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Gold Slips To $1100 As UK Faces Potential Credit Ratings Downgrade Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 10, 2009 - 07:43 AM By: Adrian_Ash THE PRICE OF WHOLESALE gold slipped 1% from Monday's new record high early in London today, briefly drifting through $1100 an ounce as Asian stock markets closed the day higher but European shares held flat. Crude oil ticked back down to $80 per barrel, but remained higher by one-third from this time last year. The US Dollar held steady after Monday's sharp losses. Ten-year Treasury bonds offered 3.45% in yield. "A correction is reasonable after...

Industrial Materials Shine As Global Economy Seen TurningCitigroup analysts envision near-60% EPS gain in materials sector next year Kate Gibson MarketWatch Nov. 9, 2009, 3:23 p.m. EST NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With industrial materials among the first to benefit as the global economy turns, the sector ranks as the No. 2 performer among the S&P 500's 10 industry groups so far this year -- and Citigroup analysts now see nearly a 60% earnings-per-share rebound as likely for the sector in 2010. Bankers' Clients Want More Love, More MoneyBonds of trust between investment banks and their clients have in some cases...

Gold Bars Selling Like Hotcakes At Harrods Henry BlodgetNov. 8, 2009, 9:49 AM Gold smashed through an all-time high of $1,100 an ounce on Friday, bringing some solace to gold bugs who have been losing money on the metal since the 1980s. Gold still hasn't come anywhere near its late-1980's peak on an inflation-adjusted basis ($1,800 or so), belying the general theory that it's a great inflation hedge. As the world gold frenzy really takes hold, however, $2,000-an-ounce predictions are coming fast and furious, so there's always hope. The NYT surveys the gold landscape, checking in on the ultimate symbol...

Gold Reaches New Record Above $1,100 By Nick Godt MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures barreled to a new record high above $1,100 an ounce on Friday, as news that the U.S. unemployment rate topped 10.2% in October boosted expectations the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero well into next year, pressuring the dollar. Gold for December delivery, the most active futures contract, rose as high as $1,100.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained up to $1,101.90 an ounce in electronic trade. It recently gained $6.40, or 0.6%, to $1,095.80. The U.S. economy...

You might think that Warren Buffett's $34 billion bid for the rest of Burlington Northern Santa Fe ( BNI - news - people ) is the most eye-catching investment decision of the day. While the Oracle of Omaha's bullish bet on America is hardly insignificant, I would like to direct your attention half a world away and ostensibly in a different investment medium: spot gold. India's central bank bulked up that nation's gold reserves by 55% with the purchase of $6.7 billion worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund, which is selling gold reserves to raise funds for lending...

Gold Confiscation Risk Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 02, 2009 - 02:05 AM By: Howard_Katz Things are looking good for the gold bugs these days. September and early October saw the (long awaited) break above $1,000. This past week saw the technical pull back to the breakout point, and Thursday was the turnaround day. Friday saw some very bullish candlestick signals in many of the gold stocks. But one thing has been bothering many gold bugs. In 1933, the U.S. Government confiscated the people’s gold. The Government even went into safety deposit boxes (in private banks) and took...

How And Why China Will Flood The Gold Market Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Oct 31, 2009 - 09:07 AM By: DailyWealth Jeff Clark of Casey Research writes: As you read this, the Chinese government is doing an extraordinary thing... something nearly unheard of in the modern world. It is encouraging citizens to put at least 5% of their savings into precious metals. The Chinese government is telling people gold and silver are good investments that will safeguard their wealth. After last year's meltdown in the stock market, people believe it. After all, Chinese citizens don't receive government retirement...

Biofuel refineries in the US have set fresh records for grain use every month since May. Almost a third of the US corn harvest will be diverted into ethanol for motors this year, or 12pc of the global crop. The world's grain stocks have dropped from four to 2.6 months cover since 2000, despite two bumper harvests in North America. China's inventories are at a 30-year low. Asian rice stocks are near danger level. Yet farm commodities have largely missed out on Bernanke's reflation rally in metals, oil, and everything else. Dylan Grice from Société Générale sees "bargain basement" prices....

Buy Food – Price Rises Are Almost Guaranteed By Garry White Published: 7:50PM GMT 25 Oct 2009 There are two main drivers of commodity prices – supply and demand. This is just as true with soft commodities such as wheat, rice, sugar and cocoa as it is with copper and tin. The big problem for your weekly shopping budget in the future is that there are problems on both sides of the equation that are likely to squeeze prices higher, permanently. However, this also provides a great investment opportunity and now is a good time to buy into many areas...

Jim Rogers On The Next Ten Years By Heather BellOctober 17,2009 I’m moving to China … possibly to live in a bunker. At least that was my inclination after listening to a presentation by Jim Rogers Thursday. Now don’t get me wrong―Mr. Commodities wasn’t all doom and gloom. In fact, his talk was both informative and highly entertaining. But Rogers doesn’t sugarcoat things―he’s very matter-of-fact about his concerns and projections for the future. And most of them don’t bode well for the U.S. I’ll be posting an interview with Jim Rogers on the site in the coming week, but for...

Iron ore imports 50M tonnes over demand BEIJING: China's iron ore imports have exceeded actual demand by about 50 million tonnes so far this year and the oversupply leaves no room for further price rises, a senior official of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) said on Monday. "We believe the Chinese iron ore price is largely influenced by speculation on the market," CISA's Vice Chairman Luo Bingsheng told reporters at the sideline of an industry conference in Beijing. China imported 405 million tonnes of iron ore in the first eight months of this year, up 32 percent from...

Rumors are flying that secret meetings are taking place between Arab states, China, Russia, Japan and France, to dump the dollar and replace the U.S. currency’s role in the pricing of oil. The dollar fell against the euro, yen and Swiss franc, while gold hit new highs of $1,041 an ounce. Is there any truth to the rumors that the dollar is being replaced by a basket of foreign currencies, and what will be the impact your investments and the U.S. economy?

Nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle answers readers' questions in this column written exclusively for The Chronicle. E-mail your questions to food@sfchronicle.com, with Marion Nestle in the subject line. Q: I saw you on "The Colbert Report" (Aug. 19) talking about sugar policy. Explain, please. I don't understand why sugar policy is a topic for Comedy Central. A: Neither did I until I saw Stephen Colbert douse himself with 5 pounds of sugar over the impending "crisis." We have a sugar crisis? According to processed food manufacturers, we are about to run out of sugar. Horrors! Earlier in August,...

And then...Presto! Just like magic through stimulus and some fancy footwork the economy begins to look like it is improving, but is it really? Knowing that stimulus money must eventually run out, that the number of American's out of work continues to grow, that Europe's unemployment is at 10 year highs, and that some Asian countries are starting to falter how can we believe this? We shouldn't and through our knowledge of that we should be looking for opportunities to capitalize on the bear market rally's turn around. In particular we should be looking to banking stocks, auto manufacturing stocks,...

Every so often I'm asked to describe the role of juniors in the commodities industry. And I simply reply, "They're like rabbits". Rabbits are seemingly insignificant and useless animals. But in actuality they serve a critical role in the food chain as a valuable source of nourishment for larger animals. Like rabbits, juniors are seemingly insignificant. But their function in commodities lifecycles is indispensable. And also like rabbits, juniors are a valuable source of nourishment to their predators. One of their major roles is to feed the larger resource companies, ultimately serving to provide sustenance and longevity. The primary purpose...

Sometime people do learn from history, though the number that intentionally do so are few. Perhaps one of the largest groups of people that seem to lack the ability to learn from history is composed of economists. The facts that they choose to intentionally ignore are near mind boggling. Two asset bubbles, technology and housing, were claimed to be non existent, until they collapsed. Now, that same group of myopic number crunchers believes that economic growth in Western economies is about to reignite. Is some skepticism appropriate? Now again, in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve doubling its assets, we...

Do you have to be a power-plant owner to really understand the natural gas market? Should makers of aluminum siding being the only ones allowed to buy aluminum? These are the kinds of questions being raised in many commodities markets today. The issue is speculators versus users of fuels, metals and agricultural products. Both of these groups are big investors in commodities. Users buy these goods to consume them. Speculators buy without any intention of ever using them. A speculator looks purely to make a profit by buying and selling the rights to a pound of copper or a barrel...

Think about it. Chinese banks are lending three times as much during the most severe world economic downturn since the depression as they did when the Chinese economy was booming last year. A tripling of lending would inevitably lead to the financing of numerous negative net present value projects even in normal times. In current circumstances, the waste of resources must be astounding. As I’ve written before, massive government stimulus like that being undertaken in China and being funneled through the banks can lead to increases in measured output. But the return on the projects funded is usually negative, and...

The sugar market is watching the heavens as bad weather in Brazil and India, the world’s two largest producers, threatens crops and pushes prices skyward. Traders and industry executives say, in rare agreement, that prices could hit a 28-year high – above 19.73 cents per pound – this year because of poor weather, steady consumption and low global inventories.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., under fire for reaping record trading profits in the teeth of the financial crisis, is now fighting to defend one of its major sources of revenue -- commodities trading -- as regulators consider setting limits on Wall Street speculators. Goldman and other big investment firms are scheduled to appear at a series of hearings held by the Commodity Futures Trade Committee starting Tuesday, as the Obama administration launches its biggest move yet to clamp down on commodities speculation, which has roiled prices from oil to corn and wheat in recent years. At issue for the investment...

In November of 1997, my partner and co-editor of The Casey Report, Doug Casey, wrote an article titled "Foundations of Crisis," which leaned heavily on the research of Neil Howe and the late William Strauss. Howe and Strauss have written many books on how generations determine the course of history and how they will shape America's future. Their forecasts on a wide variety of indicators have turned out to be amazingly accurate. As eye-opening as Doug's predictions were, they brought us only to the onset of the current crisis. Consequently, we thought it both timely and important to check back...

GM is finishing up its bankruptcy and will emerge today. Futures look to open modestly lower after Chevron warned about it's second quarter earnings. The Dow looks to be off 60 points, the NASDAQ 5, and the S&P 8. The Dow will likely test 8100 before the trading day is over.

* we still have record levels of debt to pay down; * we have no economic model in place in the U.S. to provide the jobs to pay off this debt (our GDP is 30% based on a financial sector, which was built on a house of derivative cards) and fully two thirds of our GDP is based on consumer spending, which is a bit circular in terms of helping to support further consumer spending; * we have an aging population of baby boomers that just lost 40-50% of their retirement and significant home value but they are going to...

hina is directing their mountain of reserves away from acquired mining firms and toward managed hedge funds. This is a new direction for Beijing, clearly in response to the refusal by Rio Tinto to permit a $19 billion stake from the Chinese aluminum giant Chinalco. They were frustrated and angered by the other refusal with the failed Unocal dea in 2005. Clearly, whether stated openly or not, the Chinese are thwarted by USGovt and UKGovt hidden leaders from investing in strategic firms. From their point of view, tarnished by ill feelings, their money is good for credit supply but not...

US stocks dropped sharply on Monday as commodity prices weakened and investors worried about the pace of economic recovery. Commodity stocks surged during the first four sessions of last week, as the price of oil rose and the dollar dropped amid rising fears of inflation. EDITOR’S CHOICE Overview: Fears for financial system cut risk appetite - Jun-15 SGX mulls OTC derivatives clearing - Jun-15 China doubts weigh on commodities prices - Jun-15 Dollar invigorated by Russian remarks - Jun-15 AstraZeneca lifted but Footsie dips steeply - Jun-15 ECB writedown alert knocks banks - Jun-15 However, they fell back on Friday...

Commodities staged a broad retreat on Monday, with oil dipping below $70 a barrel, as a stronger dollar and cautious comments from Chinese premier Wen Jiabao over the durability of his country’s economic recovery weighed on prices. Mr Wen’s suggestion that the drop off in foreign demand for Chinese goods could hamper the country’s economic growth knocked the faith of investors convinced that a sharp upturn in Chinese demand would reinvigorate the commodities markets. EDITOR’S CHOICE Aluminium defies laws of supply and demand - Jun-15 Video: Javier Blas on the doubling of the oil price - Jun-12 Lex: Oil price...

May 29, 2009 "Hussein will Make Jimmy Carter look like E.F. Hutton" (That of course is not a positive statement toward Carter but rather just how horrendous the results of Obama's prodigality will be.) as MrArbitrage explains...

Euro Pacific Capital or Puplava Securities

China on buying spreeJohn Garnaut, Beijing May 14, 2009 CHINA has shifted from merely the fastest-growing consumer to the biggest buyer by far of Australia’s key metals since the start of the financial crisis. China set import records in April for copper, aluminium, zinc, nickel and iron ore, in each case beating the previous record, set in March. The unprecedented Chinese buying spree, at a time when the rest of the world is shutting down, has caused metals analysts to dust off the belief that the Chinese economy can grow strongly without help from the United States. "Decoupling is alive...

Kudos to Dr. Faber for his continued insightful education to the investment community and the public at large. Each video is about nine minutes long and discusses inflation, particular market opportunities such as mining, real estate and short opinions about President Bush/President Obama.

Commodities to return: Rogers ‘The world’s food reserves are [low,] so higher prices will occur.’ April 21, 2009 Jim Rogers The global commodities market is about to make a comeback after years of price declines, which have devastated the food and metal markets around the world, according to billionaire American investor Jim Rogers. Rogers, in an e-mail interview with the JoongAng Ilbo from Singapore, where he has recently moved to teach his children Chinese, stressed now is time for investors to return to commodities, and warned them to stay away from U.S. currency. He emphasized that some of the world’s...

What’s coming next, from the ‘Man Who Saw It Coming’ Posted by Gwen Robinson on Feb 23 18:31. The litany of dire predictions for currencies, commodities and the global economy in general not only seems endless - it is getting more predictable by the day. That is because few pundits are making any waves - or money - out of playing Pollyanna, as everyone from Jim Rogers to Nouriel Roubini well know. While it’s an increasingly safe bet for analysts to leap on the gloom’n'doom bandwagon, there are a handful of analysts out there who get taken more seriously than...

Precious metals markets were quiet on Friday. That is, up until the last few minutes when that little line on Kitco's live gold chart went vertical for what amounted to about a $7 gain for gold. Citigroup's (C) report the other day will certainly add some fuel to the fire when it comes to the debate over the future of gold prices. They figure the yellow metal could rocket as high as $2,000 an ounce sometime within the next two years, possibly before the end of next year, as all the government stimulus money works its way into the system....

It may be a bizarre elixir for the current economic crisis, but Bloomberg Television has declared chocolate a potential cure. On Bloomberg’s Nov. 25 “In Focus,” Bloomberg News correspondent Su Keenan showed that cocoa commodities tend to do better in tough economic times “If you’ve been craving chocolate lately, you may not be alone,” Su Keenan said. “Analysts say worries about jobs and the recession have people desiring a little something sweet – like a Hershey’s kiss. And that can boost sales of candy bars and the cocoa that goes into making them.” ...more (w/video)...

The recent drop in oil and other commodity prices makes it almost a certainty that some unstable commodity-exporting nations will reach a crisis stage in the next few months. The only question is, which countries are likely to erupt first? The Middle East is always a safe bet for an explosion, but there is a very good chance the next eruption will be in Africa, with the most likely location being Congo, followed by Sudan. In Latin America, Argentina is headed for another debt default and financial meltdown, and Venezuela continues to rapidly deteriorate. And there is Russia, which is...

Gold rush (EXCLUSIVE) The mainland is seriously considering a plan to diversify more of its massive foreign-exchange reserves into gold, a person familiar with the situation told The Standard. Benjamin Scent Friday, November 14, 2008 The mainland is seriously considering a plan to diversify more of its massive foreign-exchange reserves into gold, a person familiar with the situation told The Standard. Beijing is considering changing its asset allocations during the financial tsunami in order to build up gold reserves "in a big way," the source said. China's fears about the long-term viability of parking most of its reserves in US...

Respected analyst Eric Fishwick says that China may be heading for a severe economic slowdown The bearish analysis suggests that it will be difficult for Chinese consumers to lift the country out of the slowdown as the economy is still largely focused on exports and commodities Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent China must be radically reassessed by investors and could be lurching towards a more dramatic economic slowdown than Beijing authorities will admit, a CLSA report says. The grim assessment from Eric Fishwick, chief economist at CLSA, an Asia specialist private equity firm, argues that it will be impossible for...

Like nearly every other stock, commodity stocks have been dropping. But don't misinterpret that as lack of demand. Now would be the time to get in. That's right: Get IN. We're building the foundation for the next boom in commodity prices -- and commodity stocks. I can't give you any guarantee that commodity prices won't tumble further in the short term. In fact, I think that's very likely to happen as the U.S. economy slips into recession (possibly along with the economies of Japan and the European Union). But right now commodity stocks are factoring in huge declines in demand...

October 8, 2008 Why globalisation will yield to regional fiefdoms While we watch the drama of the global banking system slashing its own wrists, the real economy has just arrived at outpatients with headaches Carl Mortished: World Business Briefing While we watch the grotesque drama of the global banking system slashing its own wrists, the real economy has just arrived at outpatients with headaches. There is tummy upset in the West, while a mysterious rash has broken out in the East. In China, steelmakers are in deep trouble, the Olympics are over and the building sector, inflated by huge injections...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures surged more than $68 an ounce on Wednesday, the most since 1980, as news of the U.S. government's takeover of the biggest U.S. insurance company and worries about other financial institutions worldwide fueled massive safe-haven buying. Gold for December delivery was last up $63.90, or 8.2%, to $844.40 an ounce. It earlier jumped to $849.00, or as much as $69.50 an ounce. This would represent gold's biggest one-day jump in dollar terms since 1980, when the precious metal began trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Evaporating access to credit and fears of an economic washout are taking a toll on oil prices, forcing speculators using borrowed money out of the market. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s sudden bankruptcy filing and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s pending sale to Bank of America Corp. suggest big banks may be less willing or able to absorb debt to boost trading positions, with implications for the inherently leveraged oil-futures markets. Analysts believe that could have a ripple effect on other speculative investors in the market. Widespread liquidation of futures contracts compounded fears of faltering oil demand in knocking oil down near...

Commodities ravaged as traders flee risk Leo Lewis, Asia business correspondent Surging fears of Armageddon in the global financial system ravaged a wide selection of commodities across Asia as groups ranging from hedge funds to day traders spent the day in a headlong flight from risk. The shock waves from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers reverberated through markets for vegetable oil, soy beans, rubber and industrial metals as confidence in the financial system faltered, global growth prospects dimmed and cash became king. Broad baskets of commodities — once seen by speculators as a sure-fire bet because of China and India’s...

It was said to be the year of speculators gone wild. Seemingly everyone in Washington, including Barack Obama and John McCain, decided that oil prices were soaring because profiteers and middlemen were manipulating the futures markets. "Speculators" were spotted everywhere this side of the grassy knoll. The only problem is that there's no evidence to support the conspiracy theories -- and sure enough, federal regulators dismantled this Beltway consensus late last week. In one of the broadest and most authoritative studies to date, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has offered hard statistical data that financial trading hasn't been driving price...

Gold futures ended at their lowest level in nearly 11 months Wednesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened, losing ground for an eighth straight session and tying a seven-year record for a string of losses. Gold for December delivery fell $29.50, or 3.7%, to $762.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing level since Oct. 24, 2007. Gold futures also dropped for eight straight sessions in August, the longest losing streak since May 2001. It ended August's trading down nearly $90, the biggest monthly loss ever in dollar terms. Sector sentiment is very...

Gold futures fell for a seventh straight session Tuesday, sliding to the lowest in nearly 10 months, as falling crude-oil prices reduced investment demand for gold as a hedge against inflation. Other metals contracts also felt selling pressure. Gold for December delivery sank $16.70, or 2.1%, to $785.80 an ounce ... In the energy market, crude futures fell more than $2 to below $105 a barrel

Hedge funds caught out as Hurricane Gustav fails to lift oil price Miles Costello Several hedge funds face big financial losses after wrongly predicting that oil and gas prices would rise as a result of Hurricane Gustav slamming into the Gulf coast of the US earlier this week. As Gustav swept towards New Orleans on Monday, catastrophe experts were predicting insured losses of up to $7 billion (£3.9 billion) as offshore oil rigs faced destruction and the storm threatened energy supplies. Commodities hedge funds saw the glum prediction as an opportunity, betting heavily, using the futures market, that prices would...

September is the cruellest month Gerard Baker: American View For financial markets, if not for poets, September is the cruellest month. It may only be curious coincidence, but the durability and reliability of the September Curse is striking. Since 1929, US stock prices have declined in September on average by more than in any other month - down by 1.2 per cent, compared with a gain of 0.6 per cent for all months of the year. And, in case you were wondering, that's not because the average of all those 80 Septembers has been driven lower by one or two...

The rising price of gold is prompting a return to Mojave's mining roots, as the Golden Queen Mining Co. prepares to resume mining operations on Soledad Mountain just southwest of the community. Company President Lutz Klingmann outlined the company's plan for the project before a packed house Thursday at the Mojave Chamber of Commerce's regular monthly meeting. "Mining has been going on in east Kern County since before the beginning of the last century," chamber Secretary Bill Deaver said in introducing Klingmann's presentation. The company has been working toward resuming mining on Soledad Mountain for the last seven years, re-engineering...

Big jump in gold sale spurs manipulation talk Some analysts say only manipulation is government's attempt to take down oil By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch Last update: 7:54 p.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Recent heat from Congress and regulators, along with public speculation, over whether commodity prices are being manipulated has also reached gold pits, where the debate was stirred by a surge in bets last month that gold prices would fall. "Congress is already investigating allegations of manipulation in the oil market, and it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before a...

The commodity bull market has a long way to go. This bull market is not magic. It's not some crazy 'cycle theory' I have. It does not fall out of the sky. It's supply and demand. It's simple stuff. In the 80s and 90s, when people were calling you to buy mutual fund and stocks, no one called to say, "Let's invest in a sugar plantation." No one called and said, "Let's invest in a lead mine." Commodities were in a bear market and in bear markets people do not invest in a productive capacity. They never have. Perhaps they...