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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the continuing automotive microchip shortage. (See the Commodities section.)
Precious Metals:
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Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Fed Expects No Recession as Inflation Negates Actual Economic Growth.
Economy & Finance:
New York, California lost more tax income than every other state as people fled liberal enclaves.
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Bank failure: Kansas Heartland Tri-State Bank closed by FDIC. JWR’s Comment: The takeover of this bank, with $139 million in total assets hardly registered a blip on the news radar for the mainstream media outlets.
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A FoxBusiness piece linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Ford set to lose $4.5 billion on electric vehicles this year, despite increased revenue.
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Some projections from Visual Capitalist: The Fastest Growing and Declining Industries in the U.S. (2021-2031P). JWR’s Comment: If there is a regional war or a World War that disrupts trade, these projections would of course be “overcome by events” (OBE).
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Mega Millions Jackpot Hits $1 Billion—Here’s How Much The Winner Would Take Home After Taxes.
Commodities:
Joshua sent us this, at Sourcengine: Semiconductor Industry News – July 2023 Update. Here is a key quote:
“The automotive chip shortage continues to linger in certain areas, but there have been noticeable improvements that have occurred since the beginning of 2023. Successful mitigation techniques by international IDM houses have significantly improved automotive IC supplies, one of the previously scarce market segments. Automotive IC production capacity continues to grow, supplying more automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) than previously over the last few years.
However, according to supply chain sources, the automotive semiconductor market will unlikely experience the same challenges with overproduction that consumer electronics is grappling with. One of the main reasons for this is that vehicle demand for electric and gasoline cars remains high.
The number of semiconductors needed to produce a single car exceeds several thousand. Consumer electronics have different component requirements, making it easier for OEMs and contract manufacturers (CMs) to wind up with more than less.”
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US Gasoline Prices Reach 8-Month High.
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From OilPrice News: Gasoline: The Price Rally That Nobody Saw Coming.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
USDA: Food Price Outlook, 2023 and 2024. A quote from teh report:
“Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 than in 2022 but still at above historical-average rates. In 2023, all food prices are predicted to increase 5.8 percent, with a prediction interval of 5.0 to 6.6 percent. Food-at-home prices are predicted to increase 4.9 percent, with a prediction interval of 3.7 to 6.1 percent. Food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase 7.5 percent, with a prediction interval of 7.0 to 7.9 percent. Food prices are expected to continue to decelerate but not decline in 2024. In 2024, all food prices are predicted to increase 2.4 percent, with a prediction interval of -2.8 to 7.9 percent. Food-at-home prices are predicted to increase 0.9 percent, with a prediction interval of -6.8 to 9.3 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase 6.1 percent, with a prediction interval of 3.7 to 8.6 percent.”
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Isabel Schnabel of the ECB: The risks of stubborn inflation.
Forex & Cryptos:
Over at Currency Thoughts: Many Data to Absorb Plus Bank of Japan Finally Modifies Yield Curve Control Parameters.
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EUR/USD, Oil Forecast: Two trades to watch.
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Dogecoin Leaps 13% Following Elon Musk’s Cryptic Tweet – Details.
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Three economic events to move the cryptocurrency market next week.
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Shiba Inu whales accumulated a staggering 1 trillion SHIB in 8 weeks.
Tangibles Investing:
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Ammunition? Supply has improved, but with higher prices. Video: AMMO SHORTAGE UPDATE 2023 — THIS IS THE NEW STANDARD.
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I noticed that GunMag Warehouse (one of our affiliate advertisers) is now offering used Heckler & Koch HK91/G3 7.62x51mm NATO 20-round aluminum alloy magazines for just $5.99 each. Adjusted for inflation, that is nearly the same price that they were back in the late 1990s, when a huge batch of German surplus alloy magazines hit the U.S. market. But that supply began to dry up, back around 2005. So… Stack them deep!
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!