SEMI-MONTHLY FISCAL/MONETARY UPDATE – Modest apparent changes in April, huge developments under the surface!

The results for all the capital markets changed only modestly in the month April, in spite of intra-month volatility. Gold bullion was down almost exactly 1%, Gold mining stocks were up about 1.2%. We continue to feel that the gold mining stocks, represent the best value (and most unloved) asset class of all. The “money” is being safely stored, in the ground.  It is just a question of when it will be brought north and exchanged for the “colored paper” of its time, and the quantity of green paper (in the US) will be a multiple of the current $1300 per oz. The increase in profits for the gold miners will be huuuge and the stocks should sell for multiples of the current price.

We believe that the lackluster price action in gold and the miners has been due to the expectation of much higher interest rates, an apparently stronger economy, the perceived lack of a need for gold as a “safe haven”, and the renewed strength in the US Dollar. We don’t believe any of these factors will last much longer, and none of which will preclude higher prices in the long run.

The US economy is not as strong as advertised. After several quarters last year that averaged about 3.0% of real GDP growth, Q1’18 came in at a modest 2.3%. It is important to note that government spending of $4.5 trillion is part of our $20 trillion GDP economy. When government spending of $150 – $200 billion (over perhaps H2’17) to repair storm damage, that adds 1.5 to 2.5 points to GDP growth. That means that something like half (or more) of the “growth” in the last six months (as a % of $10T of six months’ GDP) was due to storm remediation. (That’s correct, I checked the math three times.) As another example, an increase of $100 billion in defense spending, over a year, will add 0.5% to our annual GDP. So, the bigger the deficit (in turn increasing interest expense), the better the GDP appears. The apparently stronger GDP growth in H2’17 was also positively affected by the weaker dollar and this, too, has changed lately, probably contributing to the tepid 2.3% Q1’18 GDP real growth.

Interest rates have moved up steadily, as the Fed has simultaneously raised the short term Fed Funds rate and sold increasing amounts of its bloated $4.3 trillion balance sheet. The much higher interest expense, combined with government spending will explode the deficit, which in turn will burden the economy even further. The Fed will back off. We will have new round of stimulus, much bigger than the “financial heroin” hit of ’08-’09. That should finally spark gold related securities much higher. It’s just a question of time.

Roger Lipton