Analysis Topic: Commodity Markets - Metals, Softs & Oils
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, August 27, 2012
High U.S. Gas Prices Could Continue Despite Falling Demand / Commodities / Gas - Petrol
Crude oil rallied alongside other commodities and the euro to its highest in three months last week on NYMEX, mostly from market's expectation of new Euro Zone bailouts and a third round of quantitative easing from the U.S. Fed.
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Monday, August 27, 2012
Gold Stocks New Cyclical Bull Market Underway / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks
Three weeks ago we wrote that the short-term outlook in precious metals was bullish. Quoting our conclusion: "The bottom line is this sector is very close to a breakout which would likely confirm the May bottom. The price action has started to improve and the sector has not been deterred by the aforementioned bad news which, in normal conditions would have caused a selloff. In the meantime, the public has been bearish the entire year and the dumb money has started to exit the market. It is this combination of factors that lead us to a firm bullish posture over the rest of the summer." In terms of weekly closing prices, GDX and SIL closed last week at a four month high, while GDXJ closed last week at a three month high. Silver closed at a four month high while Gold closed at a five month high. From that it would seem that these markets are overbought. However, a quick study of the long-term charts, sentiment and valuations confirms that we are in an absolute sweet spot. Markets have bottomed, a new cyclical bull has begun and there is substantial room to move over the coming months and year.
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Sunday, August 26, 2012
Silver Uptrend Pending Break of Major Downtrendline / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
The sharp advance by silver last week was presaged by the late July breakout from the important "inner" downtrend that we had earlier delineated, which had been in force from early March, as we can see on the 8-month chart for silver shown below. So is that it - are we on our way now? - almost, but there is one remaining major hurdle left to clear. Before going on to consider what that is we should take note of the fact that silver is now critically overbought short-term overbought as shown by its RSI indicator, and it has also run into a still falling 200-day moving average, factors which point to a high probability of it pausing to consolidate or perhaps react back somewhat in the immediate future - if it does keep going higher near-term, the advance is likely to be measured. The fact that the 50-day moving average is still some way below the falling 200-day also suggests that some more time is needed before the major uptrend expected gets into full swing.
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Sunday, August 26, 2012
Gold Needs to Consolidate Before Commencing Major Uptrend / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
Last week we got what we had expected - and prepared for - for weeks, an upside resolution of the tight standoff in both gold and silver. Actually, gold signalled that it was going to go up several weeks back, when it broke out of the Triangle shown on its 8-month chart below, in late July. The breakout from the Triangle was on good volume, and it then consolidated in a nice tight Pennant pattern before breaking higher to run ahead sharply last week.
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Will Gold Miners Underperform Precious Metals in the Weeks to Come? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high. Yes, it’s summertime and the living is (quantitatively) easy. At least that’s how it looks from the Federal Open Market Committee minutes for the July/August meeting that revealed support among some of the members for a new round of quantitative easing. With the release of the minutes Wednesday, gold went up and the U.S. dollar took a dive. The Fed members see three pitfalls for the economy-- the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, a global economic slowdown led by China and other BRICs, and the fiscal cliff, which could result in substantial fiscal contraction. (Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has repeatedly asked Congress to solve the problem, but with a Presidential election coming in November it is difficult to see how Republicans and Democrats will reach an agreement.)
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Energy Markets Being Driven by Fear / Commodities / Energy Resources
Crude oil demand in the United States is down to its lowest level since the onset of the global economic recession. A lackluster economic recovery, coupled with cautious consumer sentiment, is keeping demand for petroleum products suppressed. Nevertheless, lingering concerns over geopolitical tensions with Iran has prompted some governments to raise the possibility of releasing strategic petroleum reserves. Fundamentally, it seems, markets are well supplied, though it may be emotional factors driving certain aspects of the energy market.
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Gold Coins Render Unto Caesar / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
What the history of ancient gold coins says about Europe's kingless, faceless money today...
SO WHEN Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor by the legions in Egypt in AD 69, he hurried to strike silver and gold coins at Antioch, Tacitus tells us.
Two hundred years later, the "insane despot" Commodus would only believe that his friend Perennius was plotting to overthrow him when he was shown coins already bearing his former favorite's image. And ancient Persian kings went further, says the later Armenian chronicler Moses of Chorene, each seeing to it that "all the money in the royal treasury was recoined with his effigy" as soon as he took power.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Gold Futures Contrary Speculation / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
With gold awakening from its usual summer slumber, traders are getting more excited about its prospects. Presumably this shifting sentiment will even grow to encompass futures traders, who’ve been incredibly bearish on the yellow metal for months now. While traders hold futures guys in high esteem, they are just as susceptible to groupthink as everyone else. They are actually a powerful contrary indicator for gold.
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
U.S. Water Shortages to Impact Power Supply / Commodities / Energy Resources
Electricity enables our modern life style - the degree of dependency we have built into our lives in regards to "power on demand" has raised expectations that plentiful electricity will be available to us 24/7.
Read full article... Read full article..."Electrical power, in the short span of two centuries, has become an indispensible part of modern day life. Our work, leisure, healthcare, economy, and livelihood depend on a constant supply of electrical power. Even a temporary stoppage of power can lead to relative chaos, monetary setbacks, and possible loss of life. Our cities live on electricity and without the customary supply from the power grid, pandemonium would break loose." Dieselserviceandsupply.com
Friday, August 24, 2012
Gold and Silver Drive Hard into Resistance / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
So far it has been a real lift for the metals, as they have both broken out of their short term capping and coiling patterns.
Now they have both reached intermediate, rather than short term, overhead resistance from trend lines.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Two Irrefutable Signs of America's New Energy Dominance / Commodities / Energy Resources
Porter Stansberry writes: Yesterday, I showed you how new investments in energy production are now bearing fruit...
U.S. natural-gas production reached a new high last year. U.S. oil production, which had been in decline since the 1970s, will reach a new high in five years.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Gold and the $600 Billion Question / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
After spending the better part of three months locked in a lateral range, gold finally broke out on Aug. 21 and went on to make a series of follow-through highs. December gold was quoted at $1,667 as of this writing, its highest level since early May. The move came as many investors assume the Fed is about to stimulate the economy.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 24, 2012
Gold Is in Very Strong Bull Market / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
SPOT MARKET gold bullion prices hovered just below $1670 an ounce for most of Friday morning's London trading, a few Dollars below yesterday's four-month high.
Stock markets ticked lower and US Treasuries gained, as analysts continued to speculate on the prospects for more quantitative easing from the US Federal Reserve.
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Why Gold Mining’s Still a Great Place to Make Money / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks
Gold has shown some good support and buying after previously declining to below $1,525 an ounce. The metal has rallied above $1,600 and is currently showing some promise, being on the verge of a possible breakout towards $1,700.
I continue to like gold going forward, given the massive financial distress and possible exit of Greece from the eurozone, despite recent statements from the European Central Bank and its desire to keep the eurozone intact. And then there is Spain and the other five eurozone countries currently in a recession.
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Gold and Silver ‘Perfect Storm’ As MSGM Risks Align / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
Today's AM fix was USD 1,666.50, EUR 1,329.16, and GBP 1,051.88 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,662.50, EUR 1,324.07and GBP 1,047.57 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $30.37/oz, €24.36/oz and £19.25/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,541.00/oz, palladium at $642.50/oz and rhodium at $1,025/oz.
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Ready, Steady, GOLD / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
In anticipation of the ECB and the Federal Reserve deciding to stimulate the economy through an infusion of newly created paper money gold prices have started to recover and head north. We know that the Greek PM Antonis Samaras has met with Jean Claude Junker, President of the Eurogroup in order to try and secure more time for Greece to get its act together and that further meetings are planned in an attempt to resolve this problem. However, so many of these meetings have been held with very little emanating from them making it difficult for us to become enthusiastic about this latest round of what has been a merry-go-round of talks over the last two years. As we see it they will print rather than have Greece leave the eurozone as the fear of contagion worries them more than the fear of inflation.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 24, 2012
Gold vs Stocks, Are You The Market’s “Sucker”? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
The investment world is filled with misleading “facts” and flashy “materials” that cause investors to lose money. If one blindly follows what the average investor thinks and does, they are likely to wind up being the “sucker” in the market. If, on the other hand, an investor digs a little deeper and attains a unique insight on the market or “edge”, then the probability of profitability increases dramatically.
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Why Uranium Prices Will Spike in 2013 / Commodities / Uranium
Analyst David Sadowski of Raymond James sees a lot on the horizon for uranium: a supply shortfall, escalating Asian demand and seasonality, to name just a few. As a former geologist-turned sellside analyst, Sadowski's conviction in uranium's bullish future is rock solid, and he urges investors to get exposure now, as prices in this sector can climb quickly once they're set in motion. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Sadowski shares his favorite names that are set to deliver megawatt-size returns to investors.
The Energy Report: David, how does your background as a geologist help you to see value and growth potential in mining companies?
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Thursday, August 23, 2012
The Most Important Economic Event of Your Lifetime Is Now Underway / Commodities / Crude Oil
Porter Stansberry writes: You're not hearing about it in the mainstream press, but I believe the most important economic event of our lifetimes is now underway...
This event has been spurred on by a widespread belief that oil and natural-gas resources were in a permanent decline (the concept known as "Peak Oil").
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Gold Price Breaks Out / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012
Following a quiet summer, gold has just risen to four-month highs. BullionVault founder Paul Tustain puts the action in context...
USUALLY I tend to focus on the reasons to buy gold rather than the timing. Timing is not my territory. But as we approach the anniversary of gold's all-time high, my thoughts turn to ebb and flow of the gold market.
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