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 rising price of gold. (See the Precious Metals section.)
Precious Metals:
Up, up, up: Spot gold jumped to $2007 USD per Troy ounce on Friday, and spot silver followed suit to $23.12 USD per Troy ounce. Seeing precious metals prices this strong in the face of an ostensibly “strong” U.S. Dollar tells us that the fiat Dollar is looking increasingly suspect. The Dollar has only relative strength vis-a-vis the fiat currencies of other nations — not any inherent strength. We may see a full-on currency value reset for all of the world’s fiat currencies, before 2040.
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Adam Hamilton had this piece at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold’s New Major Upleg.
Economy & Finance:
From the pro-Bidenista CNN: The US economy grew at a blistering rate despite high interest rates.
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Over at Zero Hedge: Retail Credit Card APR Hits Record 28.93% Average. A quote:
“Now, a new report from Bankrate reveals that the average retail credit card APR (as opposed to overall credit card rates) just hit a new record high of 28.93%, up from 26.72% in 2022 and 24.35% in 2021, according to their annual Retail Cards Study published on Monday.”
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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Savings Rate Plunges As Spending Soars; Inflation Slows As Govt Wage Growth Nears Record High.
Commodities:
Mapped: Gas Prices in Every U.S. State.
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London Metal Exchange Explores New Nickel Contract Possibilities.
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From OilPrice News: Plastic Waste Becomes Clean Hydrogen Goldmine.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
Breitbart: Prices Rise More Than Expected as Inflation’s Grip on Economy Persist. The article begins:
“The cost of goods and services rose 0.4 percent for a second consecutive month in September, challenging the view that the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes are still bringing down inflation.
The personal consumption expenditure price index was expected to cool slightly from the prior month.
Over the past year, the index is up 3.4 percent. That is unchanged from the August reading, data from the Commerce Department showed Friday. The Federal Reserve says it wants to bring PCE inflation down to two percent, a rate not seen since President Joe Biden took office in early 2021.
The persistence of inflation at the current level casts doubt on the Fed’s claims that the series of rate hikes from March 2022 through July of 2023 are still pulling down inflation. On Thursday, the Commerce Department said the economy grew at an annual pace of 4.9 percent, much faster than expected. That rate of growth is likely inconsistent with falling inflation or the claim that the stance of monetary policy is significantly restrictive.”
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Survey: Inflation could remain stuck above Fed’s 2% target until 2025.
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The latest global inflation rates data, from the IMF.
Forex & Cryptos:
Futures Tumble As Yields Rise, Yen Plummets; ECB And GDP Loom.
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World’s Oldest Central Bank Seeking $7 Billion Bailout After Massive Bond Losses.
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Are We About to Witness the First Major Central Bank Failure in Decades?
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Field Testing CBDCs: JPM Coin Surpasses $1 Billion in Daily Transaction Volume.
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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com site: Sam Bankman-Fried stumbles through cross-examination—and he wasn’t even in front of the jury.
Tangibles Investing:
Mortgage rates continue to climb toward 8%, home purchases now at ‘virtual standstill’: Freddie Mac.
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Palmetto State Armory (one of our affiliate advertisers) has some great specials in their “Daily Deals” this week.
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!