Gold Runs Up On More Brexit Ramifications and Dovish Fed

The repercussions from Brexit are far from over. The Bank of England is looking at another round of quantitative easing that may go as high as £250 million (about $330 million). That freer and easier money makes almost any investment attractive, in Great Britain as well as globally.

So, we saw gold, oil and worldwide equities up again today, although in the U.S., probably due to the long Independence Day holiday weekend, trading was muted and the major indexes were struggling to hold their gains.

Gold is up a very strong $17.40 at 3:30PM and silver is once again up a window-shattering amount – 5.40%.

We believe that most of all the BOJ action is a move to protect the City of London’s position as the co-lead star (with New York) in the big financial show. There were some rumblings on this side of the Atlantic in the central banking area, as well.

The Federal Reserve’s usual inter-meeting chatter has begun. Stanley Fischer, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, while swatting down the ludicrous notion of negative rates in the U.S., slyly reaffirmed the Fed’s holding to current interest rate levels for the nonce.

Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester – an FOMC voter – warned that “policymakers cannot let the lack of economic clarity distract us from our important mission,” by which she meant adjusting rates upward, although she said neither the timing nor the data had quite come right yet. Mester is a noted rate hawk.

Another voter on the FOMC, James Bullard, who is president of the St. Louis Fed, said the economy would “need” only one more rate hike this year. Bullard is a mild hawk but he has been viewed as softening his harder-line views of late.

We do have a number of worries that gold bulls, in particular, will find interesting. World manufacturing is in a funk, especially in China. The U.S. is holding its own and is distinctly gaining strength from a cheaper dollar in the last year.

The Caixin survey of manufacturing managers’ sentiment (a private gauge of nationwide factory activity) slipped once more in June, holding in negative territory for the 16th month running.

The index fell for the third month in a row, now to 48.6 in June from 49.2 in May. Ouch, that hurts.

"Overall, economic conditions in the second quarter were considerably weaker than in the first quarter, which means there has been no easing of the downward pressure on growth," said Zhengsheng Zhong, an economist at CEBM Group.

"Against the backdrop of a turbulent external environment, and in order to avert a sharp economic decline, the government must strengthen its proactive fiscal policy while continuing to follow prudent monetary policy," he said.

On the other hand, American manufacturing expanded for the fourth straight month in June, hitting the strongest reading in 16 months as the outlook for new orders and production improved.

The Institute for Supply Management said Friday its manufacturing index rose to 53.2 last month from 51.3 in May. Anything above 50 signals growth.

The Federal Reserve's measure of manufacturing output slipped 0.4 percent in May, however, as automobile production fell. (Typical for summer.)

The manufacturing issue is one of the most fundamental of all fundamental indicators. Let’s see how the world does and how it affects gold.

Wishing you as always, good trading,