Market Report Days 1648 & 1649: steady(ish)

Day 1,649, 03:54 • Published in USA Canada • by Wilhem Klink


Market prices generally hold.

Raw materials hold steady with the Raw Material Index off its lows up to 28.89.

Food price spick up on Day 1648 and then give it some of the gains back on 1649. The Food Index ends at 72.37.

Weapon prices continue their slow decline, with Q4 the lone increasing level. The Weapon Index slips to 71.11.

Wages pull back from their record highs by 1cc pulling the Wage Index down to 103.05.

The market pushes gold up 1% leading the Gold Index to 123.37.

The Index:


The 1600 AU Index
Based off of the amount of gold a player could earn in a year by working at market wage, selling 20 weapons, 200 food (both Q6) and 1750 raw materials (split 50/50 food/weapons) the 1600 AU Index drops to a record low of 261.94. Higher gold prices and flat prices means less gold for the inventory-selling-gold buying player.

Lets check in with world wages. As The 1600 Index has noted before, wages are paid in the player's currency. One simply needs to move to a high net-wage country to get a job, and then move back to their own country and enjoy the extra currency. There's been a bit of a fall-off in wages world-wide and some countries have dinked around with taxes mixing the chart a bit. The latest chart:



The eUSA has the highest net wages of countries polled, despite the relatively high income tax. An eCanadian, for example, can earn another 63cc per day by moving to the eUSA, getting a eUSA job, and then moving back to eCanada. Interesting to note that the top three net-wage countries also all have 100% bonuses.

Another check on profitability. Market prices have softened quite a bit recently. The impact of that:



Q6 food employers have lost some earnings, but weapons are holding.

Marginal Q5 employers:

Hardly worth hiring anyone. Weapon profits are still in the single digits, and food took quite a tumble.
Moving Averages

For those unfamiliar with a "moving average", in the following charts, the blue line represents the market price at 3:00 eRep time. The red line in the 5-day moving average (average of the last 5-days) of market prices. What that tells us is whether prices are trending downward (the market price is below the moving average) or trending higher (the market price is above the moving average).

Mid-range today



A stable period after a big drop. We've seen this before. Many times. The 1600 Index would also like to point out that on Day 1600 a Q3 weapon sold for 16.60cc. 49 days later a Q4 weapon sells for 15.31cc.

And food-



Lots of down there. Also fair to point out that on Day 1600 a Q3 food sold for $1.58. 49 days later, a Q4 food sells for $1.52


Note: prices are reflective of a percentage of Day 1600's price (Hence the "1600 Index"). In other words if an index is quoted at 88, that days price is 88% of the price on Day 1600. Except the 1600 AU Index which represents an amount of gold one can buy given market conditions as noted in that section.

Methodology on prices: prices are taken at 3:00 eRep time. The price is the average price of buying 1,000 Raw materials, 500 Food, 100 weapons (at each quality level), and 8 gold, plus the market wage less any fraction of cc (so 240, rather than 240.1). All qualities are standardized to Q1 (per hit or per health).

Sic transit gloria mundi