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Whales and Minnows |
Elon set to launch his biggest project yet
By as soon as August 8… |
The Whales Are Stacking
Such debt and currency dynamics are now fully understood by the global financial whales, which is why central banks have been net stacking gold over USTs since 2014 and nearly tripling their physical gold purchasing since the weaponization of the USD in 2022:
This is also why whales like the BIS declared gold a Tier-1 strategic reserve asset in 2023 and it further explains why the whales have been taking physical delivery of gold off the COMEX at record levels since November of 2024.
And when it comes to the BRICS turning their backs on the USD while net-settling trades in gold at the same historical moment that the oil trade is slowly moving away from the petrodollar, the golden writing on the wall could not be clearer.
In short: The whales know that gold is far superior to a bankrupt Uncle Sam’s UST/USD as a future reserve asset.
Such whale purchasing of gold explains gold’s historic price moves of late and further explains why we are years (and thousands of dollars) away from anything at all resembling “peak gold.”
And Now the Minnows Are Catching On
Another key, yet largely ignored factor in confirming the longer-term direction (rather than current “peak”) of gold is that the minnows (i.e. retail markets) have only just begun to see the same writing on the wall of gold’s real use and future price direction.
That is, just as gold made a major technical breakout in March of last year, in March of this year, we saw another major breakout which, of course, the media is not covering at all…
Specifically, we just saw gold breaking away from a 10-year base in the classic/traditional 60/40 stock bond portfolio, which is the very bread & butter of consensus-think retail investment (mal) advisory narratives.
Stated otherwise, retail investors are catching on that inflated stocks and bonds aren’t what they used to be and that gold is more than just a pet rock.
This rising retail understanding/move, coupled with the aforementioned “whale” moves in gold, bodes very well for its longer-term price and direction.
Much of this evolving awareness among retail investors hinges upon the devolving role of bonds as a once-sacred “safe haven” from stock market risk.
Even Bloomberg’s experts see the S&P’s fair valuation at below 4000.
In other words, stocks are in a massive bubble.
Buffett knows it. He’s hundreds of billions in cash and the last time we saw a stock market cap to GDP ratio (>200%) this high was in the US of 1929 or the Nikkei of 89.
And we all know how that played out…
But where to hide?
As we saw in 2020, and then again just weeks ago when the VIX surpassed 60 and stocks were falling, bonds were falling as well—which is a major warning of uh-oh.
In fact, we are now in a secular bear market for bonds, something not seen since the mid-1960’s to 1980, which means investors—both minnows and whales—need a better store of value than paper promises from broke(n) sovereigns.
In short, and to repeat: gold is that new asset and that new direction, and is not even close to peaking.
Instead, gold’s climb is just beginning.
Matthew Piepenburg
Von Greyerz Gold and Grey Swan
P.S. from Addison: Since listening to Jamieson Greer talk about “non-tariff” trade barriers last week, we’ve been mildly obsessed with them.
One in particular.
Yuan currency manipulation:
From Santiago Capital:
At the core of this tale lies an age-old economic paradox: the Impossible Trinity. A country can choose any two of the following three things:
- A fixed exchange rate.
- Free capital movement.
- Independent monetary policy.
China, like all illusionists, has spent the last 30 years trying to cheat the triad.
For years, Beijing kept the yuan artificially stable, pulling in foreign capital while tightly controlling monetary policy and the currency peg [to the U.S. dollar].
Investors, emboldened by the illusion of stability, poured money into China, which fueled a historic debt and infrastructure boom.
But the capital inflows that juiced growth in the 1990s and 2000s turned into slow leaks after the global financial crisis…and by 2015, the yuan peg nearly broke.
Here’s how the magic trick worked: foreign investors would convert dollars to yuan, flooding Chinese banks with foreign currency.
To prevent the yuan from strengthening…which would make exports less competitive…the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) would take those dollars, print new yuan, and give the new Yuan to the Chinese banks.
This fueled an enormous credit boom. And for a time, it worked brilliantly.
As long as the inflows kept coming, Beijing could fund growth without letting the yuan float freely or sacrificing monetary control.
But as every magician knows, illusions only last as long as the audience believes in them.
The media has focused heavily on the tariff tiff between Washington and Beijing, but beneath the surface lies a much more engaging and sinister plot. And one where China, with its vast and growing gold holdings, could end up with the upper hand.
We expect more on this story to unfold this year and are further researching what’s starting to look like a significant Grey Swan event. Stay tuned…
Your thoughts before we continue? Add them to the mix here: addison@greyswanfraternity.com
How did we get here? Find out in these riveting reads: Demise of the Dollar, Financial Reckoning Day, and Empire of Debt — all three books are now available in their third post-pandemic editions. You might enjoy one or all three.
(Or… simply pre-order Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed, now available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or if you prefer one of these sites: Bookshop.org, Books-A-Million or Target.)
Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com
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