Analysis Topic: Commodity Markets - Metals, Softs & Oils

The analysis published under this topic are as follows.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Chinese and Indian Gold Demand Rising as Zero Interest Rates Distort Investment Markets / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Adrian_Ash

The WHOLESALE-MARKET gold price slipped 0.5% from a new 8-week high in London Thursday morning, while global stock markets stalled after a 3-day rise and commodities also edged back.

The Euro fell from $1.32 on the forex market for the third time this week after chief finance minister Jean-Claude Juncker said new proposals for stemming the currency zone's debt crisis – agreed at a summit on Monday – were "largely insufficient".

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Gold Challenges Resistance at $1,750/oz – Technicals and Fundamentals Remain Very Positive / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: GoldCore

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,747.50, EUR 1,326.68, and GBP 1,102.80 per ounce. Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,744, EUR 1,327.65, and GBP 1,106.74 per ounce.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

The Coming Disruption In Rare Earths / Commodities / Metals & Mining

By: Anthony_David

In December 2011, the US Department of Energy (DoE) released the 2011 ‘Critical Materials Strategy’, a report that examines the role of materials such as rare earth metals in the ‘clean energy economy.’ The report cautions that the US runs the risk of facing disruptions in its short-term rare earth supply chain until 2015 at least. Shortage of five critical rare earth minerals—dysprosium, europium, neodymium, terbium and yttrium—could create expensive interruptions in the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines and energy-efficient lighting.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Battery Power: The Next Generation / Commodities / Metals & Mining

By: Anthony_David

Lithium Manganese Dioxide (LMD) batteries have 4% lithium, 61% manganese and 35% oxygen by atomic weight. Their high power output, low production cost, enhanced safety and thermal stability in comparison to other lithium ion batteries have made LMD batteries very attractive in the electric vehicle market. LMD batteries are already being used by the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Have Your Heard of Graphene? / Commodities / Metals & Mining

By: Anthony_David

Graphene was discovered about seven years ago in Britain and since then, the material has been generating tremendous attention. The wonder value of the material is extraordinary—it is 200 times stronger than steel and tougher than diamond yet almost invisible and weightless; it stretches like rubber and is a better conductor of heat and electricity than copper. In fact, some researchers claim it is the most important substance created since synthetic plastic a century ago!

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Great Deals on Gold and Silver 2012 / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: The_Gold_Report

GoldMoney Founder and Chairman James Turk knows how to find great deals on gold and silver. He claims that the 2012 bottom for gold came during the first week in January. If the year's low is already history and if his projection that gold will hit the $2,000/oz mark within three months is on target, you do the math. "Gold is way too cheap," he tells The Gold Report in this exclusive interview.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Facebook IPO, Dollar, Gold Doesn’t Care! / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: UnpuncturedCycle

The media is all excited about the announcement of the Facebook IPO, treating it as if it’s the second coming of sliced bread. At its anticipated IPO later this year, Facebook will be three times more expensive than Google was at its IPO — and nearly 40 times more expensive than the average large IPO of the last four decades. The valuation metric that some analysts chose to focus on is the price-to-sales ratio (PSR). Of course, it’s too early to know for sure what Facebook’s will be when it comes to market, since its offer price hasn’t been set. But, based on the early reports that Facebook will be valued at its IPO at as much as $100 billion, and 2011 revenues of $3.8 billion, Facebook’s PSR will be around 26. In order to produce a profit stream that is great enough to support a prayer of its stock doing even close to as well as Google’s did in its first few years of life, Facebook’s revenue growth will have to be several orders of magnitude greater, or have a profit margin that is several times greater — or both.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Corruption In Fascist Business Model, Gold Coil Ready / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Jim_Willie_CB

Few can define fascism. Many cannot recognize it. History provides shocking stories of its past episodes. But its root structural feature is the tight relationship between the state and large corporations of a nation, which permit enormous fraud and lead to grand inefficiency, even while aggression and war accompany its handiwork in an ugly fabric weave. Nowhere is the bond more scummy and corrupt than with the banking industry, not in general but in Wall Street where defense of the USDollar has come. That defense was contracted from the USGovt to Wall Street, whose ties developed into a vast network of corruption. That cozy relationship led to the gutting of Fort Knox and its gold bullion in the 1990 decade of so-called prosperity. The 0% gold leasing resulted in vast speculation schemes, private multi-$trillion profit, and absent collateral for the USDollar itself.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

The Gold Price and Gold Investment / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: William_Bancroft

In this article Will Bancroft takes a look at an issue central to gold investment, and one that is so often underappreciated by those yet to invest in gold; the difference between value and price. Investors often pay too much attention to the gold price, and forget that the most important thing is actually the value of gold. Read on to understand why it is value you should weigh up before deciding whether to buy gold.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Triple Digit Crude Oil Investing and a Natural Gas Price Rebound / Commodities / Energy Resources

By: The_Energy_Report

Powers Energy Investor Editor Bill Powers doesn't shy away from microcaps; he embraces them. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, he explains why triple-digit oil is here to stay and how the best-positioned companies will be sitting pretty when natural gas prices rise—as will investors who time the rebound right.

The Energy Report: Is it fair to say that you are a value investor?

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Gold Surges 13.9% in January / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Pete_Grant

Gold had a rather stellar January, posting a 13.9% monthly gain based on the LBMA PM fixings of 1531.00 on 31-Dec-11 and 1744.00 on 31-Jan-12. That's a bigger gain than the yellow metal achieved for the entirety of last year!

Last week — when gold was up less than 10% for the month — Bloomberg came out with a story noting that this was the best start to a year since 1980. Indeed gold did rally smartly in January 1980, but it also put in a nominal 27-year high that month. Should today's investors be worried that a similar fate awaits them? I think not.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January Was A Good Month For Uranium and Rare Earth Miners / Commodities / Uranium

By: Jeb_Handwerger

As we predicted, our uranium (URA) and rare earth (REMX) selections are amongst the leaders during this market rebound. Their underlying fundamentals are strong enough on their own to propel this move. In addition, the shorts may be running for cover here. Lastly, the supply demand equation may be taking hold here.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Gold Set for Biggest Monthly Gain of 21st Century / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Ben_Traynor

U.S. DOLLAR gold bullion prices looked set to record their largest calendar month gain this century by Tuesday lunchtime in London.

Gold prices hit $1745 per ounce – just less than 14% up on the Dollar gold bullion price set at the last London Fix of 2011.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

What Made Gold Break Out? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Julian_DW_Phillips

Last week, gold broke through heavy overhead resistance, as did silver, to look very positive for the days ahead. Many technical analysts didn't feel that gold had that kind of momentum but then came the break. It wasn't a struggling break; it was robust sweeping resistance aside as though it wasn't even there.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Silver Surges 21% in January - Silver Demand Is “Diminishing A Supply Surplus” / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: GoldCore

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,738.00, GBP 1,102.23, and EUR 1,317.27 per ounce.

Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,720.50, GBP 1,097.40, and EUR 1,310.06 per ounce.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Is 2012 the Year of the Golden Dragon? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Eric_McWhinnie

Earlier this month, markets learned that China’s gold imports from Hong Kong reached a record high in November. The Hong Kong government reported that Mainland China purchased 102,779 kilograms of gold from Hong Kong, a 20 percent increase from October and an all-time high. It was the fifth consecutive month of record gold purchases from Hong Kong. Over the weekend, new data was released that showed strong gold demand in China has continued into the new year.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Why Gold Is Shining Bright and What the Fed is Doing / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Chris_Vermeulen

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” ~ Thomas Jefferson ~

Monday, January 30, 2012

Underpriced Gold and Silver Due to Move in 2012 / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks

By: The_Gold_Report

After a tough year in 2011, there is definitely a good selection of underpriced junior resource stocks available for astute investors to focus on before the rest of the herd finally wakes up and smells the gold. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Matthew Zylstra, mining analyst at Northern Securities, reviews the gold, silver and PGM markets and tells us why he believes that better times are ahead for junior miners in 2012, and which ones he particularly likes at current price levels.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Fed Action Will Decide Next Major Move For Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Bob_Kirtley

As our regular readers will know, we view US real interest rates as the key determinant of gold prices over the medium term. Six weeks ago we updated the situation with U.S. real rates (discussion of the theory behind the relationship can be found in that article) and since then, we have observed the gap between gold and real rates closing.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Beijing Shoppers Snatching Up Gold, Germany Failing to Learn Lessons of History / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012

By: Ben_Traynor

THE SPOT MARKET price of buying gold climbed to $1728 an ounce Monday morning London time – a slight drop from last week's close – while stock markets, commodities and the Euro all fell and government bond prices rose as European leaders met for their latest summit in Brussels.

The cost of buying silver fell to $33.08 at one point – a 2.6% drop from where it ended last week.