Business

Central banks have begun panic buying gold as statistics show that the cost of gold has risen by 19% in the last 15 months.  The price of gold recently crossed the $1,300 per ounce price for the first time, due to the sudden surge of demand from banks. Businessinsider.com reports: Buyers have come back into the market in India, the world’s largest buyer of gold, after a strike by the country’s jewelers associations brought business to standstill. In the US, demand for bullion is the strongest it’s been in 30 years.

With the frenzied speculation that drove levels and volumes in Chinese commodities off the charts having dawned on everyone from Cramer to Chinese Securities regulators as 'not real', it appears everyone is scrambling to not be the bagholder for this bubble as authorities crackdown on Chinese asset managers pooling retail investor funds, warning of the rise of "ponzi schemes." While nobody knows for sure how much of the trading surge has been driven by individuals, but the evidence suggests retail punters are playing a big role, and as Bloomberg reports, the average

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

It has been a twofer from Bill Ackman's Pershing Square this afternoon, which first released its latest weekly performance moments ago, revealing that as of May 10 it was down -1.7% for the month, but also -19.4% YTD, back to its worst 2016 performance since April 12.

Via GoldSwitzerland.com,

Lars Schall interviewed Peter Boockvar. Peter is one of those rare and informed people in the investment space who really understands the history and role of Central Banks in general, the Federal Reserve Bank in particular, and their interactions with the financial industry on (government) policy. We are very pleased to have Peter Boockvar on board this month with his first Matterhorn Interview. We recommend a good listen below.