Mark Thornton Warns 150-Year Market Peak as $4.50 Gas Deepens Inflation Fears

1 articles · Updated · Kitco NEWS · May 26

Thornton said U.S. markets are at a historic, credit-fueled extreme, citing the Buffett indicator at 2.5 standard deviations above its long-term average and the Case-Shiller S&P 500 valuation near a 150-year high.
44.8 consumer sentiment in May shows the other side of that boom, he argued, with 57% of households blaming high prices as cheap-money policies lifted asset owners while squeezing workers through inflation.
Kevin Warsh's Fed nomination also drew Thornton's sharpest attack: he called the immediate drop in gold and silver a coordinated "hit job" by banks tipped off before the market, while arguing debt above 120% of GDP makes a Volcker-style rate shock impossible.
$4.50-a-gallon U.S. gasoline and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are, in his view, turning inflation structural by damaging Persian Gulf productive capacity and driving the CRB commodity index to a historic high.
States including Texas are already expanding precious-metals depositories and tax relief, moves Thornton said should culminate in eliminating taxes on gold and silver savings as a bottom-up hedge against currency debasement.

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