Mike Maharrey

Early this year, high premiums developed for COMEX bars in the U.S. thanks to fears of tariffs on importing silver (and gold). In response, traders shipped an estimated 300 tons of silver from London to New York to alleviate that squeeze. Last month, the London Bullion Market ran into some issues of its own with respect to silver

After charting the highest level of gold inflows on record in September, the flow of gold into ETFs slowed modestly in October but remained comfortably above the year-to-date average. It was the fifth straight month of net gold inflows into ETFs globally. In total, 54.9 tonnes of gold flowed into gold-backed funds last month.

Central bank gold buying hit the highest level of the year in September, with several new banks adding to their reserves. Globally, central banks officially added a net 39 tonnes of gold to their holdings in September. That was up 79 percent month-on-month and was above the 12-month average of 27 tonnes.

Silver has been on a wild roller coaster ride. Is the recent selloff a temporary correction or have we reached the end of the rally? While the supply displacement has moderated somewhat, the underlying dynamics that have been driving both silver and gold higher over the last two years remain in place.

For the second straight meeting, the Fed cut the federal funds rate by a quarter percent on Wednesday. The FOMC also announced balance sheet reduction will end December. However, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell tried to keep the party from heating up too much by downplaying the possibility of another cut in December.

Gold has been pounded recently and is now struggling to hold the $4,000 level. Are the bulls dead? It’s important to keep the selloff in perspective. As I put it in my podcast last week, “keep your eye on the ball.” Corrections are healthy and normal in a bull market. But a big selloff could also indicate the end of a bull run. So, where are we now?

According to the World Gold Council, the festival season started on a “positive note” with healthy demand. “Despite the pressure on gold jewelry consumption due to high prices and affordability, there has been a recent sales uptick, predominantly concentrated around wedding-related purchases and aligning with the wedding season.”

Despite all the talk about DOGE and cost-cutting earlier this year, the federal government spent more in fiscal 2025 than it did the previous year and set a new spending record. However, thanks to an influx of tariff revenue, the fiscal 2025 budget deficit was slightly smaller – if you can call a $1.78 trillion deficit “small.”

In a seismic shift, Morgan Stanley CIO Michael Wilson recently came out with an investment strategy that includes a 20 percent allocation to gold. Now a Sprott executive has followed suit, telling a mainstream financial network’s audience that investors should consider shifting from the traditional 60/40 portfolio to a 60/20/20 allocation.

With gold scaling record highs on what feels like a daily basis, mainstream financial analysts are scrambling to raise their price forecasts. Goldman Sachs recently upped its 2026 price projection to $4,900. Not to be outdone, Bank of America has now raised its 2026 forecast to $5,000 an ounce.

Is Wall Street starting to embrace gold? For years, mainstream investment gurus have steered clients away from gold. But with the yellow metal gaining more than 87 percent since January 2024, it’s getting hard to ignore the yellow metal. Morgan Stanley recently came out with an investment strategy with a 20 percent allocation to gold.

Nobody in their right mind would hold their reserves in dollars. That’s the conclusion of Catalyst Funds CIO David Miller. And he’s right. Gold is up over 87 percent since January 2024 and is knocking on the door of $4,000 an ounce. But even with the rapid price surge, Miller said gold is not overpriced.

CNCB says investors should have gold as a hedge if the government shutdown persists. But they miss the real problem. That comes after the government reopens! At midnight on October 1, the feds shut the doors, turned out the lights, and went home. Well, some of them did.

Most people define inflation as rising consumer prices. Price inflation is part of the inflationary equation, but inflation also manifests in other ways, for instance, in asset inflation. Keep in mind that inflation, properly defined, isn’t about prices. It is an increase in the supply of money and credit.

You can file this under things you already knew. Price inflation is worse than the official data indicates. Based on the Consumer Price Index, price inflation is running at 2.9 percent, with core inflation at 3.1 percent. Both numbers are far above the mythical 2 percent target, but the situation is even worse for real people trying to live real lives.

I’d like to congratulate CNBC on finally noticing gold! It only had to trade above $3,700 an ounce to get the big network’s attention. While I have to give CNBC credit for finally recognizing that gold might be a good investment (after all, it’s only up 82.9 percent since January 1, 2024), I’m not particularly impressed with their advice.

The Federal Reserve cranked up the inflation machine, despite acknowledging “inflation has moved up and remains somewhat elevated.” The FOMC voted 11-1 to cut the federal funds rate by a quarter percent, setting the interest rate between 4 and 4.25 percent.

Want some silver? You might be able to get some with your phone, some hydrogen peroxide, and a bottle of cooking oil. Mind you, you won’t be able to use your phone ever again. But you’ll have silver! Researchers have discovered a way to recover silver from electronic waste using cooking oil.

For the third straight month, gold flowed into ETFs globally, led by North American and European funds. This continues the general trend this year. Gold inflows into ETFs through the first half of 2025 hit levels not seen since the pandemic. Year-to-date ETF gold inflows of $47 billion are the second-strongest on record

The gold bugs are right. Gold is an important asset that everybody should hold. And yet, the mainstream looks at these so-called gold bugs with derision. Let me tell you in an illustrative story. I almost didn’t get into reporting and writing about precious metals because I didn’t want people to think I was some kind of weirdo.

With the price of silver up 25 percent through the first six months of 2025, investment demand has surged. However, U.S. investors have not hopped on the bandwagon – yet. The increase in investment demand is reflected by a big jump in ETF silver holdings. Through the first six months of the year, 95 million ounces…

Producer prices rose significantly more than expected in July, throwing markets into turmoil and calling into question what seemed like an almost certain Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September. The big jump in wholesale price inflation seemed to confirm worries that aggressive tariffs would eventually manifest in higher price inflation.

The Bolivian government is using gold to maintain its solvency. Large amounts of dollar-denominated debt burden Bolivia, and the country owns the lowest credit rating of any Latin American country, according to S&P Global. The country’s debt is rated Ca, defined as “likely in, or very near, default.” It is the second-lowest rating on the scale.

In a recent interview, the Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Bayreuth and publisher of the BOOM & BUST REPORT said gold and silver are setting up for “important structural breakouts,” and that the price could double in the next five to 10 years. So what is driving gold higher?

The July CPI data indicated moderate price inflation and boosted optimism for a September interest rate cut, even though monetary inflation is on the upswing. There were no big surprises in the July CPI data, with the numbers generally coming in as forecast, but…

Citibank just did a 180 on gold and now forecasts new record highs before the end of the year. Just six weeks after lowering its forecast and warning that gold could drop below $3,000 before the end of the year, Citibank now projects gold will hit $3,500 over the next three months. This would put it in range to eclipse the record high hit in April.

Gold outperformed every major asset class in the first half of the year, but it wasn’t the top commodity. That honor goes to platinum, charting a 49.8 percent gain through H1, rising from around $900 an ounce in January to $1,360 at the end of June. That compares with a 25.9 percent increase in the price of gold and a 24.9 percent rise in silver.

Serbia holds 50.5 tonnes of gold, valued at roughly $6 billion. The country began repatriating its gold in 2021, “an environment of increased global uncertainty,” according to statements by a bank official during a Q&A session. All of Serbia’s gold is now stored in Belgrade, except for 5 tonnes currently held in Swiss vaults.