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 imminent collapse of used car prices. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Precious Metals:
Why The Gold/Silver Ratio Is A Useful Indicator
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Lawrie Williams: The dilemma that is silver
Economy & Finance:
Taxpayers Are on the Hook for 98 Percent of the Fed’s $6.98 Trillion Balance Sheet
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Some interesting data, from the Brookings blog: What weekly unemployment claims reveal about the local impacts of the COVID-19 recession.
“Initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims may provide a more current picture of regional labor market volatility. Each week, states report the preceding week’s data on initial UI claims to the U.S. Department of Labor. For this analysis, Brookings Metro compiled sub-state weekly data on those claims (where available) to examine metropolitan-level trends.
Many states publish these data—typically by county—on the websites of their departments of labor or workforce development each week. However, not all states publish such data; some provide no sub-state data, while others provide those data only on a monthly or cumulative basis.
and,
“As an early Brookings Metro analysis suggested, some cities felt the initial brunt of the COVID-19 recession earlier than others. Comparing total claims across the four weeks to initial employment totals by metro area shows that in just one month, as many as one-quarter of all workers in tourism destinations such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Myrtle Beach, S.C. lost their jobs, as work in hotels, casinos, and entertainment hubs quickly dried up.”
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Biggest U.S. Mall Is Two Months Delinquent on $1.4 Billion Loan
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At Wolf Street: The Unemployment Rate for Each State, from 7.9% in Connecticut to 28.2% in Nevada
