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. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we look at investing in discontinued P71 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor cars. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
Gold/Silver: How to trade a U.S. default.
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At Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Price Suppression, Or Unbroken Confidence By The Herd?
Economy & Finance:
US Deposit Outflows Accelerated Last Week, Led By Small Banks. JWR’s Comments: I’ve stated this before, folks… The current banking crisis is far from over. The finale will probably be a trillion-dollar bailout, funded by U.S. taxpayers. Oh, and a banking industry consolidation that benefits the largest banks.
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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Debt ceiling talks resume Friday night after stalling earlier in the day.
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Why a US recession is probably coming.
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BofA Gave FBI Access To Jan. 6 Bank Records Without Customers’ Knowledge: Whistleblowers.
Commodities:
Robert S. sent this: Commodity Markets Outlook in eight charts.
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IM May 2023 – Financing halves as all commodity groups slide.
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At Zero Hedge: US Rig Count Tumbles To Annual Decline; Jobs & Production Next?
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And over at OilPrice News: The Race To Secure Long-Term LNG Contracts.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
Federal Reserve officials are growing skeptical about suspending rate hikes.
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Battered By Inflation, 90 Million Americans Struggle Paying Bills As Credit Card Usage Spikes. Here is an excerpt:
“As wages fail to outpace the cost of living, many consumers have burned through savings and resorted to credit cards. The latest revolving credit data shows consumers appear to be ‘strong,’ but that’s only because they use their plastic cards more than ever to survive.”
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Food prices will soon overtake energy in driving UK inflation, report predicts.
Forex & Cryptos:
Mexican peso to stay strong despite end of central bank tightening cycle, analysts say.
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Reported on Friday, at Currency Thoughts: Dollar a Bit Weaker.
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Next Week’s Menu: May 20 – 27, 2023.
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Bitcoin And Ethereum Supply Drops To Record Lows Unseen Since 2015 And 2017. JWR’s Comment: The Smart Money crowd has been moving their coins out of exchanges and into hardware wallets, for quite a while. With Sovereign CBDCs now on the horizon, both the regulation and taxation of private cryptos will increase!
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Less than $20 billion of stablecoins left on exchanges as capital continues to drain.
Tangibles Investing:
“The last of the V8 Interceptors!” A video from Canada: Investments? Buy a Crown Vic police car. JWR’s Comments: In the long term, a “body-on-frame car” like a Crown Victoria — or a Mercury Grand Marquis, also discontinued in 2011 — will have good price appreciation. The pool of available police surplus P71 Interceptors is rapidly drying up, so prices are certain to rise.
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Brownells (one of our affiliate advertisers) has some great prices on AR-15/M4 rifle uppers. I’m surprised that with just 10 days left before the ATF’s horrible “Your Formerly Approved Arm-Braced Pistol Just Became a Felony SBR” ruling goes into full effect, dealers still have any rifle-length AR uppers left on hand!
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. Thanks!