The trend is clear – prices rising rapidly for everything. How long it lasts will be a function of how fast the Federal Reserve wants to drive American civilization into the earth. Right now, warp speed is moving too slow for them.
An apt analogy would be like jumping off a cliff, and rather than being happy with hitting the ground at terminal velocity, you carefully aim a rocket at earth, and then strap it to your back. It is the literal impoverishment of the American people and their nation, in real time. But hey, look on the bright side – your old boat’s gonna be worth more fiat in a few months.
Boat Market:
A boat dealer here in town always has 200+ boats on the lot. Big, shiny, expensive, brand new boats. I drove past the other day and noticed many of the boat racks were empty, which I’ve never seen before. I called the dealer and asked about sales. He said it was a banner year and that they were running low on inventory.
Other boat dealers said:
“If it floats, it sells,” one dealer wrote.
“Finance penetration is very high,” a dealer wrote. “Frankly, we are not lying when we tell people we will be out of key models of boats and motors very soon.”
RV Market
I was talking with a used RV dealer last week about the strength of the market and he said it was the best he had seen in 30 years of business.
Used Car Market
From the article “The Used Car Market is Setting Records“:
“Price change for used vehicles sold at Manheim auctions in the U.S., hit a record high for June and posted a 6 percent year-over-year increase..”
“Used car prices at auction are at record highs.”
Used Guitars, from es-335.org:
“Pandemic shmandemic. High end is selling. The low end is selling and in between is selling.”
“I thought that the pandemic was going to affect the vintage guitar market and I was right. But I thought the market would slow down and I was wrong. It hasn’t. I thought it might tank but I was afraid to say that (not that I have the clout to tank the guitar market-I don’t). What I didn’t think would happen was that folks would be buying guitars like there was no tomorrow (and maybe there is no tomorrow which would explain it). I am selling nearly twice as many guitars now as I was selling before the pandemic and social distancing began…Who knows how long any perceived recovery is going to last.”
Gold
Gold hits 9 year high – currently trading at $1840
Silver
Silver is at the highest price since July 2014. Silver, on this run, has spent just 10 hours trading with a 20 handle. It is at $21.11 now.
Homes
“During the first half of the year, home prices across the U.S. rose at an annualized rate of 6.3%, according to the latest Radian Home Price Index data.”
Food
From Bloomberg:
“Food inflation has arrived, according to newly released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
“Full-service restaurant prices rose a record 0.9% in June from a month earlier. At the same time, home cooking grew costlier: Grocery prices rose 0.7% from the prior month and 5.6% from a year ago, the largest increase since 2011.”“Currently our labor costs are greater than our sales for lunch Monday through Thursday,” said Geoff Tracy, a Washington, D.C. restaurateur who is cutting back his hours. “You don’t need an MBA to know that model does not work.”
At Taco John’s International Inc., a fast-food chain with about 400 mostly franchised restaurants, employee expenses are putting pressure.
“I think where we’re going to see a price increase is going to be labor,” Creel said. “It almost feels like it’s going to be worse” coming out of Covid-19.
“Once the money runs out, once the landlords want their rent come fall — it’s over for most restaurants,” he said.