Announcer:
Welcome to Money Metals Exchange's weekly market wrap podcast. Helping precious metals investors during these treacherous times. Now, here's this week's market wrap with commentary and analysis from the fastest growing precious metals dealer in America, Money Metals Exchange.
Mike Gleason:
Welcome to this week's market wrap podcast, I'm Mike Gleason.
Well, despite the best efforts of the media, the Obama Administration, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to portray the partial government shutdown as some kind of dire threat to the nation's economy, financial markets didn't buy the narrative.
Bond yields have barely budged over the past few days, suggesting investors don't believe there is any serious chance of an actual default on U.S. government debt.
Even if the debt ceiling doesn't get raised this month, the Treasury Department still has ways to pay interest on its bonds for some time to come. But it appears increasingly likely that the debt ceiling will soon be raised.
On Thursday, House Republican leaders proposed a temporary increase to the nation's borrowing limit. The move drew praise from President Obama.
Investors cheered the hopeful signs for a deal to get ironed out by buying stocks and selling the ultimate safe-haven asset, gold. The yellow metal gave up $20 on Thursday, breaking back below the $1,300 level and has fallen another couple of percent today. It's down almost 4% on the week as of this Friday morning recording, and currently is at $1,266 an ounce and now trades at a 3-month low.
The white metals are faring a bit better. Palladium is actually showing a gain of better than 1% on the week and now trades at $713 an ounce. Both platinum and silver are coming in with losses around 2 to 2.5%, most all of that resulting from this morning's selloff. For silver, until today it was looking at a weekly close of about $21.75 for the third week in a row, but with the drop this morning is now down to $21.25 per ounce.
The precious metals markets seem to be doing everything they can to try to wear out investors. Silver analyst David Morgan talks about the "scare-you-out and wear-you-out" phases of these markets. Many people got scared out by the violent downside action this spring. And now that prices have retracted and stalled, some are getting worn out.
If you're a trader, these are brutal conditions. But if you're a long-term investor, you have the luxury of patience and the opportunity to take advantage of periods of weakness by adding to your position.
If you don't even want the stress of trying to decide when's the right time to buy, then you can put your accumulation on auto-pilot through Money Metals Exchange's exclusive Monthly Accumulation Program. Just call us at 1-800-800-1865 and one of our Specialists will be happy to tell you more about it. You can also find program details on our web site – IndependentLivingBullion.com.
Now back to the news this week, and we got a big announcement from the White House. As expected, Janet Yellen was nominated to be the next head of the Federal Reserve Board.
News Anchor #1:
If her nomination passes in the Senate, and it is likely to, Yellen is expected to continue the easy money bond-buying stimulus policies championed by Ben Bernanke. That's exactly what a lot of people on Wall Street want.
News Anchor #2:
Yellen also somewhat broke with her predecessor Ben Bernanke by striking a more populous tone today, pledging to address the concerns of average Americans through the Fed policy.
Janet Yellen:
The mandate of the Federal Reserve is to serve all the American people, and too many Americans still can't find a job and worry how they'll pay their bills and provide for their families. The Federal Reserve can help if it does its job effectively.
Mike Gleason:
Yellen's call for a more touchy-feely Fed that helps Americans find jobs and pay their bills echoes previous statements she's made recommending that the nation's central bank pursue ultra-dovish policies.
For example, she once said that "a wise and humane policy is occasionally to let inflation rise even when inflation is running above target." She has also said she'd be willing to set interest rates below zero if she could.
That's right, negative interest rates! That means savers would have to PAY THE BANK to hold their money, not the other way around. The goal of this would be to make it painful to hold dollars – you'd be incentivized to spend it or invest it. This is what the Fed wants.
That's why investors should be bracing for even more of the Federal Reserve's "punish savers and print money" insanity when Janet Yellen replaces Ben Bernanke in January. When Bernanke took the helm of the Fed in 2006, gold was selling for about $600 per ounce. Prices got as high as $1,900 by mid 2011.
Will precious metals prices perform as well or better under inflation-dove Yellen? Well we don't know for sure, but there's no reason to doubt that more inflation is headed our way in 2014 and beyond.
Well before we sign off we want to remind you of our fantastic month long gold special. During October we're slashing our prices on one ounce gold bars – and throwing in free shipping to boot! Already the cheapest way for retail investors to buy gold bullion, our hallmark one-ounce gold bars are available for just $39 per ounce over the gold spot price, no matter how many, or few, you buy.
Each .9999 pure gold bar bears its own unique serial number and comes in tamper-proof packaging with an assay certificate, and we carry bars made by only the most recognized and well known mints in the world, such as Perth Mint, Sunshine Minting and a few others. And if you order $5,000 or more of these gold bars, we will ship and insure your entire order for FREE!
Pick up some gold bars now, or any of the other products we sell by visiting our secure website at IndependentLivingBullion.com or by calling one of our knowledgeable and no-pressure Specialists at 1-800-800-1865.
Well that will do it for this week's market wrap podcast, thanks for listening. This has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange reminding you that remain fully committed to getting you the most value for your depreciating dollar... with speed, with accuracy, and with top notch service. Have a great weekend everybody.
Announcer:
Thank you for joining us for this edition of the Money Metals Exchange Weekly Market Wrap. Be sure to come back next week, and don't forget to subscribe to our weekly podcast through iTunes. For answers to all of your questions, or to discretely and securely buy or sell gold or silver coins, bars, and rounds, call 1-800-800-1865. Our knowledgeable and no-pressure specialists are standing by between 7:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. mountain time, Monday through Friday. Visit us at www.MoneyMetals.com or call 1-800-800-1865.
About the Author:
Mike Gleason is a Director with Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named "Best in the USA" by an independent global ratings group. Gleason is a hard money advocate and a strong proponent of personal liberty, limited government and the Austrian School of Economics. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason has extensive experience in management, sales and logistics as well as precious metals investing. He also puts his longtime broadcasting background to good use, hosting a weekly precious metals podcast since 2011, a program listened to by tens of thousands each week.
