getting some love?

Good morning… And welcome to a Fantabulous Friday. Since this is the start of our 3-day Holiday and the official restart of my blog “Precious Metal Musings,” I thought I’d begin with the Atlanta Braves losing to the Chicago Cubs last night at Wrigley Field, 6-2. This season is winding down fast with only 29 games remaining, leaving Atlanta 3rd in the National League East – and seemingly in the dust. It’s just not looking like our year, folks. The Foundations greeted me this morning with their song: Build Me Up Buttercup.

But on to what you are here for,,, Gold continued its climb yesterday closing up $12.70 to $1320.80 on 335,000 contracts traded, but in overnight trading has lost $2.70. Silver continues to shadow its big brother gaining 15¢ -- closing at $17.54 and now down 5¢.

So what’s up with gold? Why is it finally getting some love?

As I’ve said and repeated again and again – in my mind, gold is not an investment vehicle. Yes, it is an asset and one that I believe in holding, but with the major world banks shorting “paper gold” as they do to hold the price within their prescribed limits, I don’t see it as anything more than a buffer for stocks and bonds. And as I’ve also said, I recommend that your gold be in the physical form that you’ve taken possession of and not the paper kind. I do have a friend that invests in the actual mining companies, but to me that’s like cattle futures and thus, I stay way clear.

Over the past six years or so, whenever the U.S. economy seemed to be firing on all eight cylinders, precious metals took a back seat to the markets. So on Wednesday, CNN was reporting that the U.S. economy was finally picking up steam. That growth in the second quarter hit 3%, according to revised estimates. This is the strongest growth since the first quarter of 2015! The momentum seems to be driven by stronger consumer spending and healthier business investment. Also on Wednesday, ADP announced that private employers have accelerated hiring in August to the tune of 237,000 workers. The governments more-closely watched jobs report, set to be released today, is expected to show the unemployment rate holding at 4.3%. That’s the lowest in 16 years. That is, if you accept the manipulations and massaging of the unemployment numbers that have taken place over the past 10 years! Ha!

So again, If the economy is doing so well, why are investors continuing to put their money in gold at a record rate?

Maybe, just maybe, the banks know or see something “behind the curtain” that we aren’t privy to.

In closing, just consider this for a moment… The White House wants to speed up the recovery. Trump has said as much with his desire to cut taxes, reduce regulations and rebuild U.S. infrastructure; however, none of this seems to be Congresses focus. We are seeing very little real change and I’m wondering if the banking industry economists see this and know that the honeymoon is about over?