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 effects of rising interest rates.
Precious Metals:
Gold rises in the face of more market turmoil.
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Alasdair Macleod: A Perfect Storm in Banking Is Brewing.
Economy & Finance:
CBS News: MoneyWatch: Stock market drops as mortgage rate climbs.
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Transcript: Interview With Hayman Capital’s Kyle Bass. Therein, Bass discusses the China-Taiwan situation, the chip shortage, interest rates, and global oil supply/demand.
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Over at the leftist The Hill: Five ways the Fed’s interest rate hikes will impact Americans.
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Fed hikes its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage point, the biggest increase since 1994.
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At Wolf Street: Morning After J-Pow, Second Time in a Row.
Commodities:
Oil prices fall over 2% as Fed hikes interest rates.
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OilPrice News reports: The UK Is Prioritizing Energy Security Over Climate Pledges.
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Biden Could Invoke Defense Production Act To Raise Gasoline Production.
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World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
Inflation Watch:
From Reuters: UK food price inflation of 15% is coming, industry researcher warns.
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In The WSJ: What Inflation? The Super Frugal Say They Were Made for This Moment.
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Fannie Mae: Elevated Inflation, Higher Interest Rates Expected to Take Toll on Consumer Spending. Here is a quote:
“The compounding effects of elevated inflation and higher interest rates are expected to further weigh on economic growth and home sales as the year progresses, with full-year 2022 growth now forecast at a slightly reduced 1.2 percent and expectations of a late-2023 modest economic contraction unchanged, according to the June 2022 commentary from the Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. While consumers’ resilience to the predicted financial stress remains an open question, the ESR Group now forecasts personal consumption growth to slow from 4.2 percent in Q2 2022 to 1.9 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, in Q3 2022 and Q4 2022. Residential fixed investment, driven in part by an even further reduced home sales forecast, is projected to decline 8.6 percent in 2022 and 6.5 percent in 2023 – the largest percentage declines among the major GDP components.”
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Inflation won’t return to normal until 2024, CBO predicts.
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Amid Surging Inflation, Inventory-Swamped Retailers Push Big Discounts.
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Video: The Worst Examples Of “Shrinkflation” Shared On Social Networks. JWR’s Comments: My own recent observation on shrinkflation: I just bought six of our usual selenium salt blocks for livestock at the nearest discount feed store–about 50 miles away. The price had gone up 4%, since last time. I thought to myself, “That’s not bad, considering the annual inflation rate.” But when we went out to load them, we learned that they were now cast to weigh 44 pounds instead of 50 pounds. So that’s 4% inflation, and a further 12% shrinkflation. Thanks, Creepy Joe Biden! My advice: Stock up heavily on consumable tangibles for your family, if you have enough dry, vermin-proof storage space. Everything will cost you more, if you wait. “Tangibles, tangibles, tangibles!”
Forex & Cryptos:
Central banks opt for shock and awe to tame inflation (bar one).
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BoE’s Pill talks about the BoE’s rate hike path.
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At Yahoo Finance: Crypto Traders Turn Against Each Other in a Collapsing Market.
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BIS report warns about front-running threat in crypto mining.
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Bitcoin Exchange Reserve Spikes Up, Selloff Not Over Yet?
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Mike H. sent us this: As the Speeding Crypto Train Crashes, Scientific and Engineering Experts Tell Congress that Both Crypto and Blockchain Were a Sham from the Beginning.
Tangibles Investing:
A local news report from Minnesota: ‘I’ve never seen it like this’: Realtors weigh in as mortgage rates jump again.
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The 10-day countdown for Washington State residents: Your new magazine ban (with a grandfather clause) will go into effect on July 1st, 2022. I strongly recommend that you place orders ASAP, for your lifetime supply of 11+ round magazines. GunMag Warehouse, Palmetto State Armory, and Brownells (three of our affiliate advertisers) should have most or all of the magazines that you need.
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!