US Dollar

Authored by David Howden via The Mises Institute:

U.S. President Donald Trump will enjoy the backdrop of a strong economy as he delivers his second State of the Union address.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss a Trump economy where Americans working has reached a five-year high, as manufacturing, factory output continues to rise despite naysayer predictions.
The question ahead for the Trump White House, all the way up to 2020, is whether the economic surge is sustainable.

Authored by Robert Wheeler via Daisy Luther’s Organic Prepper blog:

Via Zerohedge…

Russia’s reserves of the U.S. dollar have been on the wane as of late. Russia isn’t investing American currencies or American debt, but is choosing to put its money into something with a more diverse portfolio of uses, like gold, for instance. Russia’s reserves of U.S. dollars are down to $14.9 billion in May from $96.1 billion in March, while increasing its gold reserves by over 100 tons since the beginning of the year.

(ZHE) — After the liquidation of its US Treasury holdings, surging gold reserves, and switching to a non-SWIFT payment system, Russian President Putin attempted to quell general concerns noting that “Russia isn’t abandoning the dollar.” In a press conference this morning, the Russian president said his country doesn’t plan to abandon holding reserves in U.S. dollars though he […]

In a further sign the US is losing the dominance of the world’s economic system which it has enjoyed since the end of World War 2, Russia is massively divesting from US securities.
In April, Russia dumped $47 billion in US bonds – roughly half of the US debt it holds.
US President Trump’s escalating tariff war, plus ever-expanding US sanctions on Russia, could also be contributing factors to Moscow’s decision to increasingly ditch dollars.
In exchange, Russia is turning to an ancient and time-tested store of value: gold.

Presently, some $2 billion worth of arms deals are hitting a snag over how settlement is to be made for defence transactions between Russia and India as US sanctions stand in the way. The issue has led to the US Dollar being dropped as a means of payment, with the Ruble and Rupee being considered as alternatives.
The Economic Times reports:

Apparently, US sanctions aren’t quite scary enough to prevent other countries from conducting commerce from Iran – and bypassing the dollar while they do it. India and Iran are saying that they’re going to trade oil, but India is going to buy that oil using rupees, instead of USD.
RT reports:

Yesterday, Putin observed the necessity of increasing Russia’s economic sovereignty and independence from the petrodollar system, stressing that the West is boosting this process through its economic bullying in the form of sanctions. TASS reports: