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 lumber prices. (See the Commodities section.)
Precious Metals:
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At Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Stocks Lagging.
Economy & Finance:
From Bloomberg: Fed Signals Yield Rise Reduces Need to Hike, But Door Still Open.
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The fuse on America’s debt bomb just got shorter.
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Reader C.B. flagged this sign of the times: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Announces Move to Miami From Seattle.
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From the globalist IMF: Higher-for-Longer Interest Rate Environment is Squeezing More Borrowers.
Commodities:
Some possibly overly-optimistic predictions, from western Canada: U.S. housing demand expected to drive lumber prices higher in 2024. JWR’s Comments: As the Federal Reserve continues to ratchet up interest rates, the housing market will cool, and along with it, lumber prices. In turn, the value of land with marketable standing timber will level off, and possibly decline.
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Oil settles down, posts weekly loss as geopolitical risk premium ebbs.
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Electric vehicle battery prices are falling faster than expected. A quote:
“Goldman Sachs Research now expects battery prices to fall to $99 per kilowatt hour (kWh) of storage capacity by 2025 — a 40% decrease from 2022 (the previous forecast was for a 33% decline).”
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From OilPrice News: Why Oil Prices Are Likely To Climb From Here.
Wars and Rumors of Wars:
The New York Times: Risk of a wider Middle East war threatens a ‘fragile’ world economy.
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Moody’s Analytics: Geopolitical Risk Calendar: War Aid, Calls for Pause.
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What a third world war would mean for investors. Note that the comments here and on X-Twitter show the high level of angst.
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Gambles: We’re Closer to World War III Than Ever. (Video interview.)
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Peter sent us the link to this WSJ article: It’s U.S. vs. China in an Increasingly Divided World Economy.
Forex & Cryptos:
Russia Makes Huge Announcement on BRICS Currency.
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AUD monthly wrap: October performance and highlights.
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EUR/USD Price Forecast: Euro Looks Vulnerable as All Eyes Shift to FOMC.
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Bitcoin bulls defend $34K as trader predicts next BTC price ‘impulse’.
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Coinbase user agreement dispute reaches US Supreme Court.
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FXT Token (FTT) plummets after SBF was found guilty.
Tangibles Investing:
Mortgage rate forecast for November 2023: No relief yet. JWR’s Comments: As international confidence in the U.S. Dollar erodes, the U.S. Treasury will be forced to offer higher and higher interest rates, to continue to attract foreign investors. In the end, the Dollar is doomed. It has been doomed, in fact, ever since Congress embarked on unrelenting deficit spending.
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GunMag Warehouse (one of our affiliate advertisers) has some great specials this week, including
Magpul PMAG Gen 2 AR-15 30-round magazines for just $9.99 each and windowed Gen 3 PMAGs for $13.99 each. They have an exclusive on Lancer AR-15 olive drab 30-round magazines for $14.99 each. And they have Glock factory magazines sale-priced at $22.99 each. Just click on the “Sale” tab, to see their specials. Stack them deep. With inflation, we may never again see magazine prices this low.
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!