Dear Reader, After a rather dramatic standoff between high ranking Chinese officials and Australian consulate officials, two Aussie journalists were booted out of the country. There are now no journos representing Australian papers in China. This is the first time we haven’t had an official correspondent in the Middle Kingdom since 1972. Given that the […]
Aussie Bank Bailout — The RBA Is Out to Save the Banks, Not You
Dear Reader, The R word is everywhere today. Something a central bank or politician wouldn’t dare whisper this time last year, is now splashed across the headlines. News of the official recession breaking caused my phone to light up like a Christmas tree. The tumultuous year has turned my phone into a default harbinger of […]
Stock Trading the New Normal — A New Type of Investor is Born
Dear Reader, Early in the pandemic, I wrote a draft that never made it to print. That happens a lot in this business. Sometimes the thoughts need to roll out onto the page before you discover what the meaningful part of it is. As stocks tumbled all around us in March it looked like the […]
Our Own Lost Decade: ‘Stagflation’ and the Pathway Out of this Recession
Dear Reader, A couple of weeks ago we touched on the stagflation puzzle. And then I deviated back onto gold. But today, it’s important to come back to the topic of stagflation. Depending on how long you’ve been subscribing to my daily musings, you’ll probably know I’ve spent quite a few years predicting a recession. […]
You Haven’t Missed the Gold Stock Rally (‘Cause It’s Only Just Begun)
Dear Reader, I wasn’t. I really wasn’t going to write to about gold today. Silver was going to be the topic of choice. After all, it’s made an incredible ‘power move’ in the last two weeks. The angle was how undervalued it is to gold. Perhaps I was even going to delve into what silver’s […]
Desert Riches in the Pilbara
Dear Reader, ‘There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around… ‘That the colt from old Regret had got away…’ Whenever I hear of something leaking in the press that wasn’t meant to, I hear my mum reciting The Man from Snowy River in my head. I’ve probably used that opening line […]
One Rule for Central Banks and One for Us
Dear Reader, Debasement. Erosion. Destruction. That’s pretty much how my day started. The Sprott Natural Resource Symposium was beginning, and I had a date with my desk. After a 4.30am alarm and not enough coffee, there was no mincing words. The very first conversations happening were about the destruction of the US dollar. Which was […]
Paper Gold versus Gold Miners
Dear Reader, What a gift I woke up to this morning. Sure, it’s Melbourne’s first day in lockdown 2.0. But the US dollar gold spot price cracked above US$1,800 overnight… Eh, you can’t win ‘em all. While I’d love to deep dive into what that means for the future gold price today, I’ve got a […]
Australia’s Great Reinvention: There’s No Getting Out of this Recession
Dear Reader, Oh Australia, aren’t we in a pickle? In the past when it came to avoiding a recession, we’d dip into the Keynesian playbook and look for answers. The last two decades, we’ve witnessed our government throw out some taxpayer dollars to keep things going. Heaven forbid we let the free markets take over. […]
Next Year the Bigger Problems Are Coming
Dear Reader, D…d…d…a central banker will dare not say this word out loud. Want proof? Back in April this year, our own head of the Reserve Bank of Australia said: ‘The large fall in oil prices, combined with the introduction of free childcare and the deferral or reduction in some price increases mean that it […]
