
Weekly Digest: Central Banks Love Gold, China’s Crackdown

07/07/21: WisdomTree sees gold and stocks as the best hedge against long-term inflation, China expands its crackdown on tech platforms, central banks regain appetite for buying gold. And more.
Investment news
"We're looking for inflation hedges and alternatives to bonds, which we believe are challenged in the face of this inflation that we expect … Gold is an inflation hedge, which is a little bit more of a defensive asset, and broad commodities are a little bit more cyclical,” WisdomTree's global head of research said.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,788.60 per ounce after reaching its highest since June 18 at $1,794.86 on Friday. U.S. gold futures increased 0.3% to $1,788.50.
Most U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Independence Day holiday.
“Long term, gold is the most significant guardian and guarantor of protection against inflationary and other forms of financial risks,” said the National Bank of Serbia.
In total, Serbia intends to boost its gold holdings to 50 tons from 36.3 tons.
The ministry did not give any more details of its gold-buying plan, mentioning the yellow metal in the monthly release for the first time on record.
A reminder: last month, Russia said it would completely remove US dollar from its $185 billion wealth fund and replace it with assets denominated in euro and gold.
Opinion
That’s what experts told CNBC:
Ivory Johnson, certified financial planner and founder of Delancey Wealth Management:
“Cryptocurrencies will disrupt traditional finance because one of their most attractive utilities is the ability to efficiently transfer payment across borders with little to no cost, delay or foreign currency fluctuations. With respect to bitcoin, 50 years is a long time and bitcoin could either become the world reserve currency or the next AOL that made a lot of people wealthy until it was unseated by better technology.”
Dragan Boscovic, founder and director of the Blockchain Research Lab at Arizona State University:
“Central bank authorities are busy developing regulations on cryptocurrency. They recognize that digital currencies are native to the digital economy and, as such, are on their way to becoming mainstream in the next 10 years.”
Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America:
“Sorry. I decided a while back that I’m too old for this issue 🤷 .”
What else is happening
“This action does not impact on the ability for customers to withdraw funds from Binance. The decision has been taken following the FCA warning to consumers,” the bank said.
The Cyberspace Administration of China on Monday said it was investigating Boss Zhipin, an online recruitment company, and Chinese truck-hailing apps Yunmanman and Huochebang, citing suspected violations of China’s national security and cybersecurity rules.
The platforms are not allowed to register new users while they are under investigation.
On Friday, the energy alliance, often referred to as OPEC+, voted on a proposal to increase oil production by roughly 2 million barrels per day between August and the end of the year but the UAE rejected the plans. Reuters said, citing sources, that the talks had been postponed with no new date set.
Twenty-seven years to the day after Amazon was incorporated, Bezos will transition to Executive Chair of Amazon’s board, not long after the company surpassed $100 billion in quarterly sales for the first time.
And finally…
Australian authorities have fined two nude beach sunbathers for breaching COVID-19 restrictions after they ran into a forest, scared by a wild deer, and got lost. Of course, the incident went viral on social media.
See you next week!