1930's or today, gold wins currency wars

While Trump weaponizes trade to turn economic tables in his favor, China silently attempted to play its trump card of currency depreciation to negate that impact. Additional tariffs resulted in diminishing Chinese competitiveness whereas devaluing its currency boosted it. U.S treasury labelled China as “currency manipulator” in its frustration of this zero sum game. The currency manipulator designation is ironic because China long had been manipulating its currency upward, above market valuation, and was sanctioned by the United States only when it began to let market forces push its currency down a little. It didn’t designate China in the 2005-08 period when a case to do so existed, as Beijing was running a 10% of GDP current account surplus and intervening heavily. But surely, there is no case today.

On the other hand, Trump too has been a proponent of a weaker dollar and has been vocal in criticizing the Fed policy for not engineering currency depreciation by pursing aggressive accommodative policies. Global growth is slowing down and the trade war uncertainty is worsening growth prospects further. Faced with insufficient growth, politicians see a weaker currency as a direct shot at improving their export competitive status. Currency war is just the logical extension as worried politicians tinker their exchange rates as a way to tackle faltering economies.

The race to the bottom between the fiat currencies will continue as each sovereign state believes that a weaker currency will boost exports and ultimately will get them out of this mess. The fact that each round of currency devaluation negates the previous one would appear to have gone unnoticed by those involved. Printing money, making money cheap, borrowing to force-feed spending - it's all an exercise in futility and ultimately counterproductive. Soaring deficits don't create new demand; they only create fears of huge future tax hikes and devalue the purchasing power of the money you own.

It is reminiscent in some ways of the 1930’s, when Spain, the UK, Japan, the U.S. and France engaged in successive devaluations in exiting the gold standard. In the end, little was gained in terms of relative competitiveness, and the process served to heighten exchange rate uncertainties and raise political tensions. Even today, more countries will start to pursue “competitive devaluation” strategy to support their export, attract foreign investment and buffer the impact of a deepening global recession.

The root causes of a depression are excessive debt, not currencies that are too strong. Currency debasement and expansionary monetary policies are attempts to socialize such debt, bailing out those that have taken on irresponsible debt burdens. Instead of the governments acknowledging their debt burdens and take austerity measures, they flip the story to make people believe that such policy is for the greater good.

We can criticize all we want, but ultimately, we are observers rather than instigators. The question is what we can do to protect our wealth from the fast unfolding fallout of currency wars?

Buy an asset that can’t be debased by the ones in power: Gold.

Let’s us explain why gold will gain as a result of such ill-conceived policies.

The main influencing factor in the gold market today is the massive and unrealistic heap of sovereign debt throughout the western financial system coupled with a paper currency that is positioned as the reserve currency of the world, which however can be issued and abused by a single government. These high levels of debt, combined with slow economic growth compel central banks around the world to ‘print’ more dollars and other currencies (in order to pay the bills), stimulate the economy, engage in national currency devaluation, and inflate away the debt burden with an intentional plan of currency devaluation.

Long-term trends in gold prices are driven by changes in the overall level of confidence in the monetary system and the economy. Therefore, to analyse gold over the long term, it needs to be seen as a monetary asset rather than a commodity. Given the current economic backdrop, where governments are struggling with problems like rising deficits and unsustainable debts, it is indeed logical for gold prices to increase in value. With policy makers continuously debasing currencies, gold will be viewed as a preferred investment, lending some solace to the chaos.

The rationale for owning gold assets remains simple: global deterioration of sovereign credit and a growing need to debase currencies in order to meet future obligations, whether it's in the U.S., Europe or Japan. The policy of socializing risk with monetary and fiscal policy has destroyed the balance sheets of the Western world. We are in a phase of experimental central banking, which I believe is going to end badly due to the dislocations of capital it has caused through prolonged periods of negative rates.

The clash for supremacy will overtime intensify strains between the US and China, reinforce the trade war, unleash global currency tensions and add to financial market volatility. This may increase global downside risks and hurt growth. Make a strategic allocation to gold because it's the counterweight to paper money which is continuing to lose credibility as a store of value. Review your allocation to gold to make sure it remains adequate enough to be able to serve as an effective portfolio diversification tool; an allocation of 10 -20 % of your portfolio. That way the precious metal can act as a shock absorber to help protect from any unexpected bumps in the financial system.

Disclaimer, Statutory Details & Risk Factors:

The views expressed here in this article / video are for general information and reading purpose only and do not constitute any guidelines and recommendations on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Quantum AMC / Quantum Mutual Fund is not guaranteeing / offering / communicating any indicative yield on investments made in the scheme(s). The views are not meant to serve as a professional guide / investment advice / intended to be an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial product or instrument or mutual fund units for the reader. The article has been prepared on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other sources believed to be reliable. Whilst no action has been solicited based upon the information provided herein, due care has been taken to ensure that the facts are accurate and views given are fair and reasonable as on date. Readers of this article should rely on information/data arising out of their own investigations and advised to seek independent professional advice and arrive at an informed decision before making any investments. Please visit – www.quantumamc.com/disclaimer to read scheme specific risk factors. 

Above article is authored by Quantum.

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