Dear Readers,

What a month…. In the words of the Queen; “It is difficult to escape a very sombre national mood. In recent months, the country has witnessed a succession of terrible tragedies. As a nation, we continue to reflect and pray for all those who have been directly affected in Manchester and London. Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity. United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favour, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss.” (Royal Family official statement)

 

Now, more than ever, it is clear we need to unite across lines of young and old, party politics and economic backgrounds to build a stronger, globally positioned the United Kingdom to weather the oncoming financial storms, and get to work. 

 

 

Financial Silence

After the shock of recent events, what I have found secondarily shocking is that an earthquake measuring well over 8.0 on the economic Richter scale is erupting below our markets. But it’s barely audible on the mainstream media’s loudspeaker. Instead, the tabloid headlines are still screaming “he said, she said.”

Thankfully, from so many conversations, our client’s are much more awake. The motive for investing in Gold and Silver is individual responsibility. 

Each month Bleyer attempts to block out the noise and examine below the current headlines, at what’s really going on in the financial markets, so that our clients can make informed preparation and decisions.

 

Key Events in regard to Gold and Silver

This month, I’ve had to look really hard to find these warnings in the standard papers. But finally, it is just beginning to creep in. Here are some things that I found out during my research.

 

Several warnings emerge of a severe economic crash within 6 months to a year

Last night I found this twitter flash: “New bank crash fears over rise in easy credit” (Twitter via the BBC on Tomorrows Telegraph Headlines). The article is there this morning but right at the bottom of the first page.

 

Wednesday’s Telegraph: “New bank crash fears over rise in easy credit” (via @MsHelicat) #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/FBEhkPXkmn—
BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 27, 2017

 

In addition, I had to trawl through to find this “nothing-to-see-here” article hidden well below the scroll in the Money Section: “In Britain, with markets at all-time highs, investors are sitting on cash and struggling to decide how to use it. The fear is that they will be investing at the worst possible moment, and face seeing investment values plunge if and when the market takes a downturn.” (Where to invest if you’re scared of putting cash into record-high markets, The Telegraph) 

Disappointingly, the article researcher quoted from stock market analysts only, so no one mentions parking your money in Gold and Silver – whether that be physical or moving your cash into a Gold linked pension.

 

Buying Gold and Silver: Time To Act

It is only by turning to the industry news – of which most members of the British public don’t usually read or have access – that the warnings become much more urgent:

“An abrupt end to the current period of growth could come “with a vengeance,” said Claudio Borio, head of the BIS monetary and economic department. “Leading indicators of financial distress point to financial booms that in a number of economies look qualitatively similar to those that preceded the global financial crisis,” Borio added. (City AM)

BIS stands for the Bank of International Settlements. “The BIS, sometimes known as the central bank for central banks, warned of deep problems looming over the world economy. Major central banks may be forced to raise interest rates to combat inflation.” (City AM) 

 

 

Other Voices of Warning Pertinent to the U.K.

1. “The 1987 stock market crash revisited: Too many parallels to ignore, forewarned is forearmed; “This is not one of the ‘crash calls’, but merely a note that the situation seems eerily similar to the one seen before the 1987 crash. Calling a top is as dangerous as trying to catch a falling knife. However, one can stay vigilant during the next 6 months or so.” (Forex Street)
2. This week, the “Bank of England Governor Mark Carney explained that the Bank was worried about those households who are heavily in debt. Banks will have to set aside £5.7bn in the next six months in case future economic shocks mean some borrowers cannot keep up their repayments.” Did you notice the time frame? Once again, six months. Why would some borrowers not be able to keep up their repayments? He’s telling us interest rates will go up, without actually stating it. (Business section, BBC)
3. Renowned investor Jim Rogers believes the “worst [financial] crash in our lifetime” will happen this year or next, pointing to rising debt levels in the US and China. Rogers said everyone should be “very worried” as the debt problem in 2008 was “nothing” compared to the current global economic backdrop (Investment Week). Rogers pointed to the Federal Reserve running a balance sheet five times the size it had in 2008, while China, which “had a lot of money saved for a rainy day” in the run-up to the global financial crisis [of 2008], now also has ballooning debt. In terms of what would spark the crash, Rogers said it would start somewhere investors are not expecting, using the example of when Iceland went broke during the global crisis. “People said, ‘Iceland? Is that a country? They have a market?’ And then Ireland went broke. And then Bear Stearns went broke. And Lehman Brothers went broke. They spiral like that. “It could be an American pension plan that goes broke, and many of them are broke [already]. It could be some country we are not watching. It could be all sorts of things. It could be war – unlikely to be war, but it is going to be something.” (Investment Week)
4. Perhaps the biggest warning of them all to us in the U.K is this: “This is a bail-out that nationalises losses and privatises gains – weren’t banking rules meant to stop this?” This week’s quote from Bloomberg Markets is referring to the staggering declaration that Italy is “bailing out” its failing banks to the mind-blowing tune of €17 billion, paid for by the Italian taxpayer; a debt to which the UK will be tethered until we leave the E.U. “While the Italians have let the crisis fester, the underlying cause is the unworkable policy regime imposed by the EU authorities themselves.” (The Telegraph)
5. Why is this currently so treacherous to our British economy? Italy’s debt is now a whopping 132% of its GDP (Trading Economics). It’s only beaten by Greece as the sick man of the eurozone. I can’t find up to date figures – slightly unsurprisingly – but in 2011, when Italy’s debt was 121% of its GDP, Germany held €120 billion of Italy’s debt, France held a mind-blowing €309 billion of Italy’s debt, Germany held €123 billion of France’s debt and Spain owed Germany €131 billion. From 2011 and counting, Italy owed the U.K. €54 billion and France owed us €227 billion while we owed France €209 billion, which meant we were €18 billion up. (BBC)
6. Economists call this the ‘Doom Loop’. “Western European banks have more than doubled their holdings of their own governments’ debt from a low of €355bn in September 2008 to €791bn today.” (The Telegraph) Just for fun, when was €336 billion ever – in the real world of you and I – called “a low?!” Facts are facts. The U.K. economy is logically and desperately in need of the fresh international pasture of emerging and Commonwealth markets. The E.U. is a house of cards, Italy is euroland’s third largest economy after Germany and France and the ground is severely shaking.
7. “An Italian exit from the single currency would trigger the total collapse of the eurozone within a very short period. It would probably lead to the most violent economic shock in history, dwarfing the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 and the 1929 Wall Street crash.” (Financial Times quoted within an in-depth report from the Gatestone Institute)
8. And lastly, even The Guardian stated last year, albeit three weeks after the E.U. Referendum result, that “The next E.U. crisis – the Italian banks – needs to be addressed.” A year on and it hasn’t.

 

Gold and Silver as Financial Safe Havens

Gold is a safe haven in times of political, economic and international uncertainty. When paper markets and currencies suffer, physical Gold and Silver do well.

Call Bleyer to talk through your hopes of wealth preservation and how you can use Gold and Silver to compliment your current savings and investments. Tax savings are on offer with certain Gold and Silver products. Gold is also available to use in your current or new Pension.

 

In addition, Bleyer offer a variety of home safes and storage options. Call 01769 618618 to discuss any of these options with one of the Bleyer Team.