Finance insights - News week 14

GOLD RUSH: WHEN THE YELLOW METAL SHINES BRIGHT

It's a classic tale: whenever the price of gold hits record highs, the media jumps on it, sparking renewed interest from the masses.

Last week saw gold briefly surpass the $2,400 per ounce mark, despite the Federal Reserve's 15-year effort to manipulate prices alongside JP Morgan and other banks. However, for the past 3 months, the situation has spiraled out of Washington's control. They can't fight on four fronts—against gold, Russia, China, Trump, Iran, etc.—especially when the printing presses are cranking out trillions of dollars!

Let's clarify once more: gold isn't rising (read Professor Antal Fekete's two books); it's merely your pocket cash losing purchasing power, as illustrated in the graph above.

So, the question "isn't it too late to buy gold?" that you regularly ask me technically doesn't make sense. Even those who bought in 2022 preserved their purchasing power. Gold is for, let's say, 10 years—it's calm, without condo meetings, and certainly no tax on "empty homes."

THE AMERICAN GALACTIC MONEY PRINTING PRESS IN A SINGLE DRAWING

With $35 trillion in debt and the printing press running at warp speed, the world is headed towards an astronomical catastrophe, primarily monetary!

MEGA-INFLATIONS ON DAILY PRODUCTS

The Kobeissi Letter has published the evolution of daily product prices between 2019 and 2024, a span of 5 years. The results, as you'll see, are staggering, especially considering Bercy and INSEE insist inflation is only 2 or 3% per year:

• Cocoa: +345%

• Orange Juice: +260%

• Olive Oil: +219%

• Sugar: +120%

• Fruit Snacks: +77%

• Cooking Oil: +54%

• Chocolate Bars: +52%

• Applesauce: +51%

• Beef: +51%

• Mayonnaise: +50%

• Sliced Bread: +42%

• Eggs: +40%

• Milk: +40%

• Cereals: +38%

• Butter: +24%

Washington itself acknowledges only 3% inflation per year: "The average American now pays nearly 40% MORE for groceries than in 2019. Over 100 food items have experienced inflation exceeding 50% since 2019."

Inflation is citizens being robbed by the State, which also forces them to pay additional taxes and duties.

HSBC SHOWS US SOMETHING VERY PRECISE

After divesting HSBC France and HSBC Canada, HSBC has now sold its unit in Argentina! Just as in France, where the bank paid Cerberus to buy its branches, in Argentina, it sold for $550 million, recording a loss of $1 billion!!!

"HSBC is selling the business, which covers banking, asset management, and insurance, to Argentina's 5th largest bank Grupo Financiero Galicia for $550 million," the British bank said. CEO Noel Quinn has sought to simplify the sprawling lender to improve performance by exiting several markets in which it has underperformed, including France and Canada. This decision is coherent but suggests either 1) HSBC expects a new massive banking crisis worse than 2008, or 2) it wants to bolster its balance sheet by selling everything that has been losing money during the 15 years of negative rates.

In truth, the latter doesn't exclude the former. Remember, HSBC had never lost a single penny until the 2007 balance sheet.

Caution is the mother of safety.

Combined with Central Banks' frenzied gold purchases, HSBC's strategy strengthens option No. 1.

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