October 2023 in Precious Metals by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and the factors that affect gold prices. What Did Gold Do in October? Gold gained $139 in October. Unfortunately, most of those gains were paid for in the blood of Israeli civilians. Gold hit a 7-month low of $1,831 on October 5th. It gained $58 on the 10th to break above the $1,900 mark to settle at $1,941. By the 19th, it was permanently above $1,980. Spot gold prices jumped more than $20 …




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. 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 rising price of gold. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Up, up, up: Spot gold jumped to $2007 USD per Troy ounce on Friday, and spot silver followed suit to $23.12 USD per Troy ounce. Seeing precious metals prices this strong in the face of an ostensibly “strong” U.S. Dollar …




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. 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 examine the recent rise in the value of Bitcoin, in Dollar terms. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Over at Gold-Eagle.com: What Happens to Gold When Bonds Are No Longer a Safe Haven? o  o  o A Kitco video: Preparing for the next recession with gold and silver. Economy & Finance: From …




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. 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 price of silver. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: After seeing highs above $25 in July and August, spot silver has been pushed down by the short sellers in recent weeks. When I last checked, spot silver had rebounded a bit, to $23.60. I expect to see a trend reversion …




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. 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 developing shortage of 5.56mm NATO ammunition. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Off the record: silver looks better than gold in 2024 according to LBMA survey. o  o  o Gold SWOT: Could This Be the Start of a New Bull Market in Bullion? o  o  o Higher silver prices needed …




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. 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 bank branch closures. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Mark Lundeen: Gold’s Price in Foreign Currencies. o  o  o Zimbabwe turns gold-backed digital token into payment method. Economy & Finance: Major Banks Close Over 3,000 Branches Nationwide, With Recent 50+ Closures from Bank of America In Just One Week. o  …




The Societal Effects Of Inflation – Things Are Really Going Bad, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This article was authored by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.us and was originally published at Birch Gold Group. — Historically speaking, inflation/stagflation has always been a disastrous affair. One is hard-pressed to find any legitimate examples of a country that experienced an aggressive inflationary event that came out better for it. A rare scenario would be one in which a nation inflates to fund a war that they then win, but usually negative consequences still happen later down the road. The problem is that the effects of inflation can be subtle and far-reaching, quietly creeping up on a …




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. 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 burgeoning global derivatives market. (See the Derivatives section.) Precious Metals: Israel’s war with Hamas puts new safe-haven focus on gold. o  o  o Mark Lundeen, at Gold-Eagle.com: Studying Barron’s Gold Mining Index. Economy & Finance: Bidenomics, in action: Inside Today’s Jobs Report: 885,000 Full-Time Jobs Lost, 1.127 Million Part-Time Jobs Added, …




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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, a recap of last week’s market rout in precious metals. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Gold and silver both bounced back on Friday, following a rout for most of last week. On Friday afternoon, spot gold had recovered to $1,846.10 per Troy ounce (up .81%).  Meanwhile, spot silver had jumed back up to …




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. 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 lumber prices. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: Spot gold and silver both took a pounding this week. This was mostly attributed to Dollar strength, with news that interest rates would remain high. But part of this was also due to the stock market decline — a 400-point drop on Tuesday.  Doubtless, …




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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, news of BRICS countries dumping U.S. Treasuries. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Costco says its 1-ounce gold bars are real and have been selling out in hours. o  o  o Spot silver and gold both dipped sharply, over the weekend. This is another buying opportunity, for those of you who stack bullion …




September 2023 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and the factors that affect gold prices. What Did Gold Do in September? Gold prices surprised observers by resisting selling pressure until the last part of the month. A breakdown in stocks, bonds, and gold caused by abysmal consumer confidence and plunging new home sales on September 26th pushed gold prices to $1,919. Bond yields hit 4.6% and the dollar index rose to 106.82 on the 27th, forcing December gold $29 lower and …




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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, news of the FBIs’s “lost” gold coins. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Stewart Thomson: A Blowoff For Rates & A Surge For Gold. o  o  o Several SurvivalBlog readers sent this: FBI sued after allegedly losing hundreds of thousands in rare coins during raid. An excerpt: “The Institute for Justice filed two lawsuits …




Governments Start Calling For Price Controls – Rationing And CBDCs Come Next, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note:  In place of our usual Monday column on Economics and Investing news items, we are re-posting, with permission, this insightful piece by Brandon Smith.  Both his Alt-Market.us site and his premium newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch are highly recommended. – JWR — Last month in the middle of the surreal “Bidenomics” hype I published an article titled ‘Nothing Is Over: Inflation Is About To Come Back With A Vengeance.’  I outlined the misconceptions surrounding CPI and how it is not an accurate model for the effects of inflation.  I also noted that the index had been manipulated …




A Silver Conversion Exercise, by M.J.

As an intellectual exercise, I converted the price of some of my recent purchases from U.S. dollars to ounces of silver. I did this out of curiosity to see how well I would do in a precious metals-based economy. I used the spot price of silver per ounce that was quoted at www.apmex.com on 09-16-2023: $23.31. The other spot prices for that day are as follows: Gold: $1,937.50 per ounce Platinum: $945.70 per ounce Palladium: $1,286.00 per ounce Here’s what I bought:1 gallon of 30% vinegar: $21.07, or 0.90 ounces of silver. (Regular grocery store vinegar is 5% and costs …