Today, July 31, 2019, the FOMC of the Federal Reserve System cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, as expected.
What was unexpected was the response from the market, which stumbled badly on the news. It was a classic case of "buy the rumor, sell the news," herd mentality. The Fed did not have to cut rates, obviously, just as they were wrong to raise them every quarter by 25 basis points since December, 2015.
The Fed is still out in uncharted territory, unable to raise rates because the economy is just chugging along at less than three percent growth, which is fine, in reality. The trouble is that investors want more. They are chasing yield, but what they're really doing is pushing on a string, exacerbating an already overbought market at or near record highs.
Here's the truth of the matter:
The system broke in 2008 and it was not fixed, just patched up with lots of liquidity thanks to Uncle Sugars at the Fed, BoJ, PBOC, ECB, SNB.
Fiat is an arbitrary order. In other words, this is "money." It's not. Yen, euros, dollars are currency. The intrinsic value of all fiat is zero.
This fakery will continue until there's nothing left except mega-corporations, governments, central banks, and slaves (almost everybody).
Noting that we're phasing through a zombie economy, much like that of Japan, with an aging demographic, systemic debt problems, and myopic, corrupt governments worldwide, there is little the Fed or any central bank can do but to continue the fakery until the public is completely bereft of all assets. Then they will declare the global economy dead, start a new order, promise prosperity for everyone, and deliver a global depression.
There's no way around it. All developed nations are bankrupt. The central banks create money (actually, currency) out of thin air, sell it as debt to governments, at interest, collect their skim and enrich themselves. The central banks work for themselves, not the governments they shadily represent, nor the citizens who make use of the currency.
They have no way out. Government debts (the US is already $22 trillion behind) will never be repaid, so the central banks can only perpetuate the fraud until they can't.
As far as precious metals are concerned, they will continued to be whipped like a rented mule. The recent run-up was only a diversion, a ruse, designed to get more people to buy the stuff. Now, gold and silver will be sold off and the bankers will eventually accumulate at lower prices.
That is why I haven't changed my position or bought into the silver rally from $14.50 to $16.50 per ounce. The bulk of the move came about when the dollar was weakening. Now it is strengthening again, meaning you will buy less gold with the same amount of dollars. The math is simple.
All told, stocks are overbought. the metals are currently overbought, but not for long. Bonds have much more rally in them than may be evident superficially. The bond rally has been ongoing for 35 years and it's not going to stop here. The eventual end-point is negative rates, or NIRP (Negative Interest Rate Policy), as is the current regime in the rest of the world. More than $13 trillion in bonds are priced at negative yields, which tells much about the future prospects for developed nations (and semi-developed China and India).
I continue to be targeting silver for $12.35 by 2021 or sooner. If it goes above $20, that would be a shock and a sign that the global financial system is melting away faster than anyone thought, but it's not likely to happen.
The global economy is a train wreck in super-slow motion. It is unlikely to implode before 2021, so there is still time to prepare for TEOTWAWKI.
That is all for now. Good luck.
At The Close, Wednesday, July 31, 2019:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 26,864.27, -333.75 (-1.23%)
NASDAQ: 8,175.42, -98.19 (-1.19%)
S&P 500: 2,980.38, -32.80 (-1.09%)
NYSE COMPOSITE: 13,066.60, -120.61 (-0.91%)
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