What Is ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) and How It Changed Gold Forever

A zero interest rate policy holds the central bank’s short-term target at or near zero. The Federal Reserve did it twice, for nine of fourteen years. But zero rates alone never moved gold. The real policy rate did, and it explains today’s market better than the headline number does.

The Fed Just Priced Out Half a Rate Hike. Gold Barely Noticed.

September rate hike odds fell to roughly 50.3% after Fed Governor Christopher Waller signalled he could support a hold. Gold barely responded. It had already banked a 2.4% gain before he spoke, then slipped. Here is which channel is actually driving the metal, and what August CPI decides.

$1 Trillion in New Loans. $0 in New Reserves. Here’s What Banks Are Betting On.

US banks added $1.04 trillion in loans since July 2025 and set aside nothing extra to cover them. Christopher Whalen argues the spotless loss rates measure house price inflation rather than health, and that the risk quietly moved elsewhere. We checked his numbers, and three did not survive.

Wall Street Keeps Buying Gold. Washington Keeps Sending Mixed Signals.

Five signals from Wall Street and Washington point the same direction on gold this week — a fading bond buyback, a surging ETF, a widening silver deficit, a bullish options desk, and a gap between softening jobs data and rising rate-hike odds.

Iran’s Gold Sector Just Got Named in U.S. Sanctions. Gold Is Selling Off Anyway.

Gold’s newest sanctions exposure and today’s G20 push on Iran are real developments. Neither one explains today’s selloff. The Fed does, and the two stories run on different clocks.

Will Gold Go Down for the Rest of 2026? Six Banks Cut Their Targets, and the Cuts Trailed the Price

Six banks revised a 2026 gold price target between June and late August. Every revision moved down, and not one moved up. Gold still trades below four of the six reduced figures, which means the cuts chased the price and did not catch it. Here is the revision record, the rate mechanism behind it, and what a dated price target commits anyone to.

Hike Odds Doubled This Week. Real Yields Didn’t.

Hike odds jumped from 35% to 57% in one Fed speech. Real yields moved two basis points. Four data prints this week decide which number gold should believe.

Gold and Silver Sink as Warsh Cites AI Boom to Justify More Fed Tightening

A Fed chair just used the AI capital-spending boom as evidence for more inflation-fighting. Here’s the yield-curve mechanism most coverage is missing.

Five Gold Signals Fired This Week. None of Them Are About Today’s Price.

State Street’s outlook, silver’s outperformance, a Fed report, a Treasury buyback, and a fast-growing token all quietly reinforce each other this week. None of it is about today’s price. All of it is about who wants to own the metal, and why.

Gold Fell 9% the Last Time Warsh Spoke. He’s Back Tomorrow.

Gold fell roughly 9% the last time Kevin Warsh spoke as Fed chair. He delivers his first Jackson Hole keynote tomorrow, and the market isn’t taking chances.