforts against the amendments to the infrastructure bill.

Despite the backlash, the Blockchain Association has made serious progress, particularly in educating politicians and regulators about cryptocurrency. This is important because most politicians have been learning about crypto through the mainstream media only and arguably not getting an objective or accurate view on it from there. 


Image source: New York Post

Notably, the blockchain association has been pushing back against releasing a Central Bank Digital Currency in the United States and has also set the record straight for Russia using cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. 

 

2. Crypto Council for Innovation

The second biggest and best-known lobbying group is the Crypto Councill for Innovation, founded in April 2021. An alliance among some significant leaders in the cryptocurrency industry was formed to educate policymakers, regulators, institutions, and individual investors on the benefits of digital assets. 

It came on the back of Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s visit to Washington D.C. to meet with politicians. His experience there seemed to be one of the inspirations behind the formation of the lobby group. Other supporters are Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Block, Andreessen, Horowitz, Fidelity, Digital Assets, and Gemini.


Image source: Twitter

Whereas the Blockchain Association is headed by someone who's politically connected, the Crypto Council for Innovation is led by someone connected on a different level. Sheila Warren is a Harvard Law School graduate and a former heavyweight at the World Economic Forum. 

She worked as the head of Blockchain, data, and digital assets and served on the center's executive committee for the fourth Industrial Revolution. I think it’s fair to say she will have some clout in Washington. 

 

3. Lobby 3

The third lobby group is not that well known as it’s pretty new. It is a decentralized autonomous organization called Lobby 3, launched in February this year by American politician and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Andrew is an Entrepreneur, a champion of a human-centered economy, and famous for favoring universal basic income saying automation will soon phase out most unskilled jobs. 

Although Andrew spent most of his political career as a member of the democratic party, he became an independent politician in October 2021. Subsequently, he founded a new political party called the Forward Party with the slogan “Not Left. Not Right. FORWARD.” As part of his political pivot, Andrew doubled down on cryptocurrency and claims that he wants to make the Forward Party the “Crypto party of the United States.”


Image source: Twitter & AndrewYang.com

 

As explained on the Lobby 3 website, the DAO will crowdfund crypto lobbying in Washington, D.C, and aims to make it possible for the average person to have their voice heard on the issues that are only currently being discussed by an exclusive group of well-funded crypto personalities. 

The advocate membership is accessible to everyone as Lobby 3 offers three membership tiers starting at 0.07 ETH. Each membership tier comes with its own NFT, which gives its holder a series of perks like access to exclusive events and voting power for what crypto issues are lobbied for in true democratic fashion. 

All proceeds from membership NFT sales will fund “issue-based advocacy organizations” in D.C to build the core advocacy infrastructure, which is the first of the four steps on the Lobby 3 road map. 


Image: Markethive

 

What Will Crypto Lobbyists Do For The Emerging Industry?

So, how exactly will these crypto lobby groups save the crypto industry? First, they'll make sure that politicians know what they're talking about before voting on any crypto-related legislation. When blockchain Association executive director Kristen Smith said, most politicians get their crypto education from the mainstream media, she wasn't joking. 

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong became aware of the crypto knowledge deficit when he traveled to Washington and that about 50% of US politicians see crypto as risky because they think it's only being used for illicit activity. 

The silver lining to this statistic is that most US politicians don’t care about crypto, and it's just the same group of politicians on both sides of the extreme and mainly cited in crypto headlines and MSM. It’s no surprise that the big banks and the like are lobbying most anti-crypto politicians. In contrast, the pro-crypto politicians are almost certainly being lobbied by crypto companies.

The question is, which of these positions is easier to lobby for?  The answer may well be found in the fact that for many politicians, the ultimate goal is to be re-elected. The bottom line for banks is that next-generation financial technologies are replacing them, which means they don't have much to offer besides money. 
 
A politician can get boatloads of donations from big banks. Still, if accepting the contribution doesn't result in additional jobs for their jurisdiction, for example, then they may eventually lose the popular vote in their electorate.

The prospect of capitalizing on the crypto industry is a seriously appealing value proposition for a politician. Because even if the donations they receive from the crypto industry aren’t as lucrative, the jobs, tourism, and investment that the crypto industry will generate will almost guarantee they will get elected.


Image source: Tech Crunch

We are already seeing this effect in full force in States like Texas, now touted as the newest Bitcoin mining capital. LinkedIn reported that job listings for crypto increased by 395% in 2021 within the San Francisco Bay area, Austin in Texas, New York City, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, and Denver. Even counties in select States are signaling their support for cryptocurrency through legal tender bills and the like.

With digital mediums and platforms on the rise and preparing for Web 3.0, some have integrated cryptocurrency as a means to reward users, encourage and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit and support a redistribution of wealth. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency have opened up tremendous possibilities and opportunities for people struggling in the current financial climate.

Apart from an increase in employment in the crypto industry, there is remarkable growth in sovereign social media and marketing platforms that give the average person the ability to generate an income and provide businesses the resources to promote and facilitate their brand to a worldwide audience. 

We welcome all influential groups to educate the powers-that-be and society in general on the benefits of decentralization and cryptocurrency.  The crypto Lobbyists will make waves in Washington in the second half of this year, and it's going to make for a fascinating midterm election. 

 

References: coinbureau.com

 

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com: https://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2022/05/how-effective-are-crypto-lobby-groups-in-d-c-3262760.html

 

 

Tim Moseley

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Gold lost 382 this week resulting in a fourth consecutive weekly decline

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Gold lost 3.82% this week, resulting in a fourth consecutive weekly decline

Gold opened at $1977 on Monday, April 18, and this would mark the beginning of four consecutive weekly declines. As of 5:10 PM EDT gold futures basis, the most active June 2022 Comex contract is fixed at $1810.30 after factoring in today’s decline of $14.30 or 0.78%. Today’s decline in gold occurred without the benefit of dollar strength. The dollar index declined by 0.36% and is currently fixed at 104.515

The image above is a screen-print of the KGX (Kitco Gold Index) which was taken at 4:37 PM EDT. At that time spot gold was fixed at $1810.80 after factoring in a decline of $10.70. Market participants were active sellers resulting in a $14.30 price decline. Dollar weakness provided mild tailwinds adding $3.60 (+0.20%) in value.

The decline this week was the strongest percentage drawdown of the four weeks losing 3.87%. Considering that over the last four weeks gold’s value has decreased by 8.44%, almost half of that decline occurred this week. This correction devalued the price of gold by $167 per ounce, with $73 of that decline occurring this week.

Over the last four weeks, a major factor pressuring gold prices lower has been dollar strength. The dollar has gained value for the last six consecutive weeks. Over the last four trading weeks, the U.S. dollar has gained 4.15% in value. This means that dollar strength accounted for just under one-half of gold’s price decline.

The dollar has been trading in a defined range since the beginning of 2017. In January 2017 the dollar index opened at 102.80 and traded to a high of 103. 78 becoming the first instance of dollar strength at this level since 2003. Since 2017 the dollar index has traded to this level on three occasions.

Both the 2017 top as well as the second instance which occurred in March 2020 created a double top. In both instances, dollar strength peaked at these levels resulting in a price correction that followed these tops. This month the dollar not only challenged the highs created during the double top but effectively closed above them on a daily, weekly, and monthly chart.

The dollar index declined today by – 0.36%. However, the dollar had a strong weekly gain. Currently, the dollar index is fixed at 104.515 and the last time the dollar was this strong was the fourth quarter of 2002.

Yesterday I addressed that recent price changes in the dollar and gold have been headlined driven based upon fundamental events. Because technical studies by nature are lagging indicators there is an inherent disconnect. I was blessed to be mentored by two great market technicians one being Larry Williams. He told me a story that illustrated the shortcoming of only using technical indicators.

To paraphrase: A market technician is analogous to someone standing at the stern of a boat and using the wake from the propeller to indicate the direction the ship was headed. While it indicated where the boat had been, only the captain knows when he will turn the wheel.

In this instance the Federal Reserve is at the helm attempting to steer the ship through a storm brought on by rampant inflation.

By Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

Tim Moseley

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Is Bitcoin Changing The Way The Left Thinks?

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Is Bitcoin Changing The Way The Left Thinks?

by Isabel Foxen Duke –

 

As inflation leaves young Democrats with few options for acquiring wealth, some voters are challenging party leaders’ perspective on Bitcoin.

I’ve always considered myself a left-leaning progressive type… or, in my mind, someone who prides themselves on putting the needs of everyday folk over corporate interests or the wealthy few.

I grew up in a coastal city with liberal parents, went to progressive schools, and can spit a Marxist critique of just about anything you throw at me. Fairly distributing wealth across classes — and narrowing the wealth gap — has been at the fore of my political consciousness for as long as I can remember.

Fast forward to my learning about Bitcoin and I quickly began to understand the economic injustice of current fiat monetary policies, and how government control of the U.S. dollar has been used to “make the rich richer” at the expense of pretty much everyone else.

When countries are in economic hot water for any reason — ranging from irresponsible use of debt to unforeseeable challenges like the pandemic — they will print new currency (aka expand the money supply) to pay whomever they see fit, which is usually creditors or capital asset holders, aka existing rich people.

In the process, the purchasing power of the average person’s paycheck goes down. When there’s more money in the economy, everything gets more expensive, especially things that are hard to make more of — like real estate and commodities.

Until I started learning about Bitcoin, I didn’t really understand what was causing the fast-rising prices of assets like real estate. I only knew it was happening, and it was happening faster than I could keep up.

Younger generations are, of course, disproportionately affected by these policies — as even high-income millennial earners will struggle to afford homeownership in the cities where they’re likely employed.

Most millennials will remain renters permanently as the price of real estate has far outpaced wages, all but killing the American Dream.

Thankfully though, and pretty uniquely, this particular economic problem may have a relatively simple solution: one that isn’t dependent on the results of an election, a disorganized legislature or any other governing body outside of our individual control.

Enter Bitcoin — a digital money that’s been engineered to be un-inflatable (that is, no one can “print” more of it) and uncontrollable by a central governing body. The network functions on thousands of independent computers without any one primary authority.

Unlike other inflation-resistant assets, like gold or real estate, bitcoin is also incredibly accessible. There’s no minimum investment to purchase bitcoin and you can store as much or as little of it as you want on a thumbdrive in your studio apartment. You don’t even need a bank account to buy bitcoin. Head on over to your local “Bitcoin ATM” with some cash on hand and boom — you own scarce financial assets that can’t be inflated away. Of course, if you do have a bank account, there’s no need to get out of bed. Buying bitcoin takes under a minute on any number of exchange mobile apps.

Yay for the “common man,” right?

A great equalizer for the average working person, bitcoin felt immediately aligned with the values I grew up with… until I was struck with cognitive dissonance to learn that many of “my people,” — most visibly folks like Elizabeth Warren and other left-leaning Democrats — seemed to hold a stronger negative bias against Bitcoin than those from the right.

“Why do Democrats hate Bitcoin?” I thought to myself.

After doing a little research and talking to some smart economist friends, what I learned wasn’t all that surprising.

First off, from a straight-up political theory perspective, left-leaning folks are ideologically more apt to trust a central government to distribute wealth “fairly” rather than trusting free-market economics. The left is generally pro-government (especially when it comes to finances) and Bitcoin was intentionally designed to resist government control.
Bitcoin was essentially born out of a libertarian ethic — a word many on the left hear with skepticism.

It was unfettered “free capitalism,” after all, that led to the subjugation and subsequent riots of the working class in the era of Standard Oil and U.S. Steel. Without government intervention and the advent of antitrust laws, it’s quite possible today’s capitalism might look more like feudalism than the relative financial freedom we have today.

Skepticism aside, there’s also a practical argument for government control over currency — an argument that most Bitcoiners don’t like to talk about — and that is, government-controlled currency allows us to avoid or mitigate economic contractions.

It would be difficult to avoid a full-blown pandemic depression, or a complete banking meltdown like in 2008, if the government wasn’t able to “bail out” whomever they saw fit with freshly minted money.

In theory, this kind of printing saves jobs (the most important quality-of-life determinant for the majority of the country) and in some instances, new money is directly distributed to working and low-income folks as was the case with Covid-era stimulus checks.

When looking deeper into this reality, however, the lion’s share of the money that was printed during the pandemic did not go to saving jobs or padding the wallets of average citizens, but instead went to saving the stock market and other asset-holder interests.

According to the Washington Post, only one-fifth of U.S. stimulus distributed during the pandemic went to individual citizens, while the majority went to businesses who were not required to show if they were impacted by the pandemic nor were they required to use the funds to keep people employed.

Another clear example of stimulus being used to save the rich instead of the working class was in 2008 when stimulus was used to bail out the banks (creditors) that issued predatory loans instead of using stimulus to bail out the debtors — the ordinary working people who were victims of such predatory loans in the first place.

This all to say, if anyone’s going to make the claim that the government should be able to control the money supply, then they also have to be held accountable for how those dollars are distributed. Unfortunately, neither side of the aisle has a proven track record in this regard.

When you look back at the history of money — all the way back to Ancient Rome — for centuries, government control of currency has almost always been used to widen the wealth gap, not narrow it.

Roman emperors frequently debased silver coins by adding more bronze or tin in order to increase the money supply — and the windfall was mostly spent on wars of conquest and lavish architectural projects. Similarly, Henry the VIII was famous for debasing gold bullion with copper to enhance his personal lifestyle and fund sieges throughout Europe.

The history of currency debasement has a very clear tie with irresponsible spending by governments at the expense of civilians, with very few, if any, examples to the contrary.

This makes me sad. I actually want to live in a world where wealth can be distributed fairly by a trustworthy government. But I’m understanding more and more why so many think that hope is naive. It’s because of an observable history of thousands of years of governments using currency debasement in the best interests of the few rather than the many.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from hanging out with Bitcoiners, it’s that millennials, many of whom are generally progressive voters, are joining in on this chorus after learning about how current monetary policy is rapidly destroying our chances of accumulating wealth.

I recently heard a friend say at a Bitcoin meetup, “I’m a vegan environmentalist — and I’m all of the sudden finding myself agreeing with Ted Cruz over Elizabeth Warren.”

Until we see a fiat monetary policy that actually benefits us (which I’m not holding out hope for), I want to store my money in an inflation-safe asset that I can easily afford, maintain and self-custody.

In other words, I’m buying bitcoin.

Tim Moseley

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Gold silver punished by strong USDX that hits 20-year high

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Gold, silver punished by strong USDX that hits 20-year high

Gold and silver prices are sharply lower in midday U.S. trading Thursday, pressured in part by a very strong U.S. dollar index that today scored a 20-year high. Bearish charts are also keeping the technically based bears active on the sell side in the futures markets. June gold futures were last down $19.20 at $1,834.50. July Comex silver futures hit a 22-month low today and were last down $0.70 at $20.87 an ounce.

Global stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday and hit 12-month lows. Risk aversion remains elevated amid the Russia-Ukraine war that shows no signs of ending, Covid lockdowns in China and problematic price inflation that is gripping the globe. Traders worry the U.S. and other major economies will slip into recession in the coming months, due to the aforementioned factors.

The U.S. got another inflation reading Thursday with the producer price index for April, which came in up 11%, year-on-year. That was down just a bit from the March PPI reading of up 11.5%, but still hot nonetheless.

Nothing can fix inflation now, 'economic stupidity' is underway by the Fed, Biden – Steve Hanke

In other news, the crypto currencies continue to get hammered amid the keener risk aversion in the marketplace. Bitcoin prices dropped to a 16-month low below $26,000 overnight.

The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil futures prices up a bit and trading around $106.00 a barrel. Meantime, the U.S. dollar index is sharply higher and hit a 20-year high. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 2.846%.

Technically, June gold futures see a two-month-old price downtrend in place on the daily bar chart. Bears have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,900.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,800.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $1,858.80 and then at $1,864.70. First support is seen at this week’s low of $1,830.60 and then at $1,815.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.

July silver futures prices closed nearer the session low and hit a 22-month low today. A steep price downtrend is in place on the daily bar chart. The silver bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $22.50 an ounce. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $20.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $21.625 and then at $22.00. Next support is seen at today’s low of $20.705 and then at $20.50. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 1.0.

July N.Y. copper closed down 1,225 points at 408.75 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session high today and hit a 7.5-month low. The copper bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. A steep price downtrend is in place on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 435.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 400.00 cents. First resistance is seen at 415.00 cents 420.00 cents. First support is seen at today’s low of 403.70 cents and then at 400.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 1.5.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

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New MASSIVE Crypto Gains

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New MASSIVE Crypto Gains

By Jeff Brown, Editor, The Bleeding Edge

 

New Massive Crypto Gains

 

This Is Blockchain’s Next Megatrend

While the pandemic forced many of us to remain at home, we suddenly found ourselves with more time on our hands. And for many of us, that meant more time spent playing games on our phones and consoles. After all, gaming was an easy outlet to escape the insanity of what was happening. So it’s no surprise then that gaming has remained a winning sector over the last few years. And 2021 turned out to be a record year for the entire gaming industry…

Popular mobile games like Roblox, Pokémon GO, and Candy Crush Saga brought in billions of dollars from a captive audience willing to spend more time in front of their screens.

 

 

And we also saw the release of the newest generation of bleeding-edge consoles with the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X. As it stands, Sony has already shipped over 17 million consoles, with Microsoft’s system in a distant second place.

Overall, video game sales for the year hit a peak of $60.4 billion – an 8% increase over 2020’s sales. Among the top sellers were such popular series as Call of Duty, installments of the aforementioned Pokémon series, and many more. These sales figures represent the acceleration of a global industry worth well over $138 billion. And historically, this lucrative industry has made millions and even billions for a select group of game developers. We as players obviously don’t get to share in the revenues that we’re helping to generate.

The idea of users being able to financially benefit from the games they play has never truly been possible before. Aside from micro-economies in early massive multiplayer games like Second Life and World of Warcraft, players have typically been locked out of this opportunity. We give game developers our money in the form of individual game purchases, in-game transactions, and other lucrative revenue streams. And for that, we get nothing in return. 

But what if game developers allowed users to collect financial rewards for their support? Well, a key technology is enabling this shift today… And it’s poised to disrupt the traditional relationship between game developers and users. What’s more, early investors now have the chance to build their stake in gaming’s next megatrend…

 

 

 

The GameFi Revolution Is Here

Over the last several months, an investment trend with the potential to disrupt the entire video game industry as we know it has been emerging. It’s a trend referred to as GameFi – a mashup of the words gaming and finance. The trend is made possible by combining non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptos, and gaming. As a reminder, NFTs are digital collectibles. They allow us to cryptographically secure and authenticate unique assets or data on a blockchain. And these tokens are not just static pieces of art. They can be far more interactive and have unique attributes other than just their looks.

With GameFi, developers can build games that leverage NFTs and other digital assets to create a whole range of economic incentives for users. Right now, we’re seeing the birth of a play-to-earn (p2e) model that benefits both users and developers. The funds that deploy capital in crypto are building their war chests to increase their investments in p2e games. 

Hong Kong-based game developer Animoca Brands is involved in over 150 NFT and GameFi projects. And it just raised $358 million last month to be deployed to p2e gaming projects. And a blockchain gaming platform called Forte recently raised $725 million in its latest funding round. It’s now a multibillion-dollar gaming company growing its valuation at breakneck speed.

These represent just some of the major investments flooding into the space today. They’re fueling the exponential growth in GameFi projects all over the world.And all of this investment is powering a wave of exciting new applications sparking the mass adoption of GameFi…

 

These Projects Are Bringing GameFi to the Masses

Consider the blockchain-based game Axie Infinity. It’s a lot like the original Pokémon. Players control different creatures – each with different attributes – and they battle each other. The outcome of any battle depends heavily on the attributes of each NFT and how each one is used.

What makes Axie Infinity unique is that the creatures and the objects in the game are NFTs that must be purchased with the game’s native cryptocurrency. It’s called the Axie Infinity Shard (AXS). And Axie Infinity has a series of economic incentives built right into the game. Players earn AXS tokens as they win battles and accomplish tasks in the game.

 

Axie Infinity

Source: Niko Partners

 

AXS itself can be converted into Ethereum (ETH), and ETH can then be converted into U.S. dollars. In this way, AXS earnings can be turned into a useful income stream for any user. Players have bought more than $1 billion worth of Axie Infinity NFTs over the last year. That’s remarkable. And it shows how hot the GameFi trend is becoming.

Simply put, the more players play, the more they earn… and the more valuable their cryptocurrency and NFTs become. This is a classic network effect. And it has built multibillion-dollar tech companies over the last two decades.

There are many more examples of games like Axie Infinity leveraging p2e dynamics that we can consider. A recent Solana-based move-to-earn project called STEPN crosses the bridge between the digital and physical world. This game literally pays us to move. Users download the STEPN application, which also acts as a crypto wallet. We can then purchase an NFT sneaker, or even rent a sneaker if the price is too expensive.

 

The STEPN App

Source: STEPN

 

Those who have an NFT sneaker can literally get paid to walk, jog, or run each day in STEPN’s native cryptocurrency – GST. It’s not just pocket change either. It’s possible to easily earn $20–30 just by walking or running for 10 minutes a day. And for those who are more committed and willing to be active for 60 minutes a day, you can earn hundreds more simply by playing.

We can also consider the p2e game Game of Silks. This game is pioneering a kind of NFT called a “Digi-fizzy.” These are essentially NFTs that are linked to a real-world asset – for example, a pair of digital sneakers that enables users to receive a physical shoe. The project is creating NFTs that in part represent the actual traits, characteristics, and real-world performance of real racehorses.

Game of Silks tracks each horse’s training progress and racing results. Owners are then rewarded with the game’s native cryptocurrency when their horse does well in real races. The project also tracks each horse as it gets old enough to breed. When a horse produces offspring in real life, Game of Silks mints a new NFT for that horse. It’s a different twist on “breeding” with NFTs. And it rewards those who own the parents’ NFTs accordingly.

These are just a small segment of the projects leveraging the power of NFTs, smart contracts, and other assets on the blockchain. Now, I mention these projects because they represent some of the most novel deployments of the GameFi trend happening right now… And in the coming years, we’ll see more projects like these emerge. The reason GameFi is surfacing now is because of major innovations happening in blockchain tech. We’re seeing the proliferation of projects dedicated to improving the infrastructure behind blockchain technology emerge week after week… And the projects enabling these innovations are forming the next major investment opportunity for us right now.

 

New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.

Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives through the democratization of power and opportunity.

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.

Markethive.com for example will be releasing its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com

Markethive

Tim Moseley

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Gold price on ‘cusp’ of 2k rally here’s how not to miss it Bloomberg Intelligence

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Gold price on 'cusp' of $2k rally, here's how not to miss it – Bloomberg Intelligence

After a disappointing May start, gold could be on a cusp of a major breakout above $2,000 an ounce, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

After falling 6.5% in the last month, gold is now near a bottom, with the $1,800 an ounce serving as a floor for prices, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone told Kitco News.

Investors have been reevaluating their risk-on positions as the Federal Reserve looks to tighten by 50-basis-points in June and June as it fights inflation.

"Gold is near a bottom and on the cusp of a pretty significant breakout — when it gets above $2,000 an ounce and never looks back," McGlone said. "One day, we're going to wake up, and gold is going to pop above $2,000 an ounce, which is resistance that will be converted into support, and never look back."

The $2,000 an ounce level has been a critical psychological resistance point for gold, which the precious metal failed to sustainably breach this year despite coming close in March.

Gold's main obstacles in the second quarter have been rising U.S. yields and a strong U.S. dollar. This is especially visible when gold's USD performance is compared to yen or euro.

"The dollar strength is putting pressure on the price of gold in terms of the U.S dollar. In terms of the yen, gold is up 20%. In terms of the euro, gold is up 15%. In terms of the U.S. dollar, it's flat. So people holding gold in Europe and Japan are performing much better. It's been a good hedge against their currency declining. It's just a matter of time before but catches up in the U.S. dollar," McGlone explained. "But once you reduce that headwind, which I think we're on the cusp of, gold should take off, and that's just based on past performance."

One of the drivers to trigger the next rally will be markets shifting gears to price the end of the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle. And that is already starting to happen, McGlone pointed out.

"This week was the first good sign that I've seen in a while. I use the one-year-out fed funds future (FF13) for hike expectations. And they are just starting to take away some of that tightening. Why are they doing it? Because the stock market has reached an inflection point of weakness," he said. "I'm looking at bond yields potentially peaking at 3% in the 10-year and the fed funds peaking around 3.4% and dropping to 3%."

The Nasdaq is already down 23% on the year. And this is helping the U.S. stock market reach that inflection point, where Fed's rate hike expectations will be reduced.

"The market is heading that way. We're at that point where the stock market going down is enough to help take the Fed's tightening out of the market and alleviate inflation and shift us back over to a deflationary environment. That's been some of the best foundation for gold in the last few years when gold bottomed in 2015 and 2018," McGlone said.

Gold price is manipulated by the Fed, suspects mining tycoon Frank Giustra, but suppression can't last forever

According to McGlone, the big problem facing the Fed in the long term is not inflation but deflation. "A year from now, when you get April CPI [consumer price index], it'll be much lower, and even negative," he noted.

McGlone did note that it's an if statement. "The Fed wants the stock market down because they need to reduce the ability for people to buy stuff. And I think that's just started to happen."

Crude oil, for example, is very likely to drop to $50 rather than rise to $200. And if the U.S. stock market continues to decline, it's "virtually a guarantee" that inflation will be lower on a 12-month basis. "You want to measure inflation from a big-picture point of view — 120 months. And that's where we see bond yields decline," he said. "The base effect for inflation will go down."

In this scenario, gold will be a primary asset to go to. But when allocating to gold, it is best to pair it with Bitcoin, McGlone added.

"Looking at modern portfolios, gold is naked if not paired with Bitcoin in portfolios," he stated. "Bitcoin is becoming global digital collateral. It's a small portion in virtually all portfolios, and it's gaining momentum. I don't see what stops those trends. Bitcoin's limited supply is a recipe for higher prices unless demand or adoption declines. And I see them rising."
 

By Anna Golubova

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

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Opportunity in darkness

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Opportunity in the darkness

When it is at its worst, everything can suddenly get better

Many of us are today facing dark period of life and experiencing what it's like to be at rock bottom. And we have to consider how we can emerge victorious from this pain. Even when it is sometimes cloudy, dark and the sun is not shining, it gives us a lot of opportunities.

Famous writer J. K. Rowling says: "the bottom became for me a solid foundation on which I built my whole further life.“

In the dark, the light can shine most strongly. Darkness, fatigue and suffering are disguised opportunities.

People who are going through something psychologically very painful often describe a similar principle: that the pain (darkness) allows them to go into greater depth. A Czech psychologist Dušan Kadlec writes in his book From the bottom to the stars, "obstacles are put in people's way to make them extraordinary people.“ 

If you are really very tired, but you are still able to at least walk and move gently, it is highly recommended, for example, go to practice yoga. It is my repeatedly experienced experience: when we are most tired or most stressed that any relaxation has the strongest effect for us. You don't even think about it, and everything can be different. You can feel the most tired in the world, and after sixty or ninety minutes of exercise, you feel, on the contrary, like the most refreshed people. In general, it is also true: when we go through great suffering and great darkness, we are much more grateful for any small light.

Pain can be the biggest teacher
Pain reminds us that somewhere there is a mistake. That we forgot something. Not that we are bad, but that the pain is meant to remind us of something.

Finally here some breathing exercise: The royal way to cleanse the nervous system is slow breathing

Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Slow breathing should be pleasant  for you, without any pressure.
Controlled breathing (in yoga "pranayama") occupies a privileged place among ancient medical practices. Modern research has shown that the advantages of controlled breathing are quite real.

Controlled breathing relieves symptoms:
• insomnia
• anxiety
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• depression

You can start with relatively quick breathing – count to 4 inhaling and then again to 4 exhaling. Slowly you can change it to 4 = inhaling, 2 = stopping, 8 = exhaling. Repeat this procedure for at least several minutes. Later when you are already trained you can prolong the intervals . There should be no overstrain of the will.  People with high blood pressure and pregnant women should keep their own pace and, above all, avoid pressure when holding their breath.

Thanks to practice, this whole process will become very simple and pleasant. It is thanks to the peace and tranquility that come with the unfolding of the breath, when the mind and body open up and receive the healing light. This breath cleanses the lungs and other organs. It brings more oxygen to the brain, leads to greater calmness and clarity of thinking. It is the breath that allows us to maintain a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic system.

The Persian poet Saadi Shirazi (1210-1291) says:

"Deep in the sea lie hidden treasures of immeasurable value. You'll find safety on the shore.“

Our world, from the laws of physics to social relations, is based on polarity. Life develops in a world of opposites between two poles. Each system and organism strives to achieve completeness and unity, which means the unification of polarity. Knowledge of good and evil. Who wants to remove only one pole from the world, unconsciously strengthens it. 

 

           Hope is never lost, thanks for reading

                                                                    Margaret
 

Tim Moseley

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Janet Yellen: It’s Better To Be Dead Than Poor

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Janet Yellen: It's Better To Be Dead Than Poor

by Dana Loesch, publisher, Chapter & Verse

 

Janet Yellen: It's Better To Be Dead Than Poor

 

The Harsh Sexism of Zero Expectations Within The Pro-Choice Movement

One of the biggest lies the left has ever told women is that we aren’t strong enough to raise the life we co-create. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeated this very lie today while testifying before the Senate Banking Committee:

Twitter avatar for @CBSNewsCBS News @CBSNews

U.S. Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen testified to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that research has shown denying women access to abortions increases their odds of living in poverty or on public assistance – an impact that will have "very damaging effects on the economy."

Image

May 10th 2022

According To Yellen, It’s Better To Be Dead Than Poor

Yellen’s perspective is nothing more than heinous class warfare. She promotes an ideology that claims you cannot escape the status into which you were born unless the government elevates you.

It’s an anti-American and anti-woman ideology that conveniently absolves the progressive patriarchy of any and all responsibility while reframing the co-creation of human life as a “women’s rights” issue. It’s a brilliant, Machiavellian scheme that lures millions of women into advocating against their own interests under the guise of some “right” that progressive men use as a prop when asked to take responsibility for the life they co-created.

 

 

“Well, It’s A Woman’s Right”

Now that third-wave feminists insist that men can also have babies, that protective hedge is gone.

I grew up poor in a run-down house in Hematite, Missouri. I was raised by a single mom until I was a teenager and my step-dad entered the picture. During my elementary school years, I occasionally had to borrow notebook paper from a cousin because we couldn’t afford it. For days we lived on milk gravy and biscuits because my mom couldn’t afford anything else. A McDonald’s Happy Meal was a real treat. I didn’t know the unhappiness of poverty because that was never presented to me as a factor worthy to determine my happiness or influence my perspective of others. All I knew as a child is that I was living, and I loved life.

It wasn’t easy for my mom. It’s not easy for a lot of moms. Life isn’t a guarantee of easy. Lack of ease doesn’t mean presence of discrimination, either. Sometimes the worst discrimination comes from the adults in your life that are supposed to love you and care for you.

Democrats used to mock what they claimed was Republicans’ buttoned-up prudishness for the latter’s views on sexual responsibility (yet it was Democrats, not Republicans, who blocked over-the-counter birth control) — but it’s Democrats who refuse any talk of responsibility today.

They call discussion of responsibility “shaming” as a way to emotionally blackmail the populace from discussing the scientific cause and effect of sex. It’s not teenagers in backseats getting abortions, it’s older women who are already mothers, who know how babies are made, and who view abortion as a form of birth control.

Twitter avatar for @ylanmuiYlan Q. Mui @ylanmui

WOW: @SecYellen weighs in on the abortion debate — with an economic angle: "Eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades."

May 10th 2022

 

When did anyone eliminate the right of women to determine who they want to sleep with and when? It sets women back decades to keep them in the dark about how babies are made. Pregnancy isn’t something done to them — rape and incest account for less than 1% of abortions according to Planned Parenthood’s own figures — it’s something women choose for themselves by inviting consensual, recreational sex. Heaven forbid someone tells a woman to get birth control. Prescription birth control is covered by insurance for issues such as endometriosis and is as cheap as $10 per pack at places like Target. It’s odd to hear objections about expense from people who think $10 per pill pack is expensive but a $700+ abortion isn’t (the priceless value of the life not included).

Abortion isn’t health care. Pregnancy is not a malady. Doctors don’t prescribe dissolving infants’ bodies or dismembering their tiny limbs as ways to cure a common cold. It’s an insulting claim.

Pretending that pregnancy is forced upon women is ironically infantilizing. The left argues that women are too weak or dumb to assume the risks of their own willful actions or manage the consequences of those actions. I disagree. It’s theft of female agency to argue that women are forced to carry babies when they willingly engaged in the act of procreation. It’s the very heart and soul of “empowerment,” yet this is where the left’s farcical “girl power” theater ends.

 

The Choice Is Before Conception

I loved Senator Tim Scott’s rebuke of Yellen’s logic:

Twitter avatar for @LifeNewsHQLifeNews.com @LifeNewsHQ

Senator Tim Scott rebukes Janet Yellen for claiming poor black women need abortions: “I’ll just simply say that as a guy raised by a black woman in abject poverty, I am thankful to be here as a United States senator.”

Image

May 10th 2022

 

One of the worst insults to any woman is the lowered expectations for her capacity to be a mother. True empowerment rejects this.

 

New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.

Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives through the democratization of power and opportunity.

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.

Markethive.com for example will be releasing its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com

Markethive

Tim Moseley

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Investors wait for tomorrow’s CPI inflation report for April

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Investors wait for tomorrow’s CPI inflation report for April

Traders and investors are waiting for the release tomorrow of the Consumer Price Index inflation report that will be released right before New York markets open. The CPI will probably be one of the most important economic reports to be released by the government this month. Not only will the CPI be an integral component that will shape and influence market sentiment of individual investors, but it will also help to guide the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy at next month’s FOMC meeting.

The Federal Reserve sent shock waves through the financial markets when Chairman Powell suggested that a couple more ½% interest rate hikes are a likely possibility at the June and July FOMC meetings. As expected, they raised the Fed funds rate by ½ a percent after this month’s FOMC meeting but the announcement by Chairman Powell of possibly three concurrent ½% interest rate hikes was perceived as hawkish and had a dramatic impact on markets.

With some exceptions, we have seen a substantial price correction occur in U.S. equities and in the precious metals. The cost of borrowing capital rising due to the Federal Reserve’s recent and anticipated rate hikes is intended to reduce demand by creating an economic contraction. This had a profound and negative impact on U.S. equities. Since the pandemic corporations in the United States have become addicted to free money and the extended correction is a reflection of the withdrawal pains by corporations as they adjust their forward guidance to reflect the change in the cost of borrowing capital.

Both gold and silver pricing have been in a defined corrective mode since the middle of April. Gold futures traded to a high of $2003 on April 18 and have been losing value for the last four consecutive weeks including this week which is still far from over. Gold futures basis the most active June 2022 contract opened at approximately $1884 and as of 5:06 PM, EDT is currently fixed at $1837.20 after factoring in today’s price decline of $21.40 or 1.15%. Gold has declined 2.49% in the last two trading days.

Typically, upticks in inflationary pressure create bullish undertones for gold prices as it is regarded as an excellent hedge against inflation. However, the current scenario which is a more aggressive Federal Reserve in regards to raising interest rates leads to rising yields in U.S. Treasuries and a strong dollar. Both dollar strength and rising yields have the opposite effect on gold prices creating strong bearish market sentiment as higher Treasury yields reduce investor's attraction to gold as it is a non-interest yielding asset and because gold is paired against the dollar, there is a 100% negative correlation between increased value in the dollar and gold pricing. The net result is that rising inflation took gold prices to $2078 during March (one edge of the sword) and then to its current pricing at $1835 (The other edge of the sword). The drop from $2078 to gold’s current price is a decline of 11.59%. Truly inflationary pressure is a double-edged sword for gold.

The latest forecast for tomorrow’s CPI report is that inflation will drop from 8.5% to 8.1%. The question becomes how will gold prices react if the actual numbers are above the current estimate? While high levels of inflation have historically been extremely bullish taking gold prices higher the anticipation of a more hawkish Federal Reserve will have the opposite effect.
 

By Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

Tim Moseley

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Cash is the king as financial market melt-down continues taking gold lower

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Cash is the king as financial market melt-down continues taking gold lower

The selling pressure continued as U.S. equities continued in their dramatic decline. On March 28, the S&P 500 hit an intra-week high of 4635. What followed was five consecutive weeks of dramatically lower values. If today’s selling pressure indicates the week ahead, we could certainly witness U.S. equities declining over the last six consecutive weeks. In this short period, the S&P 500 has lost almost 14% in value (-13.89%). Today alone, the S&P 500 lost 3.20%. However, it was the NASDAQ composite that had the greatest percentage decline breaking below 12,000. After factoring in today’s decline of 521.41 points, the tech-heavy index closed at 11,623.25.

Gold prices also experienced a sharp price decline and as of 4:55 PM EDT, the most active June 2022 futures contract is down $29.20 or 1.55% and fixed at $1853.40. The only precious metal to gain value on the day was palladium. Palladium futures gained $50.30 a net gain of 2.49%, and are currently fixed at $2073.50.

The dramatic sell-off in financial markets and the precious metals are in response to both the recent action of the Federal Reserve as well as the Fed outlook for the next two FOMC meetings. The Federal Reserve raised the Fed funds rate by half a percent at this month’s FOMC meeting and indicated that it would likely continue the trend of ½% rate hikes at both the June and July FOMC meeting.

This led to the recent sharp uptick in yields in U.S. Treasuries, with the 10-year Treasury note yield trading to a high of 3.2% today before settling at 3.039%. Higher yields in U.S. debt have been highly supportive of the U.S. dollar taking its value higher when compared to other currencies, and that has pressured both gold and silver prices lower.

The sharp decline in U.S. equities and precious metals over the last month can be directly tied to the spiraling level of inflation. This week on May 11, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the CPI for April. Currently, the Consumer Price Index is at 8.5%, the highest value seen since January 1982. The spiraling level of inflation is at the root of the recent rate hikes by the Federal Reserve as they attempt to slow down economic expansion to bring inflationary pressures down.

Forecasts for the April CPI differ with some analysts projecting a leveling off for a peak in inflationary pressures and others projecting that inflation will continue to run hot. According to Forbes, “April’s CPI estimate will be announced Wednesday before the stock markets open. Expectations are for the all-items rate to drop from 8.5% to 8.1%. To hit 8.1%, the month-to-month inflation rate will have to fall from 2.3% in January, 2.6% in February, and 3.8% in March to no more than 1.25% to hit the expected number.”

However, inflation forecasts released in Bloomberg Markets today say that according to a New York Fed survey, “Longer-Term Inflation Expectations Rise.” In an article penned by Alexandre Tanzi, he reported that “U.S. consumers project inflation in three years to be higher compared with a month ago, a potentially worrying sign for the Federal Reserve as the central bank tries to keep longer-term expectations anchored.”

Whether inflation levels continue to rise to higher levels as they have throughout this year or begin to peak, the probability that exceedingly high levels of inflation will continue to be persistent and not transitory as the Federal Reserve had maintained until recently with Chairman Powell and other Fed members saying that longer-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored.

While the Federal Reserve’s action of sharp rate hikes will most certainly lead to an economic contraction, the Fed cannot control the supply chain issues or the war in Ukraine which have been primary forces that have caused inflation to spike higher.

Wishing you as always good trading,

By Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

Tim Moseley

The Artist that came out of the Winter