Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 Europe’s economic and monetary woes.

Precious Metals:

Understanding the Silver Planchet Shortage at the U.S. Mint.

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From a chartist perspective: Gold Price Forecast – Crisis Indicators Flashing Red, Gold Near Critical Bottom.

Economy & Finance:

France24: ‘Severe economic slowdown’ awaits Europe as energy crunch bites.

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Even Klaus Schwab’s WEF cronies are asking: Are economic headwinds blowing in the direction of a global recession? Chief economists answer.

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At Wolf Street: Housing Bubble Woes: Mortgage Demand Plunges, Rates Near 7%, Spread Between Mortgage Rate & 10-Year Treasury Yield Blows Out Most since Dec. 2008 and 1986.

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Hedge funds providing best investor protection since dotcom crash.

Commodities:

Reuters: Gas crisis set to worsen after Europe burns through winter stocks.

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OilPrice News: Morgan Stanley: Oil Prices Will Hit $100 Next Quarter.

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Shortages of timber and firewood reported in various European countries. JWR’s Comment: They burn up every scrap of available wood, before next April.

Derivatives:

Some eye-popping data: Banks Ranked by Derivatives. Note that these notional figures listed are in trillions of dollars, not billions. That’s a lot of digits.

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Any readers that are new to SurvivalBlog should take the time to read this page, that I created, back in 2006: Derivatives–The Mystery Man Who’ll Break the Global Bank at Monte Carlo.

Forex & Cryptos:

Euro forecast: Will EUR keep falling?

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At Currency ThoughtsVarying Central Bank Interest Rate Changes to Tackle Inflation.

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A UN report: World Economic Situation and Prospects: October 2022 Briefing, No. 165.

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EU regulators ban cross-border payments from Russian crypto accounts.

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Bitcoin (BTC) Will Test $14K Mark Instead Of Skyrocketing, Analyst

Tangibles Investing:

This is one of my favorite rifles for investing, especially if you can find one that is dated 1898 or earlier on the receiver ring: Minute of Mae: Swedish Mauser 1896. The prices of “Swedes” have risen steadily, in recent years. The carbine versions (Model 1894 and 18894/14) are mechanically almost identical, and are a more handy length. Even sporterized 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser 94s and 96s are still worth buying, but once a military Mauser is altered, any collector’s value is removed from the equation.

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Palmetto State Armory (one of our affiliate advertisers) is running a sale on 30-round D&H Mil-Spec AR-15/M16/M4 magazines (.223/5.56mm) for just $7.99 each. At that price, you might consider buying a case of 100. When you are at the Palmetto website, paste this UPC into their search box: 51655126183.

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!