Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news 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 cryptocurrency stability. (See the Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold and silver lived up to their “safe haven” reputation last week, amidst some genuine “pucker factor” stock market chaos. If you were invested in stocks, then you would have lost around 2.5% last week. But if you were in gold, then you would have gained a bit. I believe that spot gold may be north of $1,400 per troy ounce by the end of November if the stock market turbulence continues. One indicator: Watch China.  If the Chinese stock market continues to tank, then gold should do well.

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Gold Keeps Modest Gains As U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Rise By 5K

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Gold Is Doing What It’s Supposed To As Equities Correct – Analysts

 

Cryptos (Cryptocurrency Stability):

With seemingly all eyes on volatility in the equities markets last week, mostly ignored was some apparent short term stability in the crypto world, to wit:

$100 Doldrums: Bitcoin’s Price Is Stuck In Its Tightest Range Since 2017

JWR’s Comments: Could this indicate a “base” building for another big pre-winter run-up, like we witnessed last December?  (December of 2017.) One thing seems fairly certain to: If there is a major U.S. stock market collapse, then a lot of panicky people will be pouring money into both precious metals and into cryptos.

Economy & Finance:

Trump’s numbers, October 2018 update. Overall, quite impressive.

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Chris Martenson: Is The Long-Anticipated Crash Now Upon Us?

 

Stocks & Bonds:

Last week’s stock market turmoil is likely to continue.  Volatility will be the by word.  I suspect we may see a stairstepping downward, as interest rates continue to increase, and as the Fed unwinds its Quantitative Easing (QE) holdings. Here is some worthy analysis:

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Kristina Hooper: Stock Market Sell-Off: The Sequel. She writes:  “We have been warning for more than a year that the two key risks to the economy and markets are normalization by the US Federal Reserve and protectionism. It seems that these forces are both at play, creating something of a “perfect storm” that is causing market disruption. Adding to that are various geopolitical disruptions around the world. However, the reality is that longer-term investors need capital appreciation potential in order to achieve investment goals – and so we believe they should consider maintaining exposure to risk assets, but with an emphasis on downside protection.”

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Also at Seeking Alpha, there is is this from Cliff Droke: Most Sold-Out Market Since 2008

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There is also this, from Wolf Richter, with some revealing charts: Why I think the Ugly October in Stocks Is Just a Preamble

 

Tangibles Investing:

How to get Free Silver From Banks – It’s out there ! ! FREE SILVER COINS – Tutorial

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Metal Detecting Coin Shooting Tips

 

Provisos:

SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.

 

News Tips:

Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact 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!