Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at some moves in commodities markets. (See the Commodities section.)
Precious Metals:
China and India seem to be driving the precious metals markets this year, with some consistently strong buying. I’m sure that this dynamic is frustrating the institutional short sellers, here in the United States. Silver and gold both saw nice spot market gains today, starting in the Asian markets. When I last checked:
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$2,412.60, up 0.82%
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$30.64, up 2.66%
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As the Dollar Falters, Gold Becomes Insurance, Not Speculation.
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Gold’s Action Last Week Strongly Points to China.
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Why We Are At The Start Of A Multi-Year Gold Bull Market.
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U.S. Representative Introduces Bill To End Federal Taxation On Gold And Silver.
Economy & Finance:
From Forbes Advisor: May 2024 Stock Market Forecast.
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CNN, by way of X/Twitter: “On the question of who voters trust more to deal with the economy, Trump has a 22-point lead over Biden … This marks a 15-point bump for Trump compared to the same poll in 2020.”
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From The WSJ: Suddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed. Here is a pericope:
“The world is at a startling demographic milestone. Sometime soon, the global fertility rate will drop below the point needed to keep population constant. It may have already happened.
Fertility is falling almost everywhere, for women across all levels of income, education and labor-force participation. The falling birthrates come with huge implications for the way people live, how economies grow and the standings of the world’s superpowers.
In high-income nations, fertility fell below replacement in the 1970s, and took a leg down during the pandemic. It’s dropping in developing countries, too. India surpassed China as the most populous country last year, yet its fertility is now below replacement.”
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Archegos boss to go on trial for fraud.
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Why Wednesday’s CPI report is taking on outsize importance in the financial market.
Commodities:
USDA forecasts winter wheat production up 2% in 2024, orange production down 2% from April forecast.
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Bloomberg: Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodities This Week.
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Trading volumes surge as investors return to base metals. This article begins:
“The boom times are back for base metals traders.
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Oil prices settle up on demand optimism, US inflation in focus.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
As reported by the left-wing CNBC: Inflation is slowing. Here’s why prices still aren’t going down. JWR’s Comment: Of course, news outlets like CNBC only rarely point to the real cause of inflation.
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Americans’ inflation expectations are rising.
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At Zero Hedge: Even If Powell “Can’t See The Stag And Can’t See The Flation”, Consumers Can.
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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Inflation and cash flow pressures continue to squeeze small business owners.
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The zombie inflation: High prices have risen from the dead — and some economists are scared witless.
Forex & Cryptos:
South African rand firms against weaker dollar; US data in focus.
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Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia.
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BlackRock’s revolutionary fund and an under-the-radar crypto team quick to capitalize.
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House overturns SEC’s anti-crypto guidance, Biden to veto: Law Decoded.
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Chinese workers paid in CBDC are cashing it out for real money: Report.
Tangibles Investing:
Registered suppressors: Fastest eForm 4 Wait Times & What it Means for the Future.
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There are several interesting new listings over at my #1 Son’s well-established SurvivalRealty.com site. Here is just one of them: Rural Custom Built Home on 37 Acres — 1820 Alpine Ranch Circle, Cañon City, Colorado. For anyone looking to sell a property, take note that SurvivalRealty is not a brokerage. It is a real estate advertising site and charges NO sales commissions. They accept ads from realtors as well as from For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sellers.
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 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. Thanks!