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, I describe places to buy Swiss Francs. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)
Precious Metals:
U.K. investment firm Ruffer increases its gold exposure.
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At Currency Thoughts: Rising Inflation Lifts Interest Rates, the Dollar and the Price of Gold.
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At Zero Hedge: China and Russia in Close Cooperation targeting ‘Win-Win’ across Gold Markets.
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Up, up, up! Spot silver has climbed so much in the past few days that I’ve raised my multiplier to 24.6, for folks paying for their Elk Creek Company orders in FRNs.
Economy & Finance:
10-Year Hits Most Important Trendline in Finance.
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At Wolf Street: As Treasury Yields Spiked, Junk Bonds Did the Opposite: Still Maniacally Chasing Yield in Riskiest La-La Land.
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At The Burning Platform: Crash Positions.
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Amazon adds 5% ‘fuel and inflation surcharge’ to seller fees.
Inflation Watch:
Ben Shapiro: Yes, it’s Biden’s inflation.
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Inflation surges 8.5% in March, highest level since ‘81 as Biden blames Ukraine ‘genocide’.
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Food Prices Soar to Record Levels on Ukraine War Disruptions. A pericope:
“The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February.” [Emphasis added.]
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CNBC: White House says it expects inflation to be ‘extraordinarily elevated’ in new report.
Commodities:
How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will result in greater chip shortage.
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In The WSJ: Biden to Allow More Ethanol in Gas This Summer in Bid to Lower Prices.
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Unprecedented Helium Shortage Could Send Prices Sky-High.
Bonds & Stocks:
Muni Bond Boom Is Sputtering as Interest Rates Rise.
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This aired Monday on CNBC: Bond market ‘carnage is epic’ and there’s virtually nowhere to hide, says Jim Bianco.
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What to Buy Following an Epic Bond Rout. JWR’s Comment: With Quantitative Tightening (QT) just starting to ratchet up, we can expect the bond market collapse to continue for many months. Don’t misjudge “the bottom.” We aren’t nearly there, yet, folks. This will make the 1994 bond collapse seems quite minor, by comparison.
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Tech Stocks Poised To Climb as Bond Yields Climb.
Forex & Cryptos:
Reader “Expat David” wrote to ask:
JWR’s Reply: When I travel, I often schedule a little extra time to transit between terminals to make a stop at an exchange kiosk at an international terminal and buy physical Swiss Francs — nothing larger than 100 CHF notes. But I phone ahead, to confirm that they indeed have Swiss Franc notes on hand and I ask their buy/sell spread (markup), as that can vary widely. I’ve also added multiple currencies to my PayPal account and have often converted a small portion of my positive balance into CHFs. I try to do so on particularly “strong Dollar” days. But be advised that PayPal’s currency conversion markup is much higher than it used to be. Travelex and some of the other companies also sell currencies by mail, but there is the risk and expense of sending cash via DHL or FedEx. I’ve also heard that BoA and Citibank will sell currencies to their established customers with low fees or even no fees, but I refuse to bank with either of them.
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Commentary at The Hill: Are we witnessing the beginning of de-dollarization?
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Report: Over A Third of Nigerians Are Invested in Bitcoin, Crypto.
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Arthur Hayes’ Crystal Ball Predicts: Bitcoin And Ethereum To See Carnage In June.
Tangibles Investing:
Winnebago’s $4.3 Billion Backlog of RVs Just Keeps Ballooning.
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Why Used Cars Are Selling at Higher Prices Right Now Than New Cars.
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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. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!