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 further examine the boom in rural real estate. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
Commerzbank: Swiss data confirm weak Asian demand but strong ETF demand for gold
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Citi sees gold price grinding to $2,000 by 2021
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Gold ETFs and Record Levels of Platinum Buying by Retail Investors
Economy & Finance:
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At Zero Hedge: 18 Million Jobs At Risk Of Permanent Loss: What Happens To Small Businesses When The Bailout Money Is Spent
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Another from Tyler Durden: Bankruptcy Tsunami Begins: Thousands Of Default Notices Are “Flying Out The Door”
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At Wolf Street: Catastrophic Plunge in Jobs & Labor Force in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley Smacks into Housing Bubbles
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It Starts: The Corporate Mega-Bailout Bonanza in Europe, Germany on Top
Commodities:
Reader B.K. sent us this: Interview: Global bunker fuel demand set to drop 5%-10% on COVID-19 pain – expert
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OilPrice News reports: Will U.S. Shale Survive If Oil Hits $40?
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Copper price forecast 2020 and beyond: will the market recover from Covid-19 disruptions?
Equities:
At Seeking Alpha: Fed’s $3 trillion aligns with $3 trillion bounce as S&P tops 3,000
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Verdence: will summer be volatile for equities?
Forex, Derivatives & Cryptos:
A crisis that has blunted the euro’s global profile. Here is a snippet:”
“This week’s proposals for a European Union recovery fund financed by jointly issued debt may burnish the euro’s international role if it leads to more cohesion within the bloc.
But economists say that even if the proposal makes it past a late-May EU meeting, squabbling, whether over budget spending or the issuance of coronabonds to aid poorer states, has re-ignited fears that the euro could even break up.”
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British Pound (GBP) Latest: GBP/USD Price Breakout Imminent
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EU to Unveil Covid-19 Recovery Fund Plan, Swiss Franc Sinking
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No, Goldman Sachs Doesn’t Think Bitcoin is the Next Big Thing
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This Time It’s Official: Coinbase to Acquire Crypto Brokerage Tagomi
Tangibles Investing:
Zillow predicts a ‘suburban boom’ in US real estate market as remote work becomes more common
JWR’s Comment: With DSL and high speed Internet becoming increasingly common in rural areas, the longer term boom will probably be be rural, rather than suburban. “How are you going to keep them in the Big City, once they’ve seen the Farm?”
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Some homebuyers search for rural property due to COVID-19 pandemic
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Over at my #1 Son’s SurvivalRealty.com site, this property in Texas caught my eye: STRATEGIC PLACE OF REFUGE ON 64 ACRES
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!
Starlink is coming online this year. We don’t need no steenkin’ DSL.
I may need to contact your #1 son in a few years when I retire. That is a beautiful place, but I don’t have a million $ and don’t want to retire in a mobile home.
Approximately two months ago, I posted that I had bought 20 ounces of silver in pre-1965 quarters and dimes, and a few Silver Eagles and silver rounds. I paid about $14.53 plus a premium of $6.75 for a total of $21.28 per ounce. As I write this, the spot price is $18.40 . As I said before, I consider that price to be cheap. Even with a premium. I plan to buy some more of the same soon if my local coin dealer has any. I can’t afford to buy large quantities but every little bit helps…
Yup, me too!
Little here, little there
Rock on
I agree with Nathan about purchasing silver when you can afford it. By all means buy some gold also if you can afford it. Since I purchased the first silver I could afford I have bought precious metals when I could and have had to sell them when economic stress required. In the past there were times I needed a few thousand dollars and grudgingly parted with some to make ends meet. Today I take a three pronged approach to PM’s some gold for transporting a large (to me) amount of money, silver one ounce rounds for lesser expenses, and 90% junk silver coins for use in the market place. If bread costs one silver dime a loaf and all you have is a one, once gold coin, getting change will most likely be a problem. If you are buying a cow, large denominations could be useful, but a few vegetables would not be much of a bargain at the cost of an ounce of gold. The Spanish solved this problem by chiseling a gold coin into “pieces of eights” In America the expression was 2 bits, “a dollar cut in 8 parts” This is the reason I sold my silver bars and converted to smaller denominations. Some one once said “gold is the coin of the wealthy, but silver is the coin of the common man”
Just my 2 cents worth of advice.
Anyone notice that the rioters are mostly destroying the beautiful stores?
The Grove in Los Angeles and Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue, WA are lovely places to shop. I have not seen or read about one Dollar Store being destroyed. (Don’t get me wrong. I shop at my Dollar Store. It’s just not a beautiful place one wants to linger and have lunch with your friends.)
The rioters remind me of when my ex husband would get angry and throw and break things. While he was “supposedly out of control,” the items broken were never his! Hmm, I guess he wasn’t as out of control as he claimed.
Tip of the day: If caught in chaos, head to your nearest Dollar Store for safety!
Ex-ESPN basketball reporter Chris Palmer cheered as a crowd in Minneapolis burned down a 189 unit affordable housing building that was nearing completion saying “burn that s*** down ! Burn it all !” but changed his tune when HIS OWN home in California was threatened. Liberal liars and hypocrites !
https://www.westernjournal.com/ex-espn-reporter-cheered-burning-housing-unit-called-cops-neighborhood-threatened/
Krissy, if you google “businesses looted or burned in Minneapolis”, you will see a different story.
I have friends there who have lost a great deal. Small business owners. The bright side is the hundreds of neighbors who came and helped clean up, put up plywood, and comfort those who are struggling.
I continue to call people I know who live near the sites of devastation, just to give them a chance to express their sorrow out loud. This is the little I can do from a distance for those I hold dear.
Carry on, in grace
The walmart,Kohls,homedepot in Homewood,Il are definitely not pretty but adjacent to low income areas and expressway access. The Drivers facility in Chicago Heights,Il is also not in a good area but who hasn’t been frustrated with bureaucrats?
It seems to me that peaceful protests are a right. In the event that they result in rioting and looting the perps should be liable for all damages, property destruction, cost of policing, national guard salaries etc. But most important is discovering the actual perps behind these riots and I mean the people funding them and putting them away for a long time as well as taking their wealth for reparations. It is very obvious that these protestors are being manipulated. I would say get the FBI involved but we know they and the DOJ are corrupt.
Correct, Joe. Do ten minutes of research on how the FBI framed the LA branch of the Black Panther Party, who were for a long time feeding people in the community and organizing. Were some Panthers preaching revolution? Yes. Many others were not and the FBI did not discern the difference when they set the Panthers up for a fall.
Carry on in grace
“Citi sees gold price grinding to $2,000 by 2021”
I’ve added at least one zero to that price prediction; and I lean conservative.
The pizza I just bought on my last trip to town (from a small local business) increased 10% since my last trip to town within the past 30 days. Currency inflation is beginning to take hold and raise cash-register prices.
Higher-order financial derivatives can only hold down gold prices for so long.
Combine the ongoing economic collapse with the current societal collapse and I don’t think there is much time left.
Repeating my comment/warning from a few days ago:
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As of March 26, 2020 banks now have a 0% reserve requirement. Read that sentence again.
Think those are “Federal Reserve Notes” in your wallet? Nope. They are now just “Federal Notes” – reserves no longer required.
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I hope my countrymen protect themsevles while they can so that there is enough of us left on the other side of the collapse to help rebuild. It will be a very rough ride otherwise if America slides into socialism before then.
As I have posted before, money is only gold or silver. Everything else- all bank notes whether they say dollar, pound, franc, yuan, yen or ANY other fiat currency name on them are just IOUs. All bank notes, all bonds, equities, Certificates of Deposit, promissory notes, Treasury notes and bills, all stocks and bonds, all insurance policies, all contracts and agreements or anything else you can think of that specify a fiat currency as the units of payment are IOUs. And IOUs are only as good as the word of the person or entity that has promised to make it good. When the dollar system collapses, and it will be SOON, these will all be no good because the fiat currencies will be worth NOTHING.
Most people don’t have any idea. The average guy with no savings will be wiped out. Not to mention those who lose their jobs then their expensive pickup trucks and SUVs in the coming depression. Then their houses probably.
GET OUT OF DEBT NOW ! Sell that expensive car with the big loan against it. Buy a cheap paid-for car or truck. Put good tires on it. Stock up some food. Cut all unnecessary expenses. Cut up your credit cards. Pay off all loans. DO IT NOW !
Well said Nathan – I couldn’t agree more.
I haven’t had more than a few dollars in a bank account since 2017, and the only reason I have a back account at all is for paycheck direct deposit and to cash-out company stock as shares vest.
For those thinking about taking your cash out of your bank, they do not make it easy.
The first time I walked up to the teller to withdraw $100K I was treated suspiciously. The branch manager took me aside and tried to talk me out if it. When that was unsuccessful I had to go through a lengthy interview process and produce additional ID. He said he had to file a “Suspicious Activity Report” with the US Treasury about my withdrawal. I was friendly, cooperative and honest, but the one question I refused to answer was “what do you plan to do with your money”. I told him it wasn’t money I was withdrawing (he didn’t understand) and that I simply wanted to take possession of the fruits of my labor.
After getting the ok to make my withdrawal I was told his bank doesn’t keep that much cash on hand, that they would have to place an order for it, and that I would have to schedule a pickup date and time two weeks out. Hmmm.
I arrived at the agreed upon date and time two weeks later to complete my withdrawal and went through an additional series of questions before I was able to lay hands on my own cash.
I go through this same process every time I cash out my company shares as they vest.
My message is it takes quite a lot of time and effort to get your own cash out of a bank. They don’t want you to do it, and they don’t make it easy.
K,be careful about those withdrawls. Some might take smaller amounts to avoid the hassle,but that has been classified as Crime(structuring).
Right – the branch manager told me as much: “Better to take it all at once. If you take out $100K over the next 12+ months it could be pretty bad for you”.
He didn’t tell me what he meant by “bad” but the look on his face told me I didn’t want to do that. It also cemented my desire to stay clear of banks going forward. I later learned he was probably talking about “structuring” like you said.
So I guess my advice, based on these experiences, is to do it all at once and get out while you can.