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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in vinyl records. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
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Bubba Horwitz: Gold building a base
Economy & Finance:
At Zero Hedge: “We’re In A Demographic & Fiscal Dead-End” – Stockman On The Coming Financial Panic & The 2020 Election. The article includes this quote from David Stockman:
“You can’t be saved by picking high-yielding stocks or conservative blue chips or stocks that provide daily necessities like food—it doesn’t matter. Everything’s overpriced right now because of this huge financial distortion.
When the real correction comes and the central banks are revealed to be impotent and powerless, then everything is going to collapse. You’ll be in harm’s way no matter how clever you’ve been in trying to pick and choose. And stay away from the bubble stocks like Amazon or Beyond Meat or any of those.
The time for speculation is over. We’ve had 30 years of central bank subsidized speculation. We’re going to go into the time and era for capital preservation, and that means the highest priority is to not lose money. It’s to keep your capital safe.
I think the only way to do that is in very short-term, liquid instruments.”
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Reader G.G. flagged this: The European Central Bank cut rates to a surprise record low and launched a sweeping round of stimulus.
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And H.L. liked this at The Burning Platform: What NIRP, Rising China Tensions, and “AK-47 Nations” Are Signalling Right Now.
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WSJ: Lenders Are Using Grades, Magazine Subscriptions to Decide on Loans
Commodities:
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Higher nickel prices are here to stay
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Next, over at Seeking Alpha: The U.S. Is Not About To Run Out Of Shale Oil
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IHS Markit: US Natural Gas Prices To Fall To 50-Year Low. JWR’s Comment: Anyone who has driven through the Bakken region at night can attest to the huge gas flares (of wasted natural gas) that light up the sky. Eventually, more and more of that gas will be captured and sold. Low gas prices will indeed be with us for a very long time!
Forex & Cryptos:
Zimbabwe Hikes Rates To 70% To Halt Hyperinflation 2.0
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British Pound Scales New Highs after Boris Johnson Said to Soften ‘Red Lines’, but Buyer Beware…
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Bitcoin QR Code Scams Found Flooding Google Search Pages
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Facebook’s Libra Association Shrugs Off Regulatory Concerns, Prepares Launch for 2020
Tangibles Investing:
Vinyl Records Set To Outpace CD Sales For The First Time In 30 Years
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The vinyl revival: why millennials are going nuts for LPs
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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 closely watch specific markets. If you spot any news that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers, then please send it in. News from local news outlets that is missed by the news wire services is especially appreciated. And it need not be just about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!
It is time to Invest in Nickel, how??? Go to the bank and get Nickels there only .05 cents each. They are 25% Nickel and 75% Copper, the same makeup for over 150 years. The U.S. Mint will change the metal in the Nickel vary soon. When the value of the lowly Nickel goes to .10 cents each, that’s a 100% profit. It already cost the U.S. Mint more then .05 cents to mint a Nickel! And in the worst case you have not lost any money, a Nickel would still be a Nickel (.05 cents each). There is NO down side, you can’t lose any money! What could be more simple???
It is still illegal to melt down US coin for commercial purposes, and will be until the nickel is dropped as currency.
After AR’s, it is time to fill up the tanks. Saudi’s need oil closer to $100.00/barrel to feed their camels. I’ve played soccer in the desert with one of these guys. Fortunately he was dressed in the stereotypical white robes. Hamper by the need to lift is his ‘skirt’, I could keep up.
No, some one is very desperate to offset the impact of cheap Russian oil. Introducing disruptive prices, using economy of scale for profit and grabbing market share, could be war by other means. It would certainly not be unconventional in concept, but by it’s timing. Geniuses are usually eccentrics, yet not all eccentrics are geniuses. However, Putin is likely a near genius in his chess playing. Clearly some one is not happy, and may seek to stabilize prices rather than have hungry camels, that is namely, un-serviceable debt. The Exchange Stabilization Fund is massive and manipulates markets to protect the dollar hegemony. As all those who would shun the dollar found quickly out, the dollar is also backed with bullets. No measure could be too extreme, or too hasty.
Even though the Petro-dollar is about out of gas and on its last gasp, it may yet benefit, even if desperately burned to strength it’s value. Timing can everything, and a two edge sworn. Even if it is a weak move, it better than nothing. Who really knows what’s up, but Putin might be smiling.
Oil has seriously spiked today. Yes, that would make old Vlad smile, Russia needs the money. Vlad didn’t drone strike the Saudi oil fields. The Saudi’s will be smiling about the increase in oil prices, they need the money. The Saudi’s could have hit their own oil fields. The Israeli’s are also smiling, they think we are going to war with Iran for them over the drone strike on the Saudi oil fields. So even the Israeli’s have something to gain by striking the Saudi oil fields. The Qatari’s could have done it, they have something to gain. The UAE could have done it, they have something to gain. Our own CIA could have managed to do it, look at the chaos this will cause. The CIA is all about chaos. Gina Haspel (director of the CIA) has a big smile today, no matter who actually hit the Saudi oil fields.
Iran has been accused of launching the drone strike, they say they didn’t do it. I tend to agree, I don’t see where they have anything to gain, i see where they have everything to loose. The Iranian government may be made up of a bunch of scumbags (Aren’t all governments made up of a bunch of scumbags?), but they aren’t really suicidal scumbags. I don’t think the Mullahs are ready to risk the absolute destruction of Iran just to sell a bit of oil.
I’m not a fan of any government, not at all. I’m not an apologist for any government, not even our own. I’m more of an impartial observer. The Iranian government may be smiling today, or maybe not. It depends on how long it takes to get the Saudi oil fields up and producing again. If it takes awhile, expect Europe to defy US sanctions on Iranian oil shipments, not a bad thing.
Trump has tweeted something like: “It looks like Iran did this, maybe. We’ll see!” The tweet was far longer than this but this is the gist of what he had to say. I sense a note of healthy skepticism. That is a very good thing. Always be very skeptical of any event that seems to come out of nowhere with no forewarning, as this event did. Cui bono!