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 stocking up on fasteners, for construction. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
Trading the Gold-Silver Ratio.
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Credit Suisse & USD Policy: Signposts of Systemic Implosion to Gold Explosion.
Economy & Finance:
At Zero Hedge: “It’s A Global Margin Call. I Hope We Survive”.
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Reader D.S.V spotted this: “Gone Woke”: PayPal Stock Fined 6% after Flood of Users Cancel over $2,500 ‘Misinformation’ Debacle. JWR’s Comments: In addition to account closures, they also lost untold millions, with the cautious withdrawals from positive PayPal balances. Nearly all non-Muslim banking organizations make a considerable profit on the lending of the float of uncleared payments and of positive balances. As deposits decline, the float drops correspondingly. Unless the $2,500 bad boy fine policy “mistake” was signed off by the CEO, CFO, and the Board of Directors, methinks that there will be quite a few PayPal employees who get escorted out the door, this week.
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Ed Yardeni: Fed’s Only Got Room for One More Hike.
Commodities:
Lumber prices fall to a new 2022 low as housing market cools and mortgage rates approach 7%.
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At OilPrice News: U.S. And EU Producers Curb Steel Production As Prices Flatline.
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Can Grid Expansion Keep Up With Surge In Solar Power Generation?
Inflation Watch:
WSJ: Inflation Sits at 8.2% as Core Prices Hit Four-Decade High.
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Allianz Chief Economic Adviser El-Erian believes core inflation ‘is still going up’.
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BLS Producer Price Index figures for September still show strong inflation.
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IMF chief economist says central banks’ inflation fight to last into 2024.
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CNBC: Why the Federal Reserve won’t be so quick to ease up on its fight against inflation. JWR’s Comments: The Fed won’t stop inflation unless or until they raise interest rates to levels that will bludgeon the economy. I predict that in five years we’ll look back on $4 per-gallon milk and $4 per-gallon gasoline wistfully as “the good old days.”
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I found this by way of the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Americans See Most Severe Pay Cut in 25 Years Under Biden.
Forex & Cryptos:
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Canadians won’t escape the effects of global currency chaos.
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Bitcoin Holders Bracing For A Crypto Winter Bottom Should Check These Data.
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The CBDC tracker has been updated.
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Crypto Market 2023-2024. How will it Change?
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How SEC Regs Will Change Cryptocurrency Markets.
Tangibles Investing:
My recent work in partitioning, shelving, and organizing the workshop here at the Rawles Ranch reminded me of an important class of items to keep on hand for your own use and for barter: Fasteners! It takes a lot of nails and power screws to do any sort of modern construction. Think through how many fasteners (and what sizes) you might need for the rest of your life, and then double or triple that. Any extra that you have on hand will be fantastic for barter. If stored in a dry place, fasteners will last for generations. Watch for them on sale — especially “closing business” liquidation sales. And whenever you visit a garage sale or an estate sale, always ask if they have andy nails, screws, nuts, or bolts available. On secondary markets, you’ll likely be buying them for just pennies on the dollar.
Note that if any fasteners show light surface rust, then be sure to spray them with oil before putting them in storage. And any badly-rusted fasteners must either be soid for scrap or stored separately, so that they don’t induce rust on the rest of your stockpile.
With the general price inflation of our depreciating Dollar, any useful tangibles that you can stockpile constitute practical hedges. Stocking up on fasteners is a superlative example of tangibles investing, since they are compact (albeit heavy), durable, have recognized value, are almost universally needed, and they are fungible.
Provisos:
SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investing 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!