1/ Over the past 12 months, #gold has reached new all-time highs in almost all currencies.
With a gain of 24.6%, gold’s performance in 2020 was stellar in US dollar terms.
It was weaker in euro terms at 14.3%, but still well into double digits.
2/ At the same time the global macroeconomic situation has worsened.
The Covid-19 pandemic added about $24trn to the global debt mountain last year.
It has now reached a record level of $281trn, and the global debt-to-GDP ratio now exceeds 355%.
3/ Over the past decade, the actions of central banks have pushed yields on $12.2trn of government bonds into negative territory: an amount approaching the GDP of the entire Eurozone.
For bondholders, inflation is likely to be the pain trade of the decade ahead.
4/ Fiscal dominance is accelerating the merging of monetary and fiscal policy.
Emblematic of this is the appointment of former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as US Treasury secretary and former ECB President Mario Draghi as Italian prime minister.
5/ The political independence of central banks has always been the institutional guarantor of confidence in the stability of the currency.
The closer this liaison between monetary and fiscal policy grows, the greater the likelihood of a loss of confidence.
6/ Over the past year it seems as if the excitement around “digital assets” is being exploited to market central bank digital currencies.
In our view, CBDCs are a wolf in sheep’s clothing, allowing for more authoritarian control over money.
Financial historian Russell Napier has been forecasting deflation for decades, but recent events have caused him to change his mind.
He now predicts a sustained period of higher inflation.
This thread, drawing on his recent interview with @RonStoeferle & @JilNik, explains why👇
1/ Recent debate on inflation has focussed on the impact of short-term phenomena such as the US stimulus package and economic contraction due to COVID.
But Russell sees more important changes taking place beneath the surface.
These changes are not cyclical, but structural.
2/ The impact of demographics and technology are important in forecasting inflation, but the most significant factor is the allocation of money and credit.
Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, and we are seeing fundamental monetary changes take place.
The Covid-19 pandemic will have profound implications for the global financial system.
Drawing on insights from our 2020 #IGWT report, this 20 tweet thread (created by @TheAustrian3) looks back at our past predictions and offers thoughts on what to expect for the decade ahead.👇
1/ At the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, remarkable things were already happening in the global economy.
The US Treasury yield curve had inverted.
A $12tn market for negative yielding government bonds had emerged, meaning governments were being paid to borrow.
2/ The attempt at monetary normalization by the Federal Reserve between 2017 and 2019 had to be reversed, as we predicted it would in our 2017 #IGWT report.
The Fed cut interest rates three times in the second half of 2019 and resumed quantitative easing.
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