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 auction prices for collectible guns and numismatic coins. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
The relationship between the silver price, inventories, and comex positions.
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Silver Options Strategy: How low is too low?
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Gold Price Forecast – Crisis Indicators Flashing Red, Gold Near Critical Bottom.
Economy & Finance:
Some troubling news reported by American Partisan: Federal Reserve announces major ‘pilot exercise’ for ESG social credit score system.
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McKinsey: Economic conditions outlook, September 2022.
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Over at Zero Hedge: “Horrendous” CarMax Results Confirm Fed Has Successfully Pushed US Economy Off A Cliff.
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Commodities:
Electric cars charging at night could make America’s power grids unstable, study warns.
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Fuel for Thought: Oil market ponders price floor amid demand destruction.
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Three Factors to Watch for Clues to the Future of Fertilizer Prices.
Inflation Watch:
Reader C.B. flagged this, at Fox News: Cost of buying, insuring new cars rises due to inflation, reports say.
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Reuters: World Bank’s Malpass sees risk of stagflation, likely recession in Europe.
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The ‘Sticky’ High Prices Unlikely to Come Down Any Time Soon.
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September 2022 inflation data, over at Trading Economics. An excerpt:
“The annual inflation rate in the US eased for a second straight month to 8.3% in August of 2022, the lowest in 4 months, from 8.5% in July but above market forecasts of 8.1%. The energy index increased 23.8%, below 32.9% in July. Smaller increases were reported for gasoline costs (25.6% vs 44%) and fuel oil (68.8% vs 75.6%) while inflation sped up for natural gas (33% vs 30.5%) and electricity (15.8%, the highest since August 1981). On the other hand, inflation rose for food (11.4%, the most since 1979), shelter (6.2%, the most since 1984), and used cars and trucks (7.8%)”
Tangibles Investing:
Rock Island Auctions (RIA) is running a three-day gun auction from October 4th – 7th, 2022. There are 4,656 lots, and the pace of their auctions is always brisk. It is discouraging to see the high opening bids listed. But that is to be expected, since the prices of antique guns — especially Colts and Winchesters — have risen substantially in recent years. This is gratifying for those of us who have invested in guns, but a bit daunting for novice collectors with limited budgets.
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And speaking of auctions, the bidding on numismatic coins sold at auction has been quite strong, in recent months. As inflation continues, it is almost a certainty that more folks will be hedging their investments into tangible rarities.
Provisos:
SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investing 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 or 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!