Category: Economics & Investing

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 the now chronic gun and ammunition shortage in the US. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) But first, an important note on physical silver, that I’m repeating from yesterday’s blog. Precious Metals: Mike in Alaska sent this: Reddit Forum Sparks Physical Silver Shortage on Major Dealers’ Websites. JWR’s Comments: I expect …

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 affected gold prices. Year-End Gold Market The fourth quarter of 2020 was not kind to precious metals. Losses in both October and November seriously dented annual returns for both gold and silver. Gold’s December gain of 6.3% was barely enough to erase October and November’s losses. Still, gold posted a gain of more than 24% in 2020, a ten-year high. Silver traded up 17% in December, enough for a …

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 the recent GameStop stock fiasco. (See the Equities section.) Precious Metals: Peter Krauth: Gold Bull Will Run For Years – Here’s Why o  o  o Gold to push above $2,000 as Saxo Bank sees 2021 as the start of broad commodity bull market o  o  o Inflation or deflation? …

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 the ups and downs of the classic car market. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: First up is this, over at Zero Hedge: Massive Silver Bets as Treasury Wants More Trillions o  o  o Erik Lytikainen: The Gold Bull Market Is Just Getting Started Economy & Finance: National …

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 the economic implications of Joe Biden’s policies. (See the Economy & Finance section, the Commodities section, and the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold off 2-week high as investors book profits. o  o  o Even if you’re not a geologist, you can tell if a gold stock is legitimate …

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 some more indicators of mass inflation ahead. (See the  section.) Precious Metals: First up, from Jim Curry: Gold Update – U.S. Stocks Bracing for Correction. o  o  o Gold and silver prices react to this week’s events in some unexpected ways Economy & Finance: A bond market alert: For …

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 silver investing. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Gold Price Forecast – Gold Markets Get Hammered Again o  o  o Silver price analysis in January 2021: buy the recent weakness? A snippet: “Silver ended 2020 near the $27 an ounce level and this implies it was trading at its …

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 the risk of substantially higher inflation in 2021 and beyond. (See both the Economy & Finance and the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Black Swans, Ordinary Swans And Metals o  o  o Silver Price Could Double Again Within 90 Days of Time Economy & Finance: Inflation ahead! Global …

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 the recent Bitcoin rally. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: From Chartist P. Radomski: Despite Signs To The Contrary, Gold At Or Near Top o  o  o Modest gains for gold, silver amid bullish competing assets Economy & Finance: U.S. Companies Face China Tariffs as Exclusions Expire …

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 some new taxes and California’s proposed extra-territorial tax. (See the Taxation section.) Economy & Finance: Dire Straits For European Banks? Banks Paying Near Zero On Deposits, Now Charging Fees o  o  o Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2021 o  o  o Allan Stone of the leftist Washington Post: The craziest, …

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, authored by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices. What Did Gold Do in December? First, some end-of-year numbers. Gold set several new all-time highs in 2020, capped by an intraday peak of $2,081.80 an ounce. Gold prices gained 24% for the year, recording the largest annual return in ten years. Spot silver rose 47.6%, also a ten-year high. Precious metals were helped in part by the US …

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, a more in-depth look at Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Cryptos: When I last checked, Bitcoin had been bouncing around over $22,000 USD per BTC for more than a week. It topped at $24,500 on Christmas Day. I should note that historically Bitcoin tops out each December, in most years. So I expect …

Today, in lieu of my regular column, here is a special End-of-Year analysis of the firearms and ammunition market in the United States, with a few predictions for 2021 and beyond. Please note that I have a bias. This report comes from my “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. – JWR. Also, note that we expect to post a similar year-in-review piece on precious metals from Stephen Cochran of Gainesville Coins. That should be posted sometime in the first few days of 2021. Guns and Ammunition: 2020 in Hindsight The market for newly-manufactured guns has been frantically busy since March. According to …

In place of my usual news items and commentary on economics and the markets, I have some housekeeping to do: My Annual Financial/Investing Disclosures: By Federal law, I am obliged to make the following annual public disclosures. For the record: I am presently the sole author of SurvivalBlog’s twice-weekly posted Economics & Investing For Preppers column. I am not a paid investment counselor or adviser. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers. My paid consulting is on preparedness, relocation, retreat property development, and related topics–not on investing, per se. I am not a board member of any corporation. I …