SEMI-MONTHLY FISCAL/MONETARY UPDATE – QE4 HAS CLEARLY BEGUN, GOLD SHOULD SHINE BRIGHTLY

The equity averages were up modestly in October. Interest rates, intra-month, went down, then up, then down again after the Fed predictably lowered rates, ending the month where they began. Gold bullion was up 3.0%, and the gold miners were up closer to 5% For the year to date, gold bullion is up about 17% and the gold mining stocks are up about 30%. Still, this is just a beginning. The miners have just begun to outperform gold bullion on the upside. We expect gold bullion to go up by a multiple of its current price, and the gold miners by a multiple of that multiple. See point (4) below.

The most prominent recent short term developments that come to mind are as follows:

• Whatever you call it, “QE4” or “whatever”, the latest monetary accommodation by our central bank has clearly begun. The Fed, as expected, lowered the fed funds rate by 25 bp last  Wednesday, and tried to make the case that rates are on hold, “pending the incoming data”. They should talk to the world class economist, David Rosenberg, who provides many indicators that point to consumers (who have been keeping the GDP positive) backing off. For the moment, in spite of the highly touted “greatest economy in US history”, GDP growth, in Q3 was all of 1.9%, and slowing. Furthermore, while the (disingenuous) Fed talked about buying treasuries starting October 15th at a rate of $60B per month, their balance sheet started expanding the week ending September 4th and is already up by $260B by the week ending 10/30. That’s a rate of $130B per month (started in early September, and double the stated $65B objective), and that’s in addition to the tens of billions they are adding to the repo market daily to add to short term marketplace “liquidity”. We don’t pretend to understand the daily repo market, but the need for Fed “intervention” on a daily basis cannot be a sign of financial strength within the capital marketplace.
• We agree with David Rosenberg, who predicts that short term interest rates will move toward the zero bound as the Fed tries (in vain) to support the economy. There will be many painful unintended consequences from ten years of interest rate suppression. We can’t help to interject here, relative to gold: all the gold ever mined, about 160,000 tons,  is worth less than half of the current worldwide debt selling with a negative yield. The argument, therefore, that gold is “useless” because it earns nothing has become moot. Nothing is a better return than a negative yield.
• The disillusionment, finally, with the ridiculous valuations of the money losing “unicorns” (i.e. WeWork, Uber, Grubhub, et.al.) indicate that the monetary debasement and credit bubble that has supported the last twenty years of (meager) economic expansion is finally winding down. In response, however, it is clear that the worldwide central banks will double down with their monetary heroin. It took more than $10 trillion of fresh paper to avoid economic disaster in 2008. It will take $20-30 trillion the next time. It always takes a bigger “hit” to stay “high”.
• The gold miners have just begun to report their  third quarter, which is the first quarter in eight years that gold has been $200/oz. higher, YTY, and the operating leverage is asserting itself. The first group of mining companies that has reported so far has shown dramatically better results and those stocks have jumped 7-10% in days. With bullion down 20% from its high, but the miners down 50-75%, there us obviously the potential for a major upside move in the gold mining stocks.

Roger Lipton