Copper prices were working lower during most of December and in the absence of any bullish triggers we had been expecting that trend to continue. But in late December, fund buying picked up aggressively, driving prices to a fresh multi-year high of $7,203/tonne. There was little fundamental justification for this and we should consider it a warning that speculators and investors feeling optimistic...Read More
Lead prices remain on their steady uptrend since the summer lows last year and in January have been eroding resistance around October's 6-year high above $2,600/tonne. We expect the underlying strengthening fundamentals, especially on the supply side, to maintain the uptrend this year. Primary producers may well struggle to respond to higher lead prices and we doubt there is much hoarded scrap aro...Read More
Despite Chinese winter smelter production cuts generally falling short of expectations and domestic stocks continuing to climb - both of which suggest the market remains far more comfortably supplied at this point than aluminium bulls had been anticipating - prices still rallied into the year-end to reach $2,290/tonne for the first time since March 2012.And after a New Year pull-back the strength...Read More
Copper prices were working lower during most of December and in the absence of any bullish triggers we had been expecting that trend to continue. But in late December, fund buying picked up aggressively, driving prices to a fresh multi-year high of $7,203/tonne. There was little fundamental justification for this and we should consider it a warning that speculators and investors feeling optimistic...Read More
Lead prices remain on their steady uptrend since the summer lows last year and in January have been eroding resistance around October's 6-year high above $2,600/tonne. We expect the underlying strengthening fundamentals, especially on the supply side, to maintain the uptrend this year. Primary producers may well struggle to respond to higher lead prices and we doubt there is much hoarded scrap aro...Read More
Despite Chinese winter smelter production cuts generally falling short of expectations and domestic stocks continuing to climb - both of which suggest the market remains far more comfortably supplied at this point than aluminium bulls had been anticipating - prices still rallied into the year-end to reach $2,290/tonne for the first time since March 2012.And after a New Year pull-back the strength...Read More
Copper prices were working lower during most of December and in the absence of any bullish triggers we had been expecting that trend to continue. But in late December, fund buying picked up aggressively, driving prices to a fresh multi-year high of $7,203/tonne. There was little fundamental justification for this and we should consider it a warning that speculators and investors feeling optimistic...Read More
Lead prices remain on their steady uptrend since the summer lows last year and in January have been eroding resistance around October's 6-year high above $2,600/tonne. We expect the underlying strengthening fundamentals, especially on the supply side, to maintain the uptrend this year. Primary producers may well struggle to respond to higher lead prices and we doubt there is much hoarded scrap aro...Read More
Ford is barreling toward a crisis.We're not even a full month into the year, and its CEO came out and lamented that 2018 would be a bad year due to more expensive raw materials. We know full well what he was doing: tempering expectations ahead of the company's next earnings release. Last year, Ford had to shell out an additional $2 billion thanks to exchange rates and higher steel and aluminum exp...Read More
Annualized Standard Deviation vs Downside Deviation Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream, BMG Group Inc.Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Bill BlaineThree things could see the current gentle slippage in bonds become an avalanche. The first is unanticipated inflation drivers catching markets unawares; the second is overly active central banks making policy mistakes; the third is contagion as rising rates trigger weakness in stock markets and a raging tide...Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Tyler DurdenOver the past two years, in trying to justify the recovery narrative, central bankers and policymakers have been pushing long-term interest rates higher in order to reprice inflation expectations with one end goal: boost long-term rates while keeping the yield curve steep, and reflate away the record global...Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Jim RickardsGold and silver coins were once legal tender in the US; let's hope it's not going the way of the Roman Empire in terms of a political decline coinciding with the substitution of base metals for gold and silver coinage.Silver is as much a monetary metal as gold, and has just as good a pedigree when it comes t...Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Tyler DurdenDays after China's threat to slow/stop buying US Treasuries, and days before the launch of China's petro-yuan futures contract, Germany's central bank said it would include China's renminbi in its reserves.Hamburg: sculpture near office building of Deutsche Bundesbank in Hamburg city. Hamburg is the second l...Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by SRSRocco ReportChinese demand for physical gold surged in 2017, while Americans went for cryptocurrencies and the stock market. Chinese citizens purchased the most gold bar and coin products since the same period in 2013, when they took advantage of huge gold market price selloff.Chinese gold bar and coin demand increas...Read More
The comments above & below is an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Fasanaro CapitalThe Peak PEG ratio is a price to peak-earnings multiple, adjusted for long-run trend growth. It considers the highest (rather than average) earnings over the previous 10 years and then divides for growth potential. When measured against potential growth, even on its highest earnings, the S&P has never be...Read More
Despite Chinese winter smelter production cuts generally falling short of expectations and domestic stocks continuing to climb - both of which suggest the market remains far more comfortably supplied at this point than aluminium bulls had been anticipating - prices still rallied into the year-end to reach $2,290/tonne for the first time since March 2012.And after a New Year pull-back the strength...Read More
Copper prices were working lower during most of December and in the absence of any bullish triggers we had been expecting that trend to continue. But in late December, fund buying picked up aggressively, driving prices to a fresh multi-year high of $7,203/tonne. There was little fundamental justification for this and we should consider it a warning that speculators and investors feeling optimistic...Read More
Lead prices remain on their steady uptrend since the summer lows last year and in January have been eroding resistance around October's 6-year high above $2,600/tonne. We expect the underlying strengthening fundamentals, especially on the supply side, to maintain the uptrend this year. Primary producers may well struggle to respond to higher lead prices and we doubt there is much hoarded scrap aro...Read More
From 2011 to late 2015, the Thomson Reuters Equal Weighted Commodity Index lost nearly half its value as the Gold, Grains, and Energy industries worked their way through bear markets.Since bottoming in late 2015, commodity prices have made a comeback of sorts, chopping their way higher. Couple this with a U.S. Dollar that is in the throws of a deep correction, and there's reason to be bullish....Read More