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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at central bank gold purchases. (See the Precious Metals section.)
Precious Metals:
50-Year High In Central Bank Gold Purchases. A quote:
“2019 is on track to be a 50-year high in central banks’ net gold purchases. Bloomberg Intelligence reports that central banks have been absorbing about 20 percent of global gold mine supply. Based on the gold-to-silver ratio, it looks like silver might have more upside if demand for safe haven assets rises.”
Another excerpt:
“Australia’s Perth Mint reported a 67 percent increase of sales of coins and minted bars in November from October of 54,261 ounces. This buying is largely driven by purchases by Britons amid uncertainty surrounding Brexit. The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that Britons bought $5.3 billion of Australian gold in the third quarter of this year, which is the most ever in a single quarter and a 1,400 percent increase over the prior quarter.”
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Gold ETF Holdings Surge…But Do They Actually Hold Gold?
Economy & Finance:
Does this sound familiar? Expect Inflation And Deflation Concurrently
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Adam Taggart: Living On Borrowed Time
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At Zero Hedge: Williams: “They’ve Effectively Lost Control Of The System”
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Reader C.B. sent this: Top 5 states with the best economic outlooks. JWR’s Comment: Not surprisingly, Idaho ranks # 2.
Commodities:
H.L. sent us this:
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OilPrice News reports: Creating The OPEC Of Natural Gas
Stocks:
At Wolf Street: Markets are wrong; Fed is not done cutting rates says Peter Schiff
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And Fortune had this: Forget the Recession Talk. The Debate Has Turned to How High This Market Can Go. JWR’s Comment: The business cycle cannot be forestalled forever by low interest rates.
Forex & Cryptos:
2020 FX Outlook: Diamonds in the rough
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PayPal, Western Union Named & Shamed for Overcharging the Most on Money Transfers to Mexico
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Mark Cuban: Bitcoin Can be a Reliable Financial Instrument
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World’s First Collectible Crypto Coin to be Issued in 2020
Tangibles Investing:
New recession warning: The rich aren’t spending
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Best Investment Ever? Some Say Alternative Assets Carry the Day. A snippet:
“Unlike traditional investing in most publicly offered assets, where conservative investors can follow the traditional 80/20 or 60/40 rule and allocate the bulk of their portfolio to less volatile assets such as low-yield bonds and other fixed-income products and a more modest percent into riskier high-growth stocks, there’s no real road map for investing in alternative assets. That’s mostly because alternatives encompass such a wide range of investment options, from cryptocurrencies to oil and gas leases to real estate.”
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 only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!
A fantastic investment vehicle I’ve enjoyed over the years are pipeline operators like Magellan, etc. They don’t drill or refine, just move it from point A to B, and store it there while waiting to be used. Very good dividends, fairly insulated business (even in a recession, fuel still flows, albeit less than during good times).
Re: Top 5 States with the best economic outlooks. JWR’s Comment: Not surprisingly, Idaho ranks # 2.
Be careful what you wish for JWR! From Marketwatch a few days ago:
“Forget Seattle, Denver and San Francisco. Boise, Idaho, is poised to be the hottest housing market at the start of the next decade.
A new report from Realtor.com identified the housing markets that are expected to see the most notable home sales and price growth in 2020. Boise ranked No. 1, a marked increase from No. 8 a year ago.
Driving Boise’s climb up the Realtor.com ranking is the massive influx of new residents from pricier parts of the country — in particular, California. Many of these out-of-state buyers are drawn by the city’s mild climate, outdoor lifestyle, strong schools and its major employers, including HP HPQ, +0.05% and Micron Technologies MU, +0.58%.
Boise’s already seen a boom in terms of housing. A recent report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed that home prices in the Idaho state capital have risen 11.1% over the last year.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-hottest-housing-markets-of-2020-are-far-from-the-coasts-2019-12-12
They’re coming…
The Dow is nothing more than meaningless numbers that relate to a faith based fiat currency.How can there be confidence in a medium that has wide swings in value base on rumors or back room whispers.
Juan Valdez mule dies so coffee prices go up and so does the market.Ive noticed that when Juan gets a new mule coffee don’t drop.These are silly analogies but hopefully you get the
point.
The debt bubble is going to burst soon and our way of life will change for the worst.
Those with hard tangibles ie. gold and silver will be in a much safer position than those left
holding a pile of green paper that will worth very little if anything at all.
If you can wait until after the financial/monetary reset kicks in before making large purchases(Homes or Cars) there will bargains to be had and it will be a buyers market.
Re the reduced spending of the rich – the luxury purebred cat business is nearly dead. The American market tanked years ago; the few American buyers that are left are either repeat customers, or at the very bottom of the price range.
The Chinese market, which was holding everything up, has abruptly disappeared. Most were students and young singles. Their parents seem to have shut their wallets. China is not doing well now, and America stopped doing well years ago.
By the time this is over, only a few purely hobbyist cat breeders will be left. Which is a pity. A little less beauty in the world.