Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on investing in Rolex wristwatches. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)
Precious Metals:
Spot gold has bounced back to around $1,300 per troy ounce. But the price of silver is more like to break out.
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Peter Hug comments on Rhodium: Forget Bitcoin – Is This Overlooked Metal Heading Straight Back to $10,000?
Stocks:
First off, there is this: Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs as Wall Street bets on a strong earnings season [1]
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S&P 500 is poised to make uncanny stock-market history—for doing almost nothing
Commodities:
Gregory W. Harmon: Copper Shows Strength [2]
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Oil On Friday the Thirteenth [3]
Forex:
Dollar back near breakeven, following cooler-than-expected inflation data [4]
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Marc Chandler: Will The Bullish Outlook For Treasuries Weigh On The Dollar? [5]
Economy and Finance:
Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Unexpectedly Surges to 13-Year High
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A Reluctant Preppers interview with Greg Mannarino: Epic Financial Shift is Being Signaled: Prepare Now
Troubling Trends:
Quest: It’s the IMF vs. Donald Trump
Tangibles Investing (Rolex):
This article from 2015 about Rolex wristwatches is timeless (pardon the pun): Watches Are Bad Investments—With One Notable Exception [6]. This article makes is sound as if only Rolexes hold their value. But there are indeed many other brands of wristwatches that gain value, mostly from Switzerland–or made with Swiss movements. Some of the most popular makers include: Vacheron Constantin, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breitling, IWC, Omega, and Patek Philippe. Here are another couple of more instructive articles that are more recent: A New And Better Way To Buy, Sell, Or Collect Fine Watches [7], and How to Ride the Vintage Watch Boom [8]. OBTW, for the best resale value, it is important to save the original box, receipt, and factory papers.
Provisos:
SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. So please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.
News Tips:
Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR [9]. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact [10] form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who particularly watch individual markets. And due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” investing news. We often “get the scoop” on economic and investing news that is probably ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
Comments Disabled To "Economics & Investing For Preppers"
#1 Comment By Steve On October 16, 2017 @ 3:32 pm
Just curious, anybody done any analysis of which watches will work after an EMP? My Seiko self-winding watch has a battery/capacitor as part of the power system. I have no idea if it would be vulnerable to EMP. But I have a $13 Timex mechanical as a backup.
#2 Comment By Rob On October 16, 2017 @ 5:42 pm
I’m a hobby watchmaker. I’m pretty sure the Seiko will be fine since there isn’t a circuit trace long enough to act as a decent antenna. I have, however, stocked up on early Timex wind up movements ‘just because’.
#3 Comment By Steve On October 17, 2017 @ 5:41 pm
Thanks
#4 Comment By Carney On October 16, 2017 @ 6:02 pm
When I was attending Lincoln Electric Welding School, on the first day, the instructor came in and told us to remove our watches, phones, calculators and any other electronic devices while in the school house. Place them in the car and leave it there. Just the EMR from welding would permanently wig the electronics in them. He was right. More than one jughead ignored the caution and lost their watch’s, ipod and phone. I expect an EMP would do the same to a watch circuit if the blast was high and close enough (regional burst.)
#5 Comment By Rob On October 16, 2017 @ 10:52 pm
Carney, are you refering to the big ‘ol Licoln “cracker boxes” used to stick weld stuff? Those things threw off a ton of RF energy. The newer mig and tig units wont mess up watches and such because they actually weld at a high frequency. Then again, most schools still teach not to wear watches or rings so you don’t accidentally complete a circuit, thereby searing the red hot jewelry to your body. I was ASE certified in welding to help my Dad out at the body shop.
#6 Comment By Rose On October 16, 2017 @ 5:08 pm
Since hubs is setting up an old fashioned machining shop, he is doing lots of research on lathe and mills and such. We came across this old catalog of old machining parts. It is very interesting to see how little the tools cost in 1966 vs today. And they are the same tools. The machinist level in 1966 was $18, and he lost an auction on EBay yesterday for the very same level for $188. The value of the tools hasn’t changed, but the value of the money has changed. When my mother in law was a girl, her mother would take 3 eggs and a letter to the mailbox. The mailman would take the eggs home to his wife and out of his own money, he would buy a stamp to mail her letter. Today, it still costs about 3 eggs to mail a letter. This just goes to show me that if your earnings are in anything but money, you will hold their value.
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