Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the recent dip in the gold price, in USD terms. (See the Precious Metals section.)
Precious Metals:
Spot Gold took a 3% dive to a 4-month low of around $1,837 per Troy ounce early in the week, and silver meanwhile was down 2%. The gold price slump continued to around $1,805, on Tuesday. Rather than profit-taking, this seems to have been triggered by a turn in sentiment on the US Dollar Index. Dips in metals markets like this are a good time to buy. It is noteworthy that the price gap between gold and platinum is narrowing. (A +/- $800 delta versus the former $900.) But I still consider platinum a genuine bargain. In the next boom phase of the economy, platinum will probably be back to selling for more than gold. You’ll then be patting yourself on the back for buying the white metal.
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Alasdair Macleod: The Global Reset Scam. Here is an excerpt:
“There can be little doubt that central banks wish to increase their control over money and how it is used, cutting out the obstacle of commercial banks who produce most of the money in circulation through the expansion of bank credit. From a statist point of view, commercial banking is a dinosaur, an outdated remnant of free markets, perpetuating needless systemic risk and superseded by technology. Branch networks will disappear with cash, changing relationships between banks and the general public for ever.
By introducing direct central bank accounts for members of the public and every business, commercial banks become superfluous and can be allowed to die. And if one goes bust before commercial banking has ended, the facility to transfer all its loans and deposits onto a central bank’s books will then exist. The removal of systemic risk by the abolition of commercial banks is one of several likely long-term objectives of CBDCs. Commercial banks can be left with the role of investment banking activities in capital markets.
We can imagine the development of CBDCs going even further than just replacing cash. Stimulation by dropping money into personal accounts can be used to target increased spending by consumers, or even groups of consumers, sorted by wealth, location or other factors. Some consumers can be favoured relative to others, so in a swing state, for example, an incumbent administration might buy votes. While this would be strongly denied, as we have seen with unfettered fiat currency the state creeps incrementally towards unstated objectives, using every tool at its disposal. The election of Deep State-approved politicians then becomes possible.”
Economy & Finance:
The Street reports: Hundreds of Companies That Got PPP Loans Have Gone Bankrupt
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At Yahoo Finance there’s this from Richard Cookson: Inflation May Be About to Pick Up Sharply
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Reader B.C. sent this: Hotels: Occupancy Rate Declined 32.7% Year-over-year
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Also from Wolf: Online Sales by Category, in Weirdest Economy Ever