While the press euphorically announced that economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year was better than expected (because: 2.9% growth in 2018), post-crisis economic growth has been among the most disappointing in history. Now that we have an estimate for the fourth quarter, the sad but true conclusion must be that the U.S. is setting an extremely upsetting record: 13 years in a row with annual GDP growth below 3%. All this despite Trump’s election promise to grow the U.S. economy at a

Last week, the gold price closed near $1,325 per troy ounce, which is remarkable, since gold prices broke convincingly through the $1300-barrier after New Year’s Eve. Gold prices rallied even further by another three percent, topping $1340/oz, but slightly retreated last week. The motive? Everything appears to be awesome again on stock markets and Trump – insofar the rumors go – is nearing a tough fought trade agreement with the Chinese to resolve an impending all-out trade war. But this

A remarkable change of fate by the Fed, which already began to surface in November last year, has reached its pinnacle last week. The era of rate hikes that began in December 2015 in the U.S. appears to have come to a grinding halt.