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 the new Ethereum ETFs. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)
Precious Metals:
Gold Price Predictions for the Next 5 Years (By Experts).
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Daniel Lacalle, at Gold-Eagle.com: Central Banks Purchase Gold to Offset Their Own Money Destruction.
Economy & Finance:
Repos Spike in 2024 As Fewer Americans Can Pay Their Car Loans.
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By way of the Whatfinger.com site: The Percentage Of Americans That Worry They Won’t Be Able To Pay Their Bills Is Higher Than It Was During The Great Recession.
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Putting the National Debt Into Perspective We Can All Understand.
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San Francisco’s AI boom can’t stop real estate slide, as office vacancies reach new record.
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At Zero Hedge: Shocker! Study Reveals That Giving Americans $1,000 Per Month Has Negative Consequences.
Commodities:
Reader A.K. sent us this: Cattle prices climb; farmers fear fallout.
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Report: Coffee Prices Continue to Rise as Weather Impacts Supply Chain.
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Investing during Stagflation: What happened in the 1970s.
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The Australian government’s views on commodities demand.
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From OilPrice News: Artificial Intelligence Is Sparking a Copper Boom in Zambia.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
Statista: Monthly 12-month inflation rate in the United States from May 2020 to May 2024. JWR’s Comment: This chart relies on official figures, which are heavily adjusted.
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This was published back in December: Safest Assets During Stagflation: Top 5 for 2024.
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Here are 6 buying categories cheaper today than they were before the pandemic.
Forex & Cryptos:
US dollar slightly weaker on diminishing inflation.
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At Currency Thoughts: Dollar Loses More Ground to Yen and Equity Markets Fall.
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Ethereum ETFs surpass $1 billion in volumes on first day of trading.
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Could Trump’s potential reelection drive bitcoin to new highs?
Tangibles Investing:
Bloomberg reported this sign of the stagflation times: US Existing-Home Sales Fall a Third Month as Prices Set a Record.
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Americans Bought Another Million Firearms in June.
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Quite a price range! I recently added a very inexpensive antique French Chassepot rifle conversion shotgun to my inventory at Elk Creek Company. So I now have antique shotguns priced from $225 to $17,500. (The latter is the price of a 12 gauge Purdey double.) That variety should keep collectors with all budget constraints happy.
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!