Seven large companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection between May 13 and May 15, 2023—the largest number of filings on record during a 48-hour period since at least 2008, according to Bloomberg. An article published by the media outlet suggests that one factor contributing to this rise in bankruptcies is...
The average American’s sense of financial security has declined over the past two years, according to the results of the May 2023 IPSOS Country Financial Security Index Report. Consumers are now searching for financial protection in the face of economic pessimism. Public financial sentiment is negative. Retiree...
According to newly released data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China’s central bank grew its gold reserves for the sixth straight month in April 2023, continuing a trend of diversifying away from its U.S. dollar assets. China is not alone, as de-dollarization has gained popularity among several...
On April 28, 2023, a report from the Federal Reserve blamed, in part, its own policies for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) the previous month. The Federal Reserve is now attempting to balance its fight against inflation with an attempt to stabilize the nation’s banking system—but the central bank’s fiscal...
Federal spending is close to eclipsing its debt limit—the total the government can legally borrow to pay its bills. On April 25, 2023, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that failure to raise the debt ceiling would lead to an “economic catastrophe.” The closer the possibility of default becomes, the more...
On April 18, 2023, Jared Bernstein, the presidential nominee for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said that China likely wants to erode the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency. As the dollar faces pressure, some analysts say precious metals like silver may be safe havens for consumers. The...
On April 4, 2023, the price of gold broke through the $2,000/oz. price level and traded in that range during the following weeks. Meanwhile, the outlook for the dollar has weakened. Analysts say this reduced outlook has increased the popularity of physical gold and helped push prices of the precious metal close to an...
In the weeks following the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse, around $1 trillion in deposits has been withdrawn from banks in the United States, according to research by JPMorgan Chase. This lack of deposits combined with high interest rates may create more risks and uncertainty for the banking system despite a...
On March 22, 2023, the Federal Reserve enacted another quarter-percentage-point interest rate hike but indicated that hikes would soon stop. The end of this historic rate hike cycle may have major implications for the economy. The latest Federal Reserve interest rate cycle took rates to pre–2008 Financial Crisis...
Gold spot prices recently peaked at over $2,000/oz., reaching $2,000.59/oz. in intraday trading on March 20, 2023, according to Reuters. Analysts attribute the increase in gold demand to the recent banking crisis because uncertainty surrounding the banking industry has consumers turning to gold as a store of wealth....
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 575 points on March 7, 2023, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the central bank was likely to “aggressively” hike interest rates. The following week, stocks continued to trend downward as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) led to a drop in...
On Friday, March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in Santa Clara, CA was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Two days later, on March 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly...
