Business

When it comes to tracking the nuances at the all important margin of the gold market, few are as observant as ADMISI's Paul Mylchreest, whose December 2014 analysis showed the stunning role gold holds in the new normal as a funding "currency" for BOJ interventions in the form of a long Nikkei/short gold (and vice versa) pair trade, indicating that central banks directly intervene in gold pricing (by selling, of course) when seeking to push paper asset prices higher.

Last Friday, the US Labor Department released the job numbers, and – big shocker – the American economy added fewer jobs than what everybody was expecting. Whereas most economists were expecting the country’s labor market to create 205,000 new jobs (which would have been a welcome boost), April’s job numbers saw an increase of just 160,000 jobs, or approximately 20% lower compared to the estimates.

Overnight China reported April exports and imports, both of which dropped after a strong pick up in March, and missed consensus expectations, confirming "weak demand at home and abroad and cooling hopes of a recovery in the world's second-largest economy."

A proposal to permanently shut down the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is to be considered by Congress soon. The Republican Study Committee (RSC) submitted the proposals to the House Republican task forces for consideration. Forbes.com reports: As part of its proposal on tax reform, the RSC slammed the IRS, writing: In its current form, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is at best an inefficient behemoth weighing down our economy. At its worst, the IRS has shown a capacity for outright corruption and political targeting.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Donald Trump’s patented phrase “we aren’t winning anymore” lies beneath the tidal wave of anti-establishment sentiment propelling his campaign and, to some considerable degree, that of Bernie Sanders, too.