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 the global demand for cobalt. (See the Commodities section.)
Precious Metals:
Gold/Silver: An opportunistic approach for accumulation. JWR’s Comment: This is a good juncture to sell half of your crypto holdings, and buy silver.
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Can gold price break free of Treasury markets? Analysts zero in on this trigger
Economy & Finance:
Jared Taylor, writing at American Renaissance: Joe Biden: Already Hard at Work Wrecking the Country
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Some figures from the globalists: Strengthening the recovery: The need for speed — OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March 2021
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At Seeking Alpha: Bond yields continue to rise and technology ETFs suffer
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UN: COVID-19 cuts global maritime trade, transforms industry
Commodities:
Ted G. sent us this: Cobalt Outlook 2021: Demand to Rise, Higher Price Environment Ahead
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OilPrice News reports: The Global Energy Transition Could Transform African Economies. Here is a quote:
“While the shift is likely to create some short- to medium-term challenges for sub-Saharan African countries, the transition to renewables is also expected to provide opportunities for the expansion of mining.
Indeed, given the abundance of minerals in the region, sub-Saharan Africa is in a unique position to benefit from this expected explosion in demand.
Cobalt is one of the minerals key to this transition. Aside from being used in medical imaging, cancer radiotherapy and the sterilization of medical equipment, cobalt is a key input in the rechargeable batteries of laptops and smartphones.
It is also a component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and store energy from solar, wind, and other renewable sources.
Closely linked to the growth in battery production, cobalt demand is set to grow by 60% by 2025, according to research from McKinsey. Given that an estimated 60-70% of the world’s cobalt supplies are located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country stands to benefit from this development.”
JWR’s Comment: We can anticipate moves by major nation-states and/or the corporate giants to secure exclusive or semi-exclusive supplies of battery metals in Africa in the 2020s and 2030s. These moves may be by investment/foreign aid, diplomacy, or even via direct or sponsored military force. They call them “strategic minerals and metals” for a reason!
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“Full Throttle Correction” – Tumbling Nickel Prices Lead Sudden Industrial Metals Slump
Social Security & Pensions:
Bill Sardi: How Americans Were Cheated Out of a 200% Increase in Their Social Security Check
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A Bloomberg piece, by way of MSN Money: Top Performing Pension Funds to ‘Guarantee’ Negative Returns
Forex & Cryptos:
Over at Currency Thoughts: And There It Is… New Political Leadership Tempted to Depreciate the Dollar.
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Over at Coin World: Digital dollars could be high priority for Fed’s future
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Bitcoin recently hit an all-time high in USD terms — over $60,000 USD. Here is some food for thought: Data Shows Bitcoin Peaks Last Roughly 40 Days: When To Sell Your Coins
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Crypto industry to Biden: ‘Criminals we are not’
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China’s Digital Yuan Will Be One of the Biggest Risks in Crypto, Says Market Maker Phillip Gillespie – Here’s Why. An excerpt:
“Market maker Phillip Gillespie warns that China’s push to launch the digital yuan may not bode well for the future of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The chief executive of crypto market maker and liquidity provider B2C2 Japan tells Bloomberg that once China releases a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the country may also clamp down on the cryptocurrency space.”
Tangibles Investing:
Just as we predicted, here is the text of Feinstein’s newly-introduced black rifle and 11+ round magazine ban. It has been assigned bill number S. 736. The equivalent bill in the House is H.R. 1808. These bills would create a horrible, grossly unconstitutional ban with only limited grandfathering, an absurd taxpayer-funded “buy up” provision, and no sunset clause. These bills must be stopped! Though it is probably a fait accompli in the House, it CAN be stopped in the U.S. Senate. So please keep up the pressure on your Senators. Also, please also contact Senator Manchin, and encourage him to vote to maintain the ability to Fillibuster in the Senate. Thanks!
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Meanwhile, Bearing Arms reports on other legislation that is more of an immediate threat to your freedom and the fate of some of your tangible investments: With House Passage, What’s Next For Background Check Bills?
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 items from local news outlets that are missed by the news wire services are especially appreciated. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!