Articles by Tyler Durden

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),Coin Heaven co-owner Gabe Wright saw precious metals demand rise to new heights during the pandemic, but nothing as spectacular as Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse.“It’s getting real,” Wright said, standing behind the glass showcase filled with various silver and gold bullion, coins, jewelry, and sterling in his busy Cottonwood, Arizona, shop on March 20.“On a dime, it turned around—big time. It’s unprecedented,” he said. “We’ve seen the demand high, but not like this. Of course, SVB started this phase we’re in.”Gabe Wright, co-owner of Coin Heaven in Cottonwood, Ariz., holds gold and silver coins, two of the hottest selling items on March 20, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)And where the buying phase—more like a buying frenzy—ends up is anybody’s guess, Wright said.U.S. coins minted with 90 percent silver, known as “junk silver,” were in high demand at Coin Heaven in Cottonwood, Ariz., on March 20, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)Once regarded as a “barbarous relic” by the Wall Street financial sector, gold and silver are now in heavy demand to hedge against inflation and financial risk.Wright said retail demand for precious metals could soon outstrip supply, and if more banks fail, to expect a full-blown “panic.”He agreed that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen didn’t help matters by not announcing a government bail-out for SVB after depositors withdrew $42 billion in early March, spurring the bank’s collapse.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures depositor accounts up to $250,000.Almost immediately after the run on SVB, people began buying gold and silver on the spot market, putting the squeeze on coin and bullion dealers large and small.As of March 20, gold was on sale at $1,979 per troy ounce, and silver at $22.51 per ounce.One troy ounce weighs 31.10 grams or 1.1 regular ounces.Buy Low, Sell HighIn November 2011, an ounce of gold rallied to a multi-year high of more than $2,000 while silver soared to almost $50 an ounce before the bull run on precious metals corrected to new lows.Wright, whose uncle started Coin Heaven in 1985, said that demand for precious metals was robust during COVID-19.“But after that bank fell, it created quite a panic, and people wanted to get their funds out of banks and into something real and tangible—gold and silver,” Wright told The Epoch Times.“It’s something you own. There’s no third party involved. It’s solely yours.”Galina Suvorova, owner of Galina Fine Jewelers in Cottonwood, said business has been steadily increasing since the fall of SVB, and “there’s more interest in bullion—specifically, bullion and coins.”Read more here…Loading… […]

A federal appeals court has blocked President Joe Biden’s order forcing federal employees to take the Covid-19 vaccine.On Thursday, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden is ‘the nation’s chief executive’ – and has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporate in mandating that employees get vaccinated, NBC News reports.Opponents of Biden’s forced vaccination policy said it was an encroachment in the lives of federal workers which neither the Constitution nor federal statutes authorize.The ruling was made by the full appeals court of 16 judges, and reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that upheld Biden’s vaccine requirement. The opinion in Thursday’s ruling for a 10-member majority was written by Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump nominee.The ruling maintains the status quo for federal employee vaccines. It upholds a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate issued by a federal judge in January 2022. At that point, the administration said nearly 98% of covered employees had been vaccinated.And, Oldham noted, with the preliminary injunction arguments done, the case will return to that court for further arguments, when “both sides will have to grapple with the White House’s announcement that the Covid emergency will finally end on May 11, 2023.” -NBC NewsBiden signed an executive order in September 2021 which required all executive branch agency employees to take the vaccine, with exceptions made for religious or medical reasons. It took effect the following November, after which U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by Trump issued a nationwide injunction two months later, before it moved on to the 5th Circuit.The case then went through several machinations – with one panel of 5th Circuit judges refusing to immediately block the Executive Order, after which a different panel upheld the order – agreeing with Biden’s position. The broader court majority then agreed with the smaller panel, ruling that federal law does not preclude court jurisdiction over cases having to do with “private, irreversible medical decisions made in consultation with private medical professionals outside the federal workplace.”But then a majority of the full court voted to vacate that ruling and reconsider the case, which was heard on Sept. 13, and here we are today. The dissenting opinion was written by Obama nominee Judge Stephen Higginson, who wrote: “For the wrong reasons, our court correctly concludes that we do have jurisdiction,” adding “But contrary to a dozen federal courts — and having left a government motion to stay the district court’s injunction pending for more than a year — our court still refuses to say why the President does not have the power to regulate workplace safety for his employees.”Loading… […]

One week after former President Trump told his supporters to “PROTEST” and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK” ahead of a Tuesday indictment that hasn’t happened (yet), Trump is now warning of ‘potential death & destruction’ over the reaction to ‘such a false charge.'”What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?” Trump wrote just after 1 a.m. on Friday.”Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!” Trump continued.Manhattan District Attorney is rumored to be on the verge of indicting Trump if a grand jury recommends it in the case of hush payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Of note, the grand jury did not meet on Wednesday or Thursday, and any charges are not expected to be filed until next week at the earliest, The Hill reports.Bragg’s argument was seemingly undercut earlier this week, after a 2018 letter emerged in which former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s attorney says Cohen himself paid Daniels [Stephanie Clifford] out of his own pocket, and was not reimbursed.”In a private transaction in 2016, before the U.S. presidential election, Mr. Cohen used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford [Stormy Daniels],” reads the 2018 letter from Cohen attorney Stephen Ryan to the Federal Election Commission, which asserts that Trump was not involved in the hush payment to the former porn star.🚨BREAKING: New Bombshell Document DESTROYS Manhattan DA’s Case Against Trump2018 Letter from Michael Cohen’s lawyer to the FEC declares Cohen used his own personal funds to pay Stormy Daniels. Trump Camp. NOT party to transaction, did NOT reimburse Cohen for payment. It’s OVER pic.twitter.com/QacsjSbZAz
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 22, 2023In a response to House GOP investigators’ questions over Bragg’s ‘weaponized’ case against Trump, Bragg said that Trump gave a ‘false expectation’ that he would be arrested.The GOP letter went on to shred the ‘untested legal theory’ underpinning Bragg’s expected indictment, and calls out former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen, Bragg’s star witness and a convicted perjurer, as having a “serious credibility problem.” GOP investigators demanded all documents and communications related to the decision.Bragg claims the GOP is overstepping their bounds, writing that “The letter’s requests are an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.”Trump will hold a rally this Saturday in Waco, Texas. Loading… […]

Authored by Jesse Felder via TheFelderReport.com,“By far the best economic predictor I’ve ever met is the inside of the stock market.”- Stan DruckenmillerIf you have been watching the “inside of the stock market” over the past six months or so, you’ve been able to see the increasingly popular “soft landing” narrative regarding the direction of the economy play out in prices.Specifically, I’m referring to the the relative performance of things like transportation stocks, materials, retail and small caps.After leading the stock market lower through the first half of last year, they began to show signs of life from that point forward, lending credence to the “soft landing” narrative.Over the past month or two, however, they have taken another sharp dive, implying the “soft landing” scenario may not be as likely to materialize as stock market bulls may hope. In fact, their recent weakness strongly suggests you “better be careful and keep your eyes open” because we may be headed for a hard landing after all.And that’s a scenario that analysts and stock prices have not yet begun to discount.Find this chart and many more like it in my free public chart list at StockCharts.com.Loading… […]

When Rick Santelli speaks, traders listen as he channels the unvarnished truth that is so seldom allowed to leak out on to the airwaves and into the great unwashed’s eyes and ears.This morning was one such episode as he and Joe Kernan had a brief discussion about the inevitability of the current crisis… and what happens next.”Many are seeing recession. I don’t see a way to avoid it… Is this really a banking crisis? It’s a Fed crisis, it’s a rate hiking crisis, it’s a crisis built on a crisis we never solved… is it any wonder there’s so much volatility in the market?”Then the veteran pit trader took it to ’11’…”Listen folks, we all need to take a step back… how many trillions of dollars of negative securities were hovering through Europe… How could anybody be shocked… I was shocked the news wasn’t worse three months ago… and now we are starting to see the realities of it…”Santelli ends with a reflection of Powell’s hypocrisy in enabling Congress “magical monetary theory” and now “leaving us all out to dry.”Take two minutes out of your morning for some refreshing reality…CNBC’s Rick Santelli: “Many are seeing recession. I don’t see a way to avoid it … Is this really a banking crisis? It’s a Fed crisis, it’s a rate hiking crisis, it’s a crisis built on a crisis we never solved … is it any wonder there’s so much volatility in the market?” pic.twitter.com/R9YNBndpPd
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 24, 2023With regard to Santelli’s comments on The Fed’s Dot-Plot, the market has completely dismissed it, with year-end rate expectations now a stunning 150bps lower than The Fed expects…As we tweeted following his rant, “Oh we “solved” it alright: by printing $20 trillion. Guess how much it will cost to “solve” the current crisis…”Perhaps that is why gold and bitcoin has been soaring since this ‘banking’ crisis re-emerged from the darkness.Finally, Larry McDonald summarizes it even more succinctly…Dear Central Banks -When you see suppress the true, market driven cost of capital for longer and longer periods of time. You incentivize the HTM yield reach across the banking system. Then you juice rates 500bps in 13 months to “fight” inflation and light it all on 🔥 fire.
— Lawrence McDonald (@Convertbond) March 24, 2023Loading… […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,The World Athletics international governing body has announced that it will not allow trans identifying biological males to compete against biological women.Lord Sebastian Coe, president of the body stated that as of March 31 no athlete who has gone through male puberty will be permitted to compete in female world ranking competitions.Latest @skynews on World Athletics banning male to female transgender athletes from female events and hear from Seb Coe https://t.co/qZOf7MDptL pic.twitter.com/zQxj2GAiw9— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) March 23, 2023 Coe noted that further research will be undertaken on the matter, saying “We’re not saying no forever,” adding that the decision for now has been “guided by the overarching principle which is to protect the female category.”“The majority of those consulted stated that transgender athletes should not be competing in the female category,” Coe noted, adding “Many believe there is insufficient evidence that trans women do not retain advantage over biological women, and want more evidence that any physical advantages have been ameliorated before they are willing to consider an option for inclusion into the female category.”Coe added that sports bodies must “try to strike a balance between inclusivity and making sure there is no unfair advantage,” labelling the issue as “thorny”.The decision was taken after World Athletics consulted 40 member federations, athletes and coaches, UN experts, the IOC and Para Athletics. It is also reported that pro-trans groups were consulted.The governing body also voted to reduce the testosterone threshold for athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre, down from 5, for all events in the female category.Reacting to the announcement, Olympic swimming medalist Sharron Davies called it a victory for “fair sport.”Thank you @sebcoe & @WorldAthletics for standing up for female athletes across the world who are worthy of fair sport 😭👏🏻— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) March 23, 2023 Davies has long campaigned for the protection of women’s rights in sports, which she says has prompted trans groups to make her life hell.Former Olympian Swimmer Says Trans Hate Mob Has ‘Made My Life Hell’Last year, Swimming’s world governing body slapped a total ban on transgender athletes that have gone through any form of male puberty from taking part in women’s competitions.Swimming’s World Governing Body Slaps Total Ban on Transgender AthletesThe decision was made following controversy over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, with doctors advising that the competitor still had an unfair advantage over biological females despite having undergone testosterone suppressing therapy.Top Doctors Say Trans Swimmer Has Unfair AdvantageFollowing the example of world swimming, Rugby’s international governing body also banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s matches.Another Sport Bans TransPerhaps more sporting bodies will now take a look at what is happening within their competitions and follow these examples of restoring the rights of women to compete fairly.[embedded content]*  *  *Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/ In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here. Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Also, we urgently need your financial support here.Loading… […]

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,Everyone wants a trend they can trade for effortless gains. That may no longer be realistic.Market commentators tend to focus on Bulls and Bears and Federal Reserve policies as drivers of stock market gyrations, but there’s a far more profound dynamic working beneath these veneers: the forces of adaptation and evolution transforming the economy and society as conditions change.While the general expectation is that the post-Covid economy “should” revert to the stability of 2019, this ignores what was already unraveling in 2019. The global economy experienced fundamental shifts in technology, production, energy, capital flows, labor, currencies and geopolitics in the past 25 years, and all these forces are not just in motion but accelerating in ways that are destabilizing the status quo.The necessity of adaptation and evolution can be summed up very simply: adapt or die. This is the natural state not just of Nature and species but of systems such as societies and economies. Those which cling on to failing models stagnate and decay, while those which embrace dissent, transparency and a constant churn of experimentation and trial-and-error will adapt and evolve and emerge stronger and more adaptable.The US economy went through a comparable period of instability and forced adaptation in the 1970s, a dynamic I explored in The Forgotten History of the 1970s (January 13, 2023). Everyone benefiting from the status quo arrangements fought the much-needed changes tooth and nail, and so progress was uneven. Transitioning to a more efficient and responsive industrial base required tremendous capital investments and scaling up new technologies.The transition is more costly and takes more time than we would like; the 1970s transition took about a decade. We can anticipate a similar scale of capital investment and time will be needed for this structural adaptation.As the chart below illustrates, the 1970s was characterized by high inflation and big swings up and down in the stock market. Successful adaptations generated hope for quick recovery, while lagging adaptations tempered the hope with painful realities.Again, it is likely that the decade ahead will track this same general dynamic of big swings generated by hope that the worst is over and the realities that progress is only partial and instability still reigns.Everyone wants a trend they can trade for effortless gains. That may no longer be realistic.*  *  *My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. Read the first chapter for free (PDF) Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.Loading… […]

“Capital markets stop panicking when officials start panicking” – Michael HartnettHere comes the panic.Bloomberg just reported that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – who was singlehandedly responsible for stoking and restarting the bank crisis on Wednesday which until that day was easing back, with her comments that nobody in charge was even talking about a uniform deposit insurance, let alone working on one – will convene the heads of top US financial regulators Friday morning for a previously unscheduled meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.The meeting will be closed to the public, the Treasury Department said in a statement. The Treasury didn’t say what time the meeting would begin, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the council would issue a statement following the meeting.The step comes as regulators continue efforts to instill calm in financial markets and among bank depositors following the recent failure of two mid-sized lenders in the US and the near-collapse of banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG before its government-brokered takeover by rival UBS Group AG.FSOC’s members include the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and several other regulatory agencies. It has little legal authority but serves as a coordinating forum. Here is a list of the full members:The Council’s voting members are:Yesterday we asked “What is the record for shortest interval between a final rate hike and the first rate cut.”What is the record for shortest interval between a final rate hike and the first rate cut
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 23, 2023Are we about to discover that the answer is “just two days.”Finally, one can’t help but wonder if this is the final pre-financial crisis meeting in Yellen’s lifetime…DevelopingLoading… […]

S&P Global’s PMI data surprised to the upside in preliminary February data with both Manufacturing and Services coming in hotter than expected.Flash US Services Business Activity Index at 53.8 (February: 50.6). 11-month high.Flash US Manufacturing Output Index at 51.0 (February: 47.4). 10-month high.Flash US Manufacturing PMI at 49.3 (February: 47.3). 5-month high.Commenting on the US flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said:“March has so far witnessed an encouraging resurgence of economic growth, with the business surveys indicating an acceleration of output to the fastest since May of last year. “The PMI is broadly consistent with annualized GDP growth approaching 2%, painting a far more positive picture of economic resilience than the declines seen throughout the second half of last year and at the start of 2023. “The upturn is uneven, however, being driven largely by the service sector. Although manufacturing eked out a small production gain, this was mainly a reflection of improved supply chains allowing firms to fulfil backlogs of orders that had accumulated during the post-pandemic demand surge. Tellingly, new orders have now fallen for six straight months in manufacturing. Unless demand improves, there seems little scope for production growth to be sustained at current levels. “In services, there are more encouraging signs, with demand blossoming as we enter spring. It will be important to assess the resilience of this demand in the face of the recent tightening of interest rates and the uncertainty caused by the banking sector stress, which so far only seems to have had a modest impact on business growth expectations. “There is also some concern regarding inflation, with the survey’s gauge of selling prices increasing at a faster rate in March despite lower costs feeding through the manufacturing sector. The inflationary upturn is now being led by stronger service sector price increases, linked largely to faster wage growth.”That ‘good’ news is definitely not what Powell and his pals were hoping to see.Of course, all this ‘good’ news hit before the current ‘credit-tightening’ crisis occurred.Loading… […]