This morning brought another snapshot of the US labour market, and it was stronger than most people expected. Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, with the number coming in at 224,000 against forecasts for 228,000.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, was also lower than expected. In market terms, it pointed to a jobs market that is still holding up well.
For gold, the reaction was immediate. Prices slipped back towards $3,347/oz, down just under a quarter of a percent on the session. On the surface, it was nothing more than a mild pullback in response to a data release. But short-term price moves can sometimes obscure the bigger forces shaping a market, and in gold’s case, those forces are not always in plain view.
In today’s episode of GoldCore TV, Is Gold Being Sabotaged by Secret Policy Moves?, Jan Skoyles explores what happens when gold is moved not only by the ebb and flow of economic news but by sudden changes in policy. We look back at an incident where a simple letter from a government agency and a brief presidential comment sent billions of dollars in gold trades into disarray. It was a reminder that the rules of the game can be changed quickly, and often without much warning.
From there, we look at why the independence of the Federal Reserve is now openly debated, how America’s debt position is creating pressures that could lead to deliberate market interventions, and why the way you hold gold matters as much as the decision to hold it at all. The difference between a claim on gold and owning it outright may seem small, but in a genuine policy shock, it can be decisive.
Gold’s pullback today may be just another passing headline, but the underlying risks we discuss in this episode are far from temporary. They are part of a broader shift in the way economic and financial power is being exercised, and they deserve attention from anyone serious about protecting their wealth.
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