from Walk The World
Gold Price Eases Below $3,330 After Record High as Powell Flags Stagflation Risk
Gold pulls back from $3,357 all-time high as Powell warns Fed’s goals may conflict, raising stagflation concerns.
by Christian Borjon Valencia
FX Street
Gold retreated on Thursday ahead of the Good Friday Easter holiday, losing 0.60%, after enjoying a rally of close to $400 gains during the last seven trading days on uncertainty about the United States’ (US) trade policies. /USD trades at $3,319 after hitting a record high of $3,357 earlier in the session.
Market mood closed the last trading day of the week mixed, with two of the three main US indices posting gains, while the UnitedHealth Group plunge hit the Dow Jones. Wednesday’s speech by the Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell continues to be digested by the markets.
Fed Chair Powell turned hawkish, revealing that a weak economy and high inflation could conflict with the central bank’s two goals, making a stagflationary scenario possible.
Trump Wants Lower Interest Rates to ‘Counteract’ the Inflation From His Own Tariff Policies
President Donald Trump wants the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as a countermeasure to the expected economic slowdown and rising inflation from tariffs. However, widespread uncertainty is only making it harder for the Fed to put an end to its current holding pattern on rate cuts.
by Paolo Confino
Fortune
President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are at odds.
On Thursday Trump again called on the Fed, and Powell specifically, to lower interest rates. Just a day earlier Powell had reiterated the Fed’s view that the relative strength of the economy meant it didn’t have to rush to make a decision.
“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell said on Wednesday.
Powell’s cautious approach incensed the president. In a social media post early Thursday morning, Trump called Powell’s assessment a “mess” and accused him of being “TOO LATE AND WRONG.”
This is What the Start of the Dollar Collapse Looks Like
by David Haggith
GoldSeek
One of my recent warnings was that the US is sliding toward more credit downgrades because the Trump Tariffs are stripping away the one thing essential to the dollar surviving as the global trade currency—TRADE. The big thing that makes the present situation far more precarious for the dollar than any previous situation is that the trade that makes dollars desirable and even needed around the world is being seriously sucked down a vortex. That greatly reduces the need for dollars in trade, which makes this the easiest time ever for any nation wanting to ditch the dollar to do so as a way to finally end US hegemony.
That doesn’t mean the dollar will go down without a hard fight, and it doesn’t mean the dollar cannot still be saved, but its rapid decline has begun, and suddenly, few seem to be arguing with that. In fact, many are openly saying it. Probably no one can say, based on any actual experience, how far a currency as broad and stable for such a long time as the dollar can slide before momentum continues the flush, no matter what anyone does to intervene.
The U.S. Dollar is Crashing, and Our Reserve Currency Status is in Serious Jeopardy – Is This Being Done by Design?
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
For many years, pundits have been warning us that the U.S. dollar would collapse. In 2025, it is actually starting to happen. The U.S. dollar hit a three year low against other global currencies last week, and on Wednesday the crash of the dollar resumed. Overall, the U.S. dollar is now down about 9 percent over the past 3 months. The currency that has benefitted the most is the Swiss franc. The USD/CHF recently hit the lowest level that we have seen in 14 years. What we are witnessing is literally a bloodbath, and many experts are suggesting that our reserve currency status is now in serious jeopardy.
Many were hoping that the dollar would bounce back this week, but there was more carnage on Wednesday…
The dollar resumed its fall on Wednesday with both safe havens and risk sensitive currencies outperforming the greenback as traders waited to see if U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration reaches new trading agreements with partners.
Financial Repression is Back, as Euro Debasement Continues
by Thorsten Polleit
Mises.org
In June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) began lowering its key interest rate. Borrowing costs were reduced from 4.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent in March 2025—which, after accounting for the officially measured inflation, is almost zero per cent in real terms. The time when euro deposit holders could achieve a positive real interest rate was very brief.
What is the reason for the interest rate cuts? ECB decision-makers explain to the public that inflation is declining—in February, the rise in consumer goods prices in the euro area was 2.4 per cent—and that would justify lower interest rates. However, the real reason is something else.
The euro area economy can no longer deal with elevated interest rates. Many countries suffer from weak economic growth, especially Germany, the largest economy in the euro area, is literally in a downward spiral.
This is not surprising: The interventionist-socialist policies in many European countries, particularly in Germany, are suffocating, or rather destroying, the forces of economic growth.
U.S. Dollar, China, BRICS, Gold and the Global Power Rebalance
from King World News
Here is a look at the US dollar, China, CRICS, Gold and the global power rebalance.
Death of the US dollar
April 16 (King World News) – Gregory Mannarino, writing for the Trends Journal: This is certainly no secret; nations are actively sidestepping the U.S. dollar in international trade and financial agreements with more on the way. This is something that’s part of a larger global de-dollarization trend. This movement is gaining momentum as trust in U.S. fiscal policy and geopolitical influence continues to waver.
Powell Sees ‘Challenging Scenario’ for Fed if Trump Tariffs Stoke Inflation and Slow Growth
by Jennifer Schonberger
Yahoo! Finance
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank will “wait for greater clarity” before considering any interest rate adjustments as he expects President Trump’s tariffs to generate “higher inflation and slower growth.”
Those twin developments, he acknowledged during a Chicago speech, could create a major dilemma for the Fed — which is obligated to keep prices stable while also maximizing employment.
“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” he said.
During a question-and-answer session that followed his speech, he admitted there is a “strong likelihood” that the economy will be moving away from both of the Fed’s goals for the “balance of the year, or at least not making much progress.”
Cool CPI Report Gives Federal Reserve Green Light to Crank Up Inflation
by Mike Maharrey
GoldSeek
The Federal Reserve just got the green light to crank up the inflation machine.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) moderated in February and turned downright cool in March. Prices fell month-on-month, driven by much lower energy costs.
That cracks the door for the Fed to plausibly cut interest rates again sooner rather than later. And that open door could come in handy for the Fed with markets in chaos and recession worries heating up.
The March CPI Data
On an annual basis, the CPI came in at 2.4 percent, according to data from the BLS. That was down from 2.8 percent in February. The forecast was for a 2.6 percent annual price gain.
‘Term Premium’ Sends a Message. Inflation Isn’t What Bond Investors Fear Most.
by Karishma Vanjani
Barron’s
The yield on U.S. government debt maturing in 10 years slipped by 0.038 percentage point to 4.322% on Tuesday, calming down after marking its biggest weekly gain since the end of the 2001 recession last week. Sales of U.S. debt are pushing down prices and raising yields; yields and bond prices are inversely related.
Last week, Wall Street mainly blamed the surge on foreign central banks selling bonds and the unwinding of a complex, highly leveraged hedge fund strategy called the basis trade. Both were difficult-to-measure variables, partly because transactions by both groups are opaque.
What Should the Federal Reserve Do in the Face of Stagflation?
Economists, including former PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian, believes the central bank should prioritize tackling inflation.
by Shreyas Sinha
Observer
President Trump’s tariff announcements have simultaneously raised inflation expectations and dampened economic prospects—so much so that former New York Fed President Bill Dudley wrote that “stagflation is now America’s best-case scenario.” Stagflation, the combination of high inflation and slow growth, is among the most difficult for the Federal Reserve to manage: contractionary policy may tame inflation but slows growth further, while expansionary moves risk fueling inflation without the guarantee of boosting the economy. Every option, in effect, becomes a double-edged sword.
The central bank is meeting on May 7 to determine its next step on interest rates. Currently, markets expect rates to stay the same after the May meeting but a 60 percent chance of a 25 basis-point cut in June, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch. Such expectations reflect “how they have been trained repeatedly by the Fed to expect looser financial conditions the minute there are any signs of unusual market volatility,” the economist Mohamed El-Erian wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed last week.