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 investing aspect of the upcoming demise of gun-buying privacy in the United States. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
Precious metals were up again Thursday evening (Friday morning, in Asia), on news of an Israeli retaliatory missile strike on Iran:
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$2,421.40 up $25.10 (1.04%)
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$28.87 up $0.35 (1.23%)
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$961.30 up $2.80 (0.29%)
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Alasdair Macleod: The Bullish Factors Behind Silver’s Rise.
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Radomski, at Gold-Eagle.com: THE Reversal in Gold, THE Confirmed Breakout in USD/YEN.
Economy & Finance:
From Bloomberg: Larry Summers Says CPI Raises Chances That Fed’s Next Move Is to Hike.
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The Fed may have no choice but to tip the US into recession, economist says.
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Credit-Card Delinquency Rates Were Worst on Record in Fed Study.
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By way of Zero Hedge, I found this piece by Charles Hugh Smith: Financial Forecast 2025-2032: Please Don’t Be Naive. Here is a pericope:
“You already know the global financial system is untenable. In a nutshell, the expansion of production and consumption has been funded by the expansion of credit–money borrowed from future resources and income. The rate of expanding debt far surpasses the anemic rates of expanding production, and this rapidly expanding mountain of debt is perched precariously on the phantom collateral generated by The Everything Bubble, the astounding expansion of asset prices as those with the lowest cost access to credit have bid up every asset class, from real estate to gold to bitcoin to stocks to fine art.
All these assets are phantom collateral because they were bid up on the wings of cheap, abundant credit. History is rather decisive: all credit-asset bubbles pop, and the price of the assets round-trips back to pre-bubble valuations. As the bubble pops, credit shifts from being abundant and near-zero in cost to being scarce and dear.”
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We all saw this one coming: Labor group demands California’s $20 minimum wage for fast food workers extend to all sectors.
Commodities:
Reader C.B. sent us this: Why is China canceling US wheat shipments?
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The Home-Solar Boom Gets a ‘Gut Punch’.
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Biden Plans Sweeping Effort to Block Arctic Oil Drilling.
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And over at OilPrice News: Record Surge in Global Coal Capacity Led by China.
Inflation/Deflation Watch:
CNBC reports: The ‘supercore’ inflation measure shows Fed may have a real problem on its hands.
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Here we go, again: U.S. Postal Service Announces Sixth Price Increase Since 2020. JWR’s Comment: I keep telling folks that Forever Stamps are a good hedge against inflation. Just beware of counterfeits.
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Brandon Smith: Food Is Now an Investment – Here’s Why Inflation Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon.
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Why car insurance costs are skyrocketing and leading to higher inflation.
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Reader H.L. suggested this Epoch Times report: It’s Official: Reflation Is Here. A quote:
“In the 1970s, the devastation occurred in three distinct waves. Each time the trend improved, elites declared victory and the Federal Reserve moved in with rate cuts, thereby causing yet another round. Absolutely no one in charge anticipated the next wave. It came anyway.”
Forex & Cryptos:
Posted on April 12th, at Currency Thoughts: Dollar Strengthens to 2024 High.
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Paraguay proposes six month ban on crypto mining, citing electricity concerns.
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CEO hints at fee changes for bitcoin ETF after $15 billion outflows.
Tangibles Investing:
In the 34 heretofore resilient “private party gun sales” states, the privacy window for no-paperwork gun purchases will close on or about May 15th, 2024. Get some cash from the bank and get thee to a gun show to round out your collection, ASAP. This is a crucial turning point event, so clear your calendar to be able to get to gun shows in your state as often as possible before ATF’s new rule goes into effect. After the rule goes into effect, your only options for gun purchase privacy will be pre-1899 guns, or builds from 80% receivers. The clock is ticking!
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!