Analysis Topic: Commodity Markets - Metals, Softs & Oils
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, August 06, 2014
These Events Could Unhinge Two Global Hotspots And Send Crude Oil Price Higher / Commodities / Crude Oil
Kent Moors writes: Over the last 36 hours, two events have occurred that may indicate the situation in two global hotspots is getting worse.
Both have the potential to have a significant impact on energy prices in the future.
First, the Islamic State (IS), the terrorist group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), attacked the Mosul Dam.
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Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Crude Oil Is the New Gold Standard / Commodities / Crude Oil
Dr. Kent Moors writes: Today I want to tell you a story about energy - especially crude oil.
It involves my run in with the steak bandit...
Just stay with me here...
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Tuesday, August 05, 2014
The Bigger Oil Story Behind the Headlines / Commodities / Crude Oil
Michael Levi writes: While we fixate on sexy headlines about Chinese military threats in the South China Sea, for instance, or Washington 'lifting the ban' on crude oil exports, we miss the bigger stories -- and we miss the reality. China's relentless resource quest has the greatest impact on trading prices, which may not make for headline news, but is a very important reality, while the stories about the US lifting the crude oil ban were just wrong.
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Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Buy Gold Like It's 1999 / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2014
The overall markets are exuberant. Valuations rise regardless of value created. And gold is conspicuously not at the party. All of this sounds very familiar to John Hathaway and Doug Groh, portfolio managers of the Tocqueville Gold Fund. It is like 1999 all over again. In this interview with The Gold Report, the pair of fund managers shares their top 10 picks for a diversified portfolio that minimizes risk while maximizing the upside they see coming sooner rather than later.
The Gold Report: In a 4th of July investor letter, you wrote that the precious metals complex, both mining shares and bullion, appear to be in the process of completing a major bottom, and you're more comfortable with the proposition that the downside potential has been fully exhausted. What are the signs that it's really turning this time?
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Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Apocalypse Now For Crude Oil Prices – When Isis Takes Baghdad / Commodities / Crude Oil
Dangerously Converging Contexts
As of now we can at least theoretically scenarize a world oil shock at least equal to the so-called 'Arab oil embargo' of 1973-74. The chronology shows that Arab oil exporters joined by the Shah's Iran, from October 1973 cut their total supply by 5% a month to obtain their political-economic demand for much higher prices “for as long as needed”. By January-February 1974 they had started delaying or freezing the monthly 5% cuts in supply. By March when Israel withdrew the last of it soldiers from the Egyptian side of the Suez Canal the embargo started winding down.
Monday, August 04, 2014
Gold Price Bullish Falling Wedge / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
We called the exact top in gold to the day in the last update 3 weeks ago, as it has since reacted back. Now the picture is more messy, with conflicting indications, but let's see what we can make of it. There was no update for these 3 weeks as we were waiting for this decline to run its course (no point in working for the sake of it).
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Monday, August 04, 2014
Silver Price Rally Could Fail due to Scary CoTs Reading / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
We called the exact top in silver to the day in the last update 3 weeks ago, as it has since reacted back. Although a brief relief rally now looks likely, the still extreme COT readings suggest that silver has just put in an intermediate top. On its 6-month chart we can see how it has reacted back from the peak to arrive at an area of support at its principal moving averages, with its earlier overbought condition having completely unwound. This set of circumstances makes a bounce likely. However the COT structure has barely eased in recent weeks, which means that any rally here is likely to be short-lived and followed by renewed decline.
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Sunday, August 03, 2014
Gold and Silver Good Vibrations / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
"Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together, in the same direction." Antoine de Saint-Exupery
As it is in love, so it is in most endeavors involving groups of people. There must be a meeting of the minds, and a commitment to common goals despite any differences.
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Saturday, August 02, 2014
Gold And Silver New World [Dis]Order Continues To Slip / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Earlier in the year, we stated 2014 could be like 2013, price-wise, and that appears to be playing out. However, as the idiom goes: appearances can be deceiving, and it is certainly true of the chart prices for gold and silver. The natural forces of supply and demand would have PM prices much higher, if for no other reason than an inflation adjustment. It is the ongoing exertion of unnatural forces that have been dictating prices for so long.
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Saturday, August 02, 2014
Gold Prices 1971 - 2014 in 3 Waves / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
The Big Picture
Ignore the hype regarding gold, bonds, booms and busts, hope and chains, "shock and awe," stock market crashes, "money honey" commentary, and ignore the politicians. Don't obsess over High-Frequency-Trading and market manipulation. Instead, focus on the big picture as shown in the following chart of monthly gold, which has been divided into 3 phases since 1971.
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Friday, August 01, 2014
Oil Price Major Shift Afoot / Commodities / Crude Oil
Oil prices are dropping as Exxon announces a -5.7% plunge in output. And as Shell, as I said yesterday, can think of nothing better to do with its remaining funds than to spend it on share buybacks and dividends. Perhaps shareholders should take the money and run. Because what sort of future can they expect for a company that acts like that?
Western oil companies have tens of billions invested in Russian projects they may or may not have access to anymore now the sanctions are coming into effect. The scourge of insecurity. Never good for industry, never good for markets. Prices will rise again, and a lot, just ask Putin, but that doesn’t take away the insecurity over Big Oil’s chances of – even medium term – survival.
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Friday, August 01, 2014
Gold Price Trend Like Watching Paint Dry... / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
That was how it felt watching all markets this week until yesterday when they sprang into life. Gold fell from $1304 at the London opening last Monday to a low point of $1281 yesterday, down 1.8% on the week, while silver fell from $20.60 to $20.35, down only 1.2%. These moves were relatively small compared with action elsewhere. Here are the charts showing price and open interest for gold and silver on Comex.
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Friday, August 01, 2014
Gold’s Seasonal Sweet Spot - Strongest Months Are August, September, November And January / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,284.50, EUR 959.16 and GBP 762.99 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,295.00, EUR 966.92 and GBP 767.36 per ounce.
Gold fell $14.60 or 1.13% yesterday to $1,282.10/oz and silver slipped $0.25 or 1.21% to $20.37/oz.
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Friday, August 01, 2014
Gold Price Advance Capped by the Dead Cat Dollar’s Recovery / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Background
We are gold and silver bugs and as such we are aware of the myriad of factors that affect the price movements in the precious metals sector. Today we will take a quick look at just one of them; The US Dollar.
Friday, August 01, 2014
The Gold Owners’ Guide to the Rest of 2014 / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Over the next few weeks, I will make a series of posts on the current state of affairs as they relate to the gold market. So stay tuned to this page. . . . .
Let me start the proceedings with this — a repast on the nature of the human predicament 2014. Below is a follow-up to Richard Russell’s stated concerns (scroll below) on the persistence of war and inflation in human affairs. I do not bring this line of thinking to your attention to disturb your comfort level, but to make you aware that there is more going on than the panoply of misdirection afforded us by the mainstream media. (Today’s somewhat mysterious 300 point + drop in the DJIA might be trying to tell us something. Stocks are now level for the year. Gold is up over 6.5%.)
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Friday, August 01, 2014
July 31 An Amusing Day For Overpriced Crude Oil / Commodities / Crude Oil
Suddenly There Is Ample Supply
Newswires and energy sites on the Internet desperately sought rational explanations of why oil could not only flirt with the “100 dollar benchmark” but (OMG!) fall well below it in just a few days of so-called “hectic trading”. We can now await the pro domo explanation from Goldman Sachs telling us this is only a “temporary downward blip”. Keep calm and carry on. The natural price is well above $100 a barrel.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
The Important Impact of This “Secret” Gold Agreement / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Peter Krauth writes: The fourth iteration of the Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA) has just been signed.
Essentially, it’s a statement by Western Europe’s most powerful central banks about how much gold they’re willing to sell over the next five years.
Though done with no fanfare and barely any media coverage, its importance can’t be overstated.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
How Safe Are Unallocated Gold Bullion Accounts? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Imagine you owned a small business. It’s a retail store and you sell a physical product which lines the shelves. You need to keep a variety of different products to ensure that customers who enter your store have plenty of choice. Not only do you have to stock a range of goods, but you have to keep a lot of each on hand as customers often purchase in bulk, due to fluctuating prices (they may buy large quantities when they believe it is well priced). As the store owner you have to hedge your exposure to the fluctuating price of the product you keep on hand to reduce the chance of getting caught on the wrong side of a price swing, this adds further complexity to managing your inventory.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
Don't Get Married to Your Gold Stocks—It's a Performance-Based Relationship / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2014
Ralph Aldis, portfolio manager with U.S. Global Investors, is a well-respected mining analyst. His detailed knowledge of the companies in the U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund and across the entire precious metals space has taken years of meticulous work and dedication to his craft. Aldis urges investors not to get married to their stocks, but in this interview with The Gold Report, he discusses lots of names that are good for a fling right now.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Death of the U.S. Dollar? Gold an Inflation Hedge? Really? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014
Gary Tanashian writes: Take a look around the gold bull landscape and tell me how many of them are featuring a chart like this, showing the US dollar in a bullish short-term stance (to go with the weekly bullish stance we have noted for so long in the ‘Currencies’ segment).
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