It sounds like the govt. is preparing to send out money to the masses. It sounds so socialist. What I read sounds like $500 billion for the first round followed by a 2nd 500 billion. That's 1 Trillion dollars !! It may all go up in smoke and disappear with the possible economy but any other time in would be inflationary.

Anyway, with a lot of money floating around (in "normal" times) this would be inflationary and interest rates would probably go up to reflect that.

I have no idea what rates will do but long bonds are not the place to be.

Industrial demand has fallen off a cliff? Margin calls in other investments?

Both of these. When everything is dropping and you’re over leveraged, you sell what you can, not what you want to.

I checked all the silver sites earlier thinking of buying some. All are sold out with months of delays. Silver rounds and bars are selling on eBay with huge premiums. Demand is off the charts from the physical stackers.

Ok thanks mate that makes sense

I read this and thought, "can't be right, silver is $12.13 an ounce which is down 30% from not too long ago".

Then I checked Gainesville Coins. All products sold out. Holy shit!

So if i buy on backorder will it be the price i buy it at when it comes into stock?

All the sites I checked won't even let you order now.

I think it was Monday morning when it crashed like $3. I went to maybe buy some and started shopping around. There was plenty still in stock then, but while I was shopping the price went back up $1/ounce. Now it's back down where it was, but sold out everywhere. On Monday the sites were saying 2-4 weeks delay in delivery. Now some are saying 16-18 weeks delivery and all the products say "notify me" when back in stock instead of letting you order.

I found somewhere its $17.33 an ounce should i pull the trigger?

Silvertowne has a few rounds in stock, but they are about $3/ounce over spot in bulk:

https://www.silvertowne.com/c-601-buffalo-replica-1-ounce-silver-rounds.aspx

I researched this a bit a couple years ago, but I can't remember who is the cheapest seller. SD Bullion is selling one ounce bars for less than $1 over spot if you buy 1500 of them, but they are sold out.

COVID-19 has been a force multiplier for virtual communications. The whole world is scrambling to work from home. I think Zoom ZM is a solid play in this crazy market. Don't make the mistake like many and buy the Zoom penny stock.

The problem I have with buying any, the reason I never have bought any in bulk, is usually these places charge you $2-3 dollars over spot price to buy, then if you go to sell back to them they buy them under spot. So you're already in the hole a few dollars an ounce from the second you buy them. Right now it looks like you could sell them on Ebay for about $8 or so over spot, but you have to pay selling fees and ship them to your buyer and that eats up a lot of the profit. Your best bet is probably just to buy SLV and avoid all the slippage and hassle of messing with the physical product. But owning real silver is cool to me.

I dodged a bullet with Vanguard's High Yield Corp Fund. I've been buying it since 2010 in my and my wife's Roth IRA, buying a little each year and always reinvesting the monthly dividends. It had crept up to about 20% of our IRAs from all that. It was a pretty consistent 5.75-6.00 a share paying around 4.5%-5.0% dividend the whole decade. Figuring the energy market was going to crash high yield bonds, I sold out both accounts two weeks ago at 5.93-5.95. Today it's 5.05.

I feel like we need a similar "blunt the curve" message for the bottom of the market.

You guys are making me nervous, but at least for now I'm sticking with my plan of upping my contributions for the next several months and maintaining current holdings. I was on a path to retire at 55 (if I want). That's still 20 years out, so I'm trying to maintain some positivity about that prospect right now.

Likewise. I've been telling co-workers I wanted to retire at the end of this year (at 43). I still have a couple side jobs I'd keep doing. Told them last week to forget I mentioned it.

SPG 44.92 -13.94 (-23.68%) on wednesday march 18.

Stock floor traders sent Home? Complete virtual exchanges tomorrow?
Wow, smelling 16k, I wouldn't buy shit right now.

traders are working on skeleton crew, rest from home, but that's been a few days.

It’s funny, I’m 42 and have a lucrative career. It used to be my ambition to retire in my mid fifty’s with a sum that would allow me to never work again. As I get older, I don’t think that is my plan anymore. 2 years ago I bought my dream house, which was incredibly expensive but a tremendous investment opportunity as it was significantly under valued. I have to pay this off, but I think I should be able to in the next 15 years or so while maintaining my current lifestyle. This is a long way around the horn to say that not only do I need to work for a while, but that I want to work longer. I enjoy what I do and take great pride in my work. My technical counterpart that I worked with for the past 4 years just retired at the age of 76. He has several millions of assets so has not needed to work for a while. However, he loved meeting with clients with me and said that work kept him young. I am meeting more and more people that are telling me similar things. I guess I will see how things play out as I get older but my thoughts on this have really started evolving over the last 6 months or so. Is anybody else having similar thoughts about wanting to work longer?

Way back in 1999, I had two co-workers who had placed their money with Investco. Both were really talking up about how they were almost millionaires. And the stock market mantra at the time was "buy the dips." It was the equivalent of the shoeshine boy telling Joe Kennedy to "buy the rails".

Anyway, their talk was cut short. The market took a dive. And their glassy eyed thoughts of being millionaires evaporated. The last time I talked to one of them, he had been laid off, and was busy looking after two sick parents. And he said the money was almost gone.

And the dip buyers were wiped out.

My situation is very similar to yours, even with the larger house that was under-valued. I think back a few years to a co-worker who just could not wait to retire. He was really skilled with picking investments and monitored them daily. He finally retired.

3 months after he left, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was dead within 6 months. Made me reprioritize my life a bit. I really wanted to get out in my mid 50's, but with this now, who knows what will happen. I'm thankful for being alive and semi enjoying my job, we'll see where things go from here. But as soon as I can comfortable leave the workforce, I'm going to do it.

Just talking out my ass here, as I have no real knowledge of stocks.

Can we can all agree the 'experts' over the last 10 years could've made money in stock letting their 3yo pick them.

So, conversely, any idiot picking stocks to drop in the last month would likely be correct. So I wonder if the last 30 mins of trading where we see huge down days but last minute increases is nothing more than Short positions covering themselves and taking profits.

I worked aircraft. I built airplanes. Aircraft work can be very cyclical. I managed to hold on when 9-11 hit, but in 2003 I was laid off. I kept getting called back and then played off again. 7 times between 2003 and 2014. The last job I had I absolutely loved. I looked forward to going to work every day.

In 2014, at the age of 61 1/2, I was laid off one last time. It was over. When you work high paying aircraft jobs and get laid off, no other company wants to hire you. I could not even snag a job as a janitor. I turned 62 in August 2014. By October, the unemployment money was going to end so I filed for Social Security. The first year was tough and boring as hell. Each day, I would walk a different direction for 4 or 5 miles. That got old fast.

In November 2015 I bought my first pinball machine. I now have 7 mostly running and one I am building from scratch. Pinball has been my mental savior. But it would not have happened if I had not been laid off permanently. And while I like my pins and have had some good times, I would have rather kept working.

Talk about going around the horn, if you like your job and what you are doing and like going to work everyday, then keep doing it. If you can go fishing everyday then it is no fun. Whatever it is that you like to do as a hobby can turn into a chore if that is all you have to do.

I have had some crappy jobs so I know how to compare shit from high living. There are some jobs I have walked away from with out looking back. But if you have a good solid job that you like, stay with it. Your 76 year old co-worker knew what direction was up.

Someone has to buy those though...or am I missing something.

As a gen x’er, this is the third big market disaster to take place during my working career (dot com bust, Great Recession, and whatever we end up calling this). I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. I just thought about the fact that this is the first meltdown to impact the Millennials. They must’ve thought that the market was easy money looking at their 401Ks over the last 10 years. I wonder if they’ll stick it out or panic like many of us have done in the past.

This kind of market will separate whose real from the pikers. Volume will eventually go down, trading will get choppy, etc. The news will continue to put out their buy recommendations as the market continues to decline.

After hours is the pros trying to screw each other over, in a manner of speaking. So, the market has been going down all day and closes down. And some shorts who thought there might be more after hours downside get caught in the thinly traded after hours market and have to cover.

The person in the Short position has to buy them.

So if you are thinking "fkn awesome X stock is down" they still have to purchase to replace their imaginary original sell to replace them. So if you see $30 at 3:30 but can't get in line fast enough you may be forced to settle for $35

In effect creating an artificial rising EOD number as people who didnt even want to purchase are kind of forced to, to ensure they are not exposed to loss on the next day of trading.

Got it thanks.

I’m losing track of the number of coworkers I’ve had that have died in their 40s-60s. Literally worked until they died. About a month ago our CEO had a headache and went to the doctor. He was told he has aggressive brain cancer and won’t live a year. I don’t want that to be me.

That's awful, I'm sorry. Having had some stuff like that relatively close to me, I can only give advice along the lines of something like "it probably wont be, but act like it might be".

Thanks. A few weeks before that, the office manager of my old job (that most of us at the current job used to work at) dropped dead of a heart attack. Super active healthy guy. Ran marathons regularly. He looked 50, but I think he was about 66.

This is why you have to live now because we have no idea what the future holds. I hear a lot about the FIRE movement but frankly, it does not provide for the lifestyle that I want for myself and my family. My wife and I bought this house and a boat several years beforehand because we decided we wanted to enjoy some of the fruits of our labors while we are young. Does this mean we have to keep working? Sure. But we both like what we are doing and get to live our life now as opposed to waiting for retirement. And if I was to stroke out tomorrow, at least I got to enjoy it while I could and my wife and daughter would be taken care of.

I'm technically a Millennial. I wasn't invested through the Great Recession.

Well, that is a surprise . Trouble is that you never get to choose. You are still at point in your life where you still feel invincible.

I have had some classmates from High School die from car wrecks. But the first natural death was in in 2005 when one of my mates checked out at age 51. Since that time it has sort of been a slow steady procession. Several years ago, one of our local guitar gods succumbed to throat cancer. He was around 60. The paper interviewed the drummer of the band about the passing. The drummer and I hung out a little bit in school. Two weeks later, the drummer was dead.He just keeled over and was gone.

It is life. It happens. And no, I am not really prepared all the way. I have some loose ends to take care of.

Stock futures are up in the after hours

The Dow is up......70 points. Big Wow. I don't know if I should be cheering or be disappointed.

European Central Bank is planning a $81 Billion rescue package.

The world is going to be so broke with fighting this. You can't print money forever.

https://money.cnn.com/data/afterhours/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/18/investing/stock-futures-wednesday-coronavirus/index.html
=================

Oops. Change that. Dow futures are down 859 in after hours.

Bill Ackman gets it:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/bill-ackman-pleads-to-trump-to-increase-closures-to-save-the-economy-shut-it-down-now.html

This is what needs to happen. Not this half-ass stuff. Either shut everything down or don't do it at all, it's just dragging it out and making things worse. This is basically what China did and it saved them, and Italy/France are doing it now.

The stock market, in my opinion, is going to continue to go down until uncertainty goes away.

The best analogy I can make is that right now the USA is a leaky roof, and water (the virus) is coming in. We keep trying to plug leaks with rags, but we can't even tell where all the leaks are there's so much water coming in. So our current plan is to stop 95% of the water from even falling on the roof, but 5% is still falling and leaking through and destroying things, just at a slower pace but still creating a huge pain. Only way to stop it is pay a big sum and fix it right.

Thanks for the advice. I very much appreciate sincerity of other generations.

I'm also a gen x'er. I can remember the recession of 83 a little bit as my parents were in it, so take the other three and that's 4 we've have experience on. Some co-workers and I were discussing how the younger Millennials and the Zoomers, this is going to be eye opening. It's been 10 years since the employment is going to go where it is. Will be a shock for some for sure.

Here is the thing. That could be you and I, and chances are it will be at least one of us. My son's company's CEO also just died, a very young and well respected man. Same thing, aggressive cancer.

That is our line of thinking as well. We upgraded our house a few years ago with some land. Sure, if we stayed were we where, we wouldn't have a mortgage right now, but we wanted to enjoy life a bit and always wanted some land to stretch our legs on. Plus the serenity of a very rural area is priceless.

Come to think of it, we've lost more $ in the last 2 weeks than our first two homes cost combined. LOL!

It could be. We all have an expiration date. My point was that if my expiration date is at 60, I'd rather live a frugal lifestyle and retire at 45 than spend a lot and work until I die.

Speaking of houses and land, my first house was a disaster I bought right out of college and lost a fortune on. My second I bought at 25 and paid off by 30. Moved shortly after, bought another house that was $150k more than the last and paid that one off in 5 years. Now I'm looking to downsize next time I move. My current house is only about 3000 sqft, but there's two rooms I've never used and it's too much trouble keeping it clean and too expensive paying to heat and cool rooms I don't even use (not to mention the extra in insurance and taxes). I do want land though. I'm looking at a 4.5 acre lot in a gated community about 1/4 mile from the golf course clubhouse back in my old neighborhood. It's under $30k. 7 acre lot on the same street is $35k.

Would not consider retirement until I was debt free
and retirement to me just means working a more casual less stress job

Old malaria drug hydroxychloroquine may help cure coronavirus: study

https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/old-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-may-help-cure-coronavirus-study/

The treated group was given 600 mg of Plaquenil each day.

The researchers found that 50 percent of the treated group turned from positive to negative for the virus by the third day — and by day six, that figure was up to 70 percent.

Of the 20 test patients, six of them who were treated with both Plaquenil and the antibiotic Azithromycin showed impressive results — with five testing negative at day three. All six of them tested negative at day six.

“Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its effect is reinforced by azithromycin,” the study concluded.

if this comes to fruition in the next few days, the market could shoot up very quickly

"Quinine". This stuff is used in the saltwater aquarium hobby to get rid of flatworms. It used to go for 20$ a bottle. A few weeks ago they were going for $500 a bottle on Ebay. Now you can't find it.

We used to have day laborers come in and buy fish anti-biotics when I worked at an aquarium store. People treat the pet store like an emergency pharmacy.

Iranians are using Ethanol. It's not going well.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/alcohol-poisoning-kills-100-iranians-seeking-virus-protection

I'm debt free, and have considered retiring way early, and if I was single I probably would, but (and this will sound bad) my wife loves 'things'. It would never work lol. I'll be working for awhile yet. Heck I barely spent much money until I joined this site....damn addicts. Not that I don't have fun, I work to pay for the things I enjoy doing. Unfortunately I've never been one to have a job I would say I love. All the things I really enjoy just aren't that profitable so I do them on the side (and they tend to be expensive hobbies). Doing something you love that you can live on realistically is a rare thing. I've had to pull myself up from nothing a few times in my life, it's always an experience.

That sounds very reasonable. We bought waterfront on the Chesapeake Bay and I would say that it is anything but reasonable. We got lucky in that we found a property that had acreage and a large amount of shoreline for about the price of what typically is a 50 year old house on a quarter acre that would need to be gutted. We have had to do an extensive remodeling but we feel confident that this is a great investment. There are some unique features to the property that due to recent changes on what you can do close to the Bay make this very desirable if we ever decide to sell. More importantly, it allows my family to do things that we hold very near and dear to us. I will be working for a while, but I do know what I am working for.

Fed is doing 75 Billion in QE today and 75 Billion tomorrow. 75 Billion in one day is more than they did in one month at the height of QE. Here is today's schedule:

9:40 – 10:00 am: Treasury Coupons 7 to 20 year sector, for around $6 billion

10:30 – 10:50 am: Treasury Coupons 4.5 to 7 year sector, for around $11 billion

11:20 – 11:40 am: Treasury Coupons 2.25 to 4.5 year sector, for around $17 billion

12:10 – 12:30 pm: Treasury Coupons 0 to 2.25 year sector, for around $25 billion

1:00 – 1:20 pm: Treasury Coupons 20 to 30 year sector, for around $9 billion

1:50 – 2:10 pm: TIPS 1 to 7.5 year sector (Thursday)/TIPS 7.5 to 30 year sector (Friday), for around $7 billion