Failure to Deliver On Health Care Campaign Promise Puts Economic Agenda in Jeopardy.
Tax reform and infrastructure stimulus bills may be harder to pass.
Raising the debt ceiling may be harder with an emboldened freedom caucus.
Russian intereference/collusion with Trump campaign in 2016 election investigation a priority for FBI/Democrats.
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Top stories: Roadblocks were placed that change the “trumpflation” narrative that was projected to keep the economy and (especially) the stock markets rising. With Fed policy moving away from monetary accomodation, markets were satisfied that fiscal stimulus would provide any lost momentum.
Obamacare not repealed
Why the repeal and replace bill died, despite a Republican majority (assuming no democrat would have voted in favor of repeal of Obamacare).
– Process. House Speaker Ryan did not get buy in first, especially from the Freedom Caucus. Instead they prepared the bill in committee (dubbed Ryancare or Obamacare 2.0 because it kept the individual mandate payable to insurance companies and pre-existing conditions) then presented it as a take it or leave it proposition. Only cosmetic changes were made after they realized they didn’t have the votes.
– Conservatives don’t act boldly. “Conservative” means no changes, once even a liberal program, like social security, has taken hold it wont be removed. “Reactionaries” repeal laws, not conservatives.
– Paul Ryan House Speaker Ryan seems to have no interest in handing Trump a legislative victory.
– No Congressional Trumpistas. President Trump has no “trumpistas” new members of congress who got elected supporting him- most republicans were neutral or ran from him.
Trumpflation Deflated?
Wall Street had bought into a narrative that a Trump administration could keep the party going with tax cuts and infrastructure stimulus spending. With those legislative items less certain and the Fed raising rates, Wall Street may soon rethink that future.
FBI investigating Russian/Trump Campaign
FBI director James Comey and National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers met with Congress last week. Comey told Congress that the FBI has been investigating Russian interference and Trump campaign connections with Russia since July 2016. Comey denied any “tapping of Trump tower”.
However, in order to investigate Trump and his campaign, the FBI would have had to have done some surveillance. That surveillance could have been of Russian actors. This type of surveillance technically is not aimed at US citizens but their conversations get picked up “incidentally” as part of the surveillance. There are supposed safeguards in place to mask the US citizens’ names when intelligence is shared.
In the case of General Flynn this was not done AND his name and contents of his discussion with Russian actors was leaked to the press. This is a security breach and a felony.
The telling part of the Comey/Rogers congressional meeting occurred when Comey broke protocol to say that the FBI was investigating Russian/Trump campaign activities (of which there has been no evidence to date produced suggesting collusion) but refused to state that they WOULD investigate the leaks coming from their own intelligence agencies.
Unless Comey is relieved of his position, the Russian angle will continue to be pursued and perhaps further leaks will occur further undermining Trump’s authority.
Having suffered a legislative defeat, the incessant charges of Russian involvement may further undermine the Trump presidency making the ability to pursue the agenda that Wall Street fell in love with hard or impossible.
Trump may decide at some point to ask for Comey’s resignation which would also perhaps undermine his authority as it would appear to be a conflict and further undermine, at least in the short term, his ability to pursue Trumpflation.
Finally, the raising of the debt ceiling is something that the minority party is always against. As Senator, Presidential candidate Obama called raising the debt ceiling irresponsible and voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006.
There is a good possibility that a large number of Democrats will vote against raising the debt ceiling. It may be difficult of House Speaker Ryan and President Trump to prevent some Republicans from doing the same.
Top economic story of the week: Obamacare shot down in flames.
Gold and silver.
Gold closed last week at $1228.80 an ounce and closed this week at $1242.90 +1.1 %
Silver closed last week at $17.37 an ounce and closed this week at $17.74 +2.1%
The gold and silver ratio ended the week at 70.74:1
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Tweet of the Week
Here are the stories we wrote, followed or commented on.
March 20, 2017
Gold
Chinese archeologists discover underwater treasure
Fed Chatter
Fed on track to raise US rates twice more this year: Charles Evans
EVANS: IF ECONOMY ‘REALLY’ PICKS UP, FOUR RATE RISES POSSIBLE
Fed inflation forecasts have been wrong for 6 years- Kashkari
The fed’s job is not to protect stock market investors- Kashkari
U.S. Mint Sales Update
U.S. Mint reported selling 715,000 American Silver Eagles and 4,000 American Gold Eagles today.
MTD American Silver Eagles sold 1,215,000 & American Gold Eagles sold 10,000
YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 7,557,500/American Gold Eagles sold 117,500
You can compare pricing and shipping charges on American Gold Eagles coins of all sizes at these web sites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
The U.S. Mint sold 0 of the first America the Beautiful Coin of 2017 today – the Effigy Mounds National Monument coin. YTD ATB coins 19,500.
The U.S. Mint reported selling 0 one ounce American Platinum Eagle coins.
YTD 20,000
The U.S. Mint reported selling 2,500American Gold Buffalo coins.
MTD 4,500 sold
YTD 51,500 sold
You can compare American Gold Buffalo coins for sale at these websites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
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March 21, 2017
From Smaulgld.com
RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK CONTINUES WORLD LEADING GOLD ACQUISITION SPREE IN FEBRUARY/strong>
U.S. Mint Sales Update
U.S. Mint reported selling 50,000 American Silver Eagles and 500 American Gold Eagles today.
MTD American Silver Eagles sold 1,265,000 & American Gold Eagles sold 10,500
YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 7,607,500/American Gold Eagles sold 118,000
You can compare pricing and shipping charges on American Gold Eagles coins of all sizes at these web sites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
The U.S. Mint sold 0 of the first America the Beautiful Coin of 2017 today – the Effigy Mounds National Monument coin. YTD ATB coins 19,500.
The U.S. Mint reported selling 0 one ounce American Platinum Eagle coins.
YTD 20,000
The U.S. Mint reported selling 500American Gold Buffalo coins.
MTD 5,000 sold
YTD 52,000 sold
Compare American Silver Eagles for sale at:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
You can compare American Gold Buffalo coins for sale at these websites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
March 22, 2017
From Smaulgld.com
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL COIN SALES AT THE U.S. MINT IN 2016 – 2017
Silver
Our future mobile device screens might be made of silver
De-Dollarization
India tries to fix Iran trade payments as Trump hardens line
US Economic Data
MBA mortgage applications index fell 2.7%, after rising 3.7% last
Purchases down 2.1%, +2.3% last
Refis down 3.3%, +4.1% last
Fed Chatter
Fed’s Eric Rosengren; Hot US real estate a potential red flag
Fed’s Mester Says Improved Sentiment Not Yet Showing in Economy.
March 23, 2017
Gold
Struggling with dore imports, MMTC Pamp banks on domestic gold scrap
US Economic Data
Initial Claims 258K, Exp. 241K, Last 243K
New Home Sales 592K, Exp. 564K
U.S. Mint Sales Update
U.S. Mint reported selling 30,000 American Silver Eagles and 4,000 American Gold Eagles today.
MTD American Silver Eagles sold 1,295,000 & American Gold Eagles sold 14,500
YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 7,637,500/American Gold Eagles sold 122,000
You can compare pricing and shipping charges on American Gold Eagles coins of all sizes at these web sites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
The U.S. Mint sold 0 of the first America the Beautiful Coin of 2017 today – the Effigy Mounds National Monument coin. YTD ATB coins 19,500.
The U.S. Mint reported selling 0 one ounce American Platinum Eagle coins.
YTD 20,000
The U.S. Mint reported selling 2,000American Gold Buffalo coins.
MTD 7,000 sold
YTD 54,000 sold
Compare American Silver Eagles for sale at:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
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Compare Pricing and Shipping on American Gold Eagle Coins
You can compare pricing and shipping charges on American Gold Eagles coins of all sizes at these web sites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
You can compare American Gold Buffalo coins for sale at these websites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
Compare American Silver Eagles for sale at:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
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March 24, 2017
Smaulgld.com
Gold
There Is Gold in Seawater, But We Can’t Get at It
A New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold
Police say teens made more than $50,000 selling fake bars of gold
World’s first seabed mine to begin production in 2019
US Economic Data
US durable goods orders rose 1.7% in Feb vs. 1.2% increase expected
Durable goods 1.7%, Exp. 1.2%
Durable goods ex-trans 0.4%, Exp. 0.6%
Atlanta Fed raises Q1GDP forecast to 1.0% from 0.9%
DOL CORRECTS JOBLESS CLAIMS FOR MARCH 18 WEEK TO 261,000 FROM 258,000
Markit Service PMI 52.9, Exp. 54.2, Last 53.8
Manufacturing PMI 53.4, Exp.54.8, Last 54.2
Fed Chatter
BULLARD: WE’RE NOT IN BUBBLE AS SAME MAGNITUDE AS RECENT CRISES
BULLARD: YOU’D SEE WEAKER EQUITIES IF FED GETS TOO AGGRESSIVE
Fed’s Dudley: We want to make monetary policy ‘less accommodative’
Compare Pricing and Shipping on American Gold Eagle Coins
You can compare pricing and shipping charges on American Gold Eagles coins of all sizes at these web sites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
You can compare American Gold Buffalo coins for sale at these websites:
BGASC.com
Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
March 25, 2017
From Smaulgld.com
WHY ARE INDIAN SILVER IMPORTS FALLING?
You can compare American Gold Buffalo coins for sale at these websites:
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Golden Eagle Coins
JM Bullion
Money Metals Exchange
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