So, how many of you are surprised to see silver trading down below $26 in the futures? As you know, I, for one, am not. In fact, I have been looking for the $22-24 region in silver for a longer term buying opportunity for two years now since silver topped almost exactly 2 years ago.
But, I do owe you an apology at this time, as I did not prepare you for this decline to occur from only the 28 region, whereas I thought we would move to at least the 29 region before this last decline began………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Wall Street is unhappy with the performance of ExxonMobil’s share price. In the race of Big Oil share prices, Chevron is clearly winning. The discussion of relative share price performance is recently focusing on two things that distinguish the two oil giants. Unlike ExxonMobil, Chevron opted to stay out of Iraq and hasn’t yet purchased a US shale gas company. This begs the question: Who was right?
Wall Street is notorious for taking a short term, even quarterly, view. ExxonMobil has made a business out of taking the long view……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Asia-Pacific countries are the best-placed to supply the region’s future commodity demand, but rather than encouraging mining it appears they are making it harder for explorers and producers.
Virtually every key resource-rich nation in the region slipped in annual rankings compiled by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian-based free-market think-tank that surveyed 742 mining companies for its report, released in February. And it’s not just that Asian commodity producers slipped, the results showed that Indonesia was the worst mining jurisdiction, and was joined in the bottom 10 by Vietnam and the Philippines……………………………………..Full Article: Source

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the largest U.S. bank by assets and the top investment bank by fees, is questioning the so-called universal bank model’s future.
Top-tier investment banks are “uninvestable at this point with a risk of spinoff from universal banks,” JPMorgan analysts led by London-based Kian Abouhossein wrote in a research note today. They cited potential rule changes and curbs on capital and funding……………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds reduced bets on a commodity rally by the most since 2008 as rising supplies of everything from copper to sugar and slowing U.S. growth drove prices to the biggest slump in six months.
Speculators cut net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 31 percent to 468,780 contracts in the week ended April 2, the most since October 2008, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Investors are betting on a decline in silver for the first time and have record bearish positions in copper and sugar. Corn wagers dropped the most since June 2010, leading the biggest ever decline in agricultural holdings………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds and other big speculators have cut their bullish bets on commodities by the most since February, trade data showed on Friday, amid signs of stagnating U.S. economic recovery and uncertainty over raw materials demand.
Money managers slashed by $9.7 billion their net-long holdings across 22 commodities to $59.7 billion during the week to April 2, according to Reuters calculations of data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investor sentiment is the single most important factor driving gold prices higher or lower, Says CPM Group MD, Jeff Christian. And, it is for this reason that gold prices are likely to move lower this year.
Christian explains that more than a third of the independent variables that seem to affect gold prices are related to investment demand “and it’s not so much the underlying economic environment as it is investors’ interpretation and sentiments towards the underlying economic environment that are really what’s important.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

After poor performance in the last few months, some investors have cut back their exposure to commodities and boosted positions in equities. While there are cyclical reasons to support this asset allocation decision, BofAML’s most recent work suggests commodity and equity returns are comparable in the very long run.
The S&P GSCI TR index only has history going back to 1970, while DJ UBS and MLCX TR indices merely date back to 1990. The Bank built a commodity index going back to 1930 and calculated average returns of 8% with a standard deviation of 11% in the 1930-2013 period, compared to 11% returns and 16% deviation for equities (S&P 500 TR)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The recent price action of gold has been frustrating for some people. The precious metal logged its second consecutive quarterly loss and remains in consolidation mode amid the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. However, there are still plenty of buyers around the world that are interested in gold.
Gold finished 2012 with a solid 7 percent gain, capping its longest steak of annual gains since at least 1920. Despite the performance, gold entered the new year on weakness. The fourth quarter was gold’s weakest quarter in four years and the decline has yet to stop………………………………………..Full Article: Source

If you slept through the first quarter in commodity markets, you didn’t miss much.The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index fell 1.1% in the first quarter, and the lackluster performance could add further fuel to detractors’ argument that the commodity supercycle is over for now. The index fell 1.1% in 2012 after declining 13% in 2011.
Most commodity markets are reflecting a modest outlook for the global economy, crimped by slackening Chinese demand, uncertain growth prospects in the U.S. and Europe, adequate stores of raw materials, and a strengthening U.S. dollar undercutting commodity prices. A stronger dollar typically makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive in other currencies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors are boosting wagers on higher commodity prices at the fastest pace in almost four years, rebounding from the least bullish position since 2009, on signs that the U.S. is accelerating and Europe’s debt crisis is easing.
Hedge funds and other large speculators increased net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 10 percent to 679,191 contracts in the week ended March 26, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. The bets surged 67 percent in three weeks, the biggest advance since May 2009. Wagers on higher oil prices climbed the most this year, while those for cattle are at a six-week high………………………………………..Full Article: Source

You no doubt have heard it said: A market requires buying, a lot of buying, to rise, but it can fall for any reason. Really; I hope you heard that before now because like so much of what passes for perceived wisdom on Wall Street, it is wrong, worthy only of the Annals of Unsubstantiated Musings, and therefore would not be said by me.
As a case in point, I recall a March 1989 conversation with a bond market technician who said, almost in passing, “There is not a lot for sale out there.” Yields have declined ever since then. Similarly, stocks have been able to rise in the face of continued outflows from mutual funds as buyers are willing, and indeed forced, to accumulate them at higher prices. Markets that do not sell off on bad news can rise with only minimal buying interest………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bloomberg reported recently that Russia is now the world’s biggest gold buyer, its central bank having added 570 tonnes (18.3 million troy ounces) over the past decade. At $1,650/ounce, that’s $30.1 billion worth of gold.
Russia isn’t alone, of course. Central banks as a group have been net buyers of gold for at least two years now. But the 2012 data trickling out shows that the amount of tonnage being added is breaking records. Based on current data, the net increase in central bank gold buying for 2012 was 14.8 million troy ounces - and that’s before the final 2012 figures are in for all countries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

According to Goldman Sachs, in 2011 China added $1.3 trillion to global growth. This is the equivalent of adding an economy the size of Greece to the global economy every 12.5 weeks or an economy the size of Australia over the course of the year. In 2012, if you look at all four BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies combined, they added $2.2 trillion to global growth.
This is the equivalent of one economy the size of Italy — the eighth-largest economy in the world — over the course of the year. I looked at broad economic data in the U.S., the Eurozone and China, such as industrial production, consumer spending and debt-to-GDP ratios, to present a vision of where we are in the economic cycle………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When you turn on the faucet of your kitchen sink or bathroom shower, it’s easy to forget that behind the water is a really big business. From finding a clean source, to purifying it, and getting it into your home, there are plenty of ways to profit from good old H2O. And the demand for safe, clean water in every corner of the world has never been higher.
We were reminded of its importance last week with the United Nation’s 20th annual World Water Day. Connecticut Water Services (CTWS) marked the occasion by ringing the closing bell at the Nasdaq marketsite. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The average price of gold is expected to fall in 2013 for the first time in 11 years as fading fears of catastrophic market events prompt investors to scale back bullion purchases, commodities research and consultant CPM Group said. In its report released on Tuesday, the New York firm said it expects net buying by gold investors to drop for a second consecutive year and weigh on bullion prices, even though gold fabrication and central-bank demand will rise this year.
CPM Group did not put a figure on gold’s overall percentage price fall. In 2012, the price of gold rose 6 percent from 2011 to an average around $1,670 an ounce, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The average price of gold is expected to fall in 2013 for the first time in 11 years, as fears of catastrophic market events fade, prompting investors to scale back bullion purchases, commodities research and consultant CPM Group said.
In its report released today, the New York firm said it expects net buying by gold investors to drop for a second consecutive year and weigh on bullion prices, even though gold fabrication and central-bank demand will rise this year. CPM Group did not put a figure on gold’s overall percentage price fall. In 2012, the price of the yellow metal rose six per cent from 2011 to an average around $1,670 an ounce, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Given all the uncertainty in the global economy - debt issues, easing programs, unemployment, etc. - many investors have taken comfort in owning precious metals. Designed to protect against inflation and ambiguity in the markets, the asset class contains much appeal.
As such, gold, silver and even platinum and palladium have now become portfolio staples. While there is much debate over whether or not, investors should even own precious metals at all, there is a much bigger debate a-brewing. Just how should they get that exposure?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

In the commodity world, lithium is a rising star as its use and prevalence has skyrocketed in recent years. Thanks to a wealth of new technologies, lithium is slowly becoming a staple metal for a number of products and industries.
As one of the lightest metals out there, lithium is used widely in pharmaceuticals, ceramics, aluminum, and a number of clean technology processes. Given its wide spread, it should be no surprise that the commodity has also grown as an investment in recent years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Wall Street’s commodity trading revenues stand at just half of what they were in 2008. And the buying and selling of grains, metals, energy and other goods now accounts for a thin 6.5% slice of the overall trading revenue pie — down from 30% five years ago.
Banks used to rake in billions, not just from commissions but from their own trading book. Now, position limits and other regulations put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act have reined in those profits. Some companies have exited the business altogether. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

It is difficult to imagine that anyone is unaware of the importance of commodities in our everyday lives. Rising energy prices have cranked up household costs and higher food prices are squeezing family budgets.
World population growth and rising living standards in emerging markets mean prices are likely to increase over the long term. That said, it is possible to benefit from these trends by investing in companies in the commodities sector………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds and other big speculators have taken their bullish bets on U.S. commodities back to a one-month high from a more than a one-year low, data showed on Friday, as they bought gold this week on fears of financial meltdown in Cyprus.
Reuters calculations of data from the Commodity Futures Trading Comission showed money managers, made up of hedge funds and other speculators, holding a net-long position of $65.2 billion across 22 commodities for the week to March 19………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds are making the biggest bet against copper on record as global inventories expand to a nine-year high, while concern that Europe’s debt crisis will spread spurred the biggest gain in gold bets since 2008.
Speculators raised net-short positions in U.S. copper futures and options by 53 percent to 25,719 contracts in the week ended March 19, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data that begins in 2006. A jump in bullish bets on corn, gold and natural gas boosted overall holdings across 18 raw materials for a second consecutive week………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity investing has a bad reputation. It is looked on as risky and not for amateurs. And in the highly leveraged futures markets, that’s certainly true. You can quickly lose all your investment if a trade goes against you. In this article, however, I will detail a simple strategy anyone can use. It’s unleveraged, relatively safe and carries a better than 50% probability of success.
Moreover, this strategy does not require detailed fundamental or technical analysis. Nor does it require extensive research. Instead, it relies on the mathematical principle of mean reversion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Calpers, the largest US public pension fund, has endorsed commodities as a safeguard against inflation despite recent moves to pull money from the asset class. The $255bn fund chopped commodities investments by more than half late last year, prompting reports it was retreating from the market.
But in a rare interview, Andrew Karsh, portfolio manager for fixed income and commodities at Calpers, said the fund’s shift from commodities to inflation-linked bonds may be shortlived and did not reflect a change of strategy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold is poised to retreat 1.8 percent this year as demand may decline if instability in global financial markets eases and consumption drops, Australia’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics said.
Prices may average $1,638 an ounce in 2013 from $1,668 a year earlier, the Canberra-based bureau said in a report today. That compares with a December forecast of $1,738 for 2013………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Iron ore has been one of the most volatile commodities over the last 24 months. Just a couple of years ago, iron ore prices were approaching the $200/ton mark — specifically, iron ore spot was at $191/ton in February 2011. Then, just a few months ago, in September 2012, spot prices were down more than 50 percent from their February 2011 high, trading at $87/ton.
Iron ore began the year on a fairly positive note after rebounding from September lows to settle at $145/ton in early January………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Worries about the Cyprus bank bailout drove investors into the safe haven of gold on Monday. Gold for April delivery rose $12, nearly 1 per cent, to $1,604.60 per ounce.
News about Europe’s bailout plan for cash-strapped Cyprus unsettled many investors, and all three major US stock indexes lost ground. Traders were surprised that the bailout plan included slapping a tax on deposits in the country’s banks, essentially forcing anyone who keeps money in a Cypriot bank to take a “haircut,” or a loss. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Hedge funds and other big speculators raised their bullish bets on U.S. commodities for the first time in five weeks, piling mostly into natural gas and corn due to favorable supply and demand situations, trade data showed on Friday.
Natural gas saw close to $2 billion worth of new net long contracts by the so-called money managers during the week to March 12, according to Reuters calculations of the data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System, with about $15.7 billion in assets, is allocating about $785 million for commodities, its first investment in the asset class.
The fund will allocate 5 percent of its money over a two- year period for investments including commodity-related futures, stocks and private equity, Tom Lopez, the fund’s chief investment officer, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. The private-equity portion is already being invested, he said………………………………….Full Article: Source

Private investors and hedge funds seeking new ways to gain exposure to commodities may provide a lifeline to trading houses desperate for the short-term liquidity that banks used to offer. European banks have cut their lending in commodity trade finance, the $1.5 trillion-a-year business of financing oil shipments or copper deliveries, ahead of Basel III restrictions aimed at reducing systemic risk after the 2008 financial crisis.
Lending cuts coincide with traders’ growing need for funding due to high commodity prices, especially for oil, where a single shipment can cost more than $200 million at current Brent crude prices…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Gold markets remain sluggish amidst sharp decline in holdings in Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), wait-and-watch attitude in Indian markets and strong buying appetite in China. Barclays retains a broader bullish outlook but maintains a bearish strategy for the time being.
Price forecast: Q1 13: $1710/oz, 2013 annual average: $1778/oz. The macro environment remains bullish for gold as Fed may continue with asset buying as labour data does not show a significatn change. European Central Bank may retain interest rates close to zero lveels as policy rates remained unchanged last week…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Even as central banks are hoarding more gold than ever, investment gurus are turning bearish on the metal as the recent decline in the gold price and better-than-expected recovery in the US has led many to predict a turn in the gold cycle.
While gold hit a record high in 2011 due to uncertainty over US growth prospects and rising debt problems in Europe, investors today are seen cutting their holdings in gold exchange traded funds and equities as gold prices have declined 5 percent this year to trade below $1,600 since much of their fears have now subsided…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The largest public pension in Los Angeles is investing $800 million in commodities over the next two years, a quarter in actively managed derivatives, as it tries to profit from markets that have frustrated many institutional investors.
The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System, with nearly $16 billion in assets, said it is allocating 5 percent of its money to commodities with investments that aim to maximize returns and minimize downside risks. That includes commodity futures, stocks and private equity…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Hedge funds cut bets on a commodity rally to a four-year low on signs of surplus supply in everything from coffee to zinc before Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said prices had fallen too far and investors should buy.
Speculators reduced net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options in the week ended March 5 by 9.2 percent to 405,885 contracts, the lowest since March 2009, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. They are the most bearish on copper in four years, and are also betting on declines for coffee, hogs, sugar, soybean oil, wheat and natural gas………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors pulled $5.6 billion from gold exchange-traded products (ETPs) in February after poor performance by the yellow metal, but appetite for riskier, growth-oriented industrial metals ETPs remained intact.
In February, the gold price dropped for the fifth month in a row, with the S&P GSCI Gold Index off 5.04 percent. The world’s largest gold-backed ETP had its biggest monthly outflow since inception as investors sought better returns………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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There are a lot of words in the dictionary to describe what you need these days to be a gold investor: Patience, endurance and fortitude are some of them. Recently investors were beginning to lose their staying power. But, in the past, it has often worked out that just as investors’ patience runs out, gold comes charging in.
Sentiment towards gold is so low that you can scrape the floor with it. Two weeks ago gold exchange-traded funds suffered their largest outflow since January 2011 with gold falling on Friday as low as $1,572.80………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors in the global mining industry are calling on mining companies to “get smarter” and refrain from making investments that contribute to depressed commodity prices, said the chief executive of commodities titan Glencore International PLC.
“Pension companies have a hole in their pockets because the mining companies have not performed,” Ivan Glasenberg told journalists on a call. Mining companies are “not kicking out sufficient dividends, we’re not getting growth in value,” he added………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Price wars have been escalating across the investment world and that means consumers benefit from these competitive dynamics as prices decline. In the ETF marketplace, BlackRock recently slashed fees on many of its funds in response to market share losses to Vanguard, the traditional low cost provider.
Charles Schwab, a relative upstart in the ETF business, has undercut Vanguard’s prices in an effort to take market share. Since ETFs are hot commodities with few supply limitations, a competitive marketplace naturally drives down costs to the benefit of consumers. ETF investors reap the benefits without much effort………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors cut wagers on a rally for commodities to the lowest in almost four years and pulled a record $4.23 billion from funds last week as prices erased this year’s gain on a slowdown for manufacturing in China.
Hedge funds and other large speculators reduced net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options in the week ended Feb. 26 by 16 percent to 447,106 contracts, the lowest since March 2009, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Investors are betting on a decline in copper prices for the first time since November, and reduced their crude-oil holdings by the most in 11 weeks………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold prices in the domestic market could gain as investors are likely to go in for value buying. Also, since prices have been hammered in the past few days, technical correction is likely to set in.
In the global market, the yellow metal pared losses marginally on hopes that the recent decline could lead to buying interests since buyers in Asia are set to return after the Chinese New Year holidays. In early trade at Singapore, spot gold was quoted at $1,643.61 an ounce, while gold April contracts ruled at $1,644.10………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Money managers removed a record $4.23 billion from commodity funds in the week ended February 27, led by declines in precious-metal holdings, as raw materials capped the biggest monthly loss since October.
Investors pulled an all-time high of $4.03 billion from gold and precious-metals funds, said Cameron Brandt, the director of research for EPFR Global, which started tracking the flows in 2000. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based researcher said last week that total commodity outflows for the period ended February 20 reached $828 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold and copper lose their lustre; Dynamic strategies replace index plays. “Oil, gold and copper just are not what they used to be,” muses Blu Putnam, chief economist at the CME Group. “The hedge funds trading them got whipsawed last year.” Indeed, several high-profile commodities funds closed their doors last year because of poor performance and Clive Capital and BlueGold were among several large billion-dollar commodities funds to suffer hefty losses in 2012.
The January revelation that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System pension fund (Calpers) had more than halved its commodities exposure to just $1.57 billion (0.6% of exposure) from $3.45 billion in September 2012 started speculation that an exodus from the sector is imminent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The mining and exploration companies who responded to 2012/2013 Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies ranked Finland as the best place to do business, while Indonesia was deemed the worst place for mining and exploration companies.
Along with Finland, the top 10-ranked jurisdictions are Sweden, Alberta, New Brunswick, Wyoming, Ireland, Nevada, Yukon, and Norway. All were in the top 10 last year except for Utah and Norway………………………………………..Full Article: Source

One of things all investors should know for 2013 is how to invest in commodities, as the prices of many of these products head for huge gains. One of the reasons they will soar is because institutional investors have quickly abandoned them in the current risk on/risk off investment climate. There is right now roughly $424 billion invested in commodities, but that is a mere fraction of 1% of all global investment assets.
When all that money comes pouring back in, those commodity-related investments will skyrocket. The few institutions that jumped into the market were disappointed because the commodities “super-cycle” did not generate spectacular gains for them in a year or two. Also, with inflation appearing to be nonexistent in the government-reported numbers, institutions are bailing on commodities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A downturn in China’s investment cycle could push down global prices for some commodities, such as iron ore, by up to 12 percent, according to a new study by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.
The study, titled The Investment Overhang: If China’s Investments Dip, Commodity Prices May Slip, found a strong correlation between movements in China’s investment-to-GDP ratio and prices for commodities such as iron ore and coal. Under our downside scenario for China, prices for a range of commodities could decline by between 5 percent and 12 percent, averaging a fall of 9 percent, S&P said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A downturn in China’s investment cycle could push down global prices for some commodities, such as iron ore, by up to 12%, according to new study by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).
In a study entitled “The Investment Overhang: If China’s Investments Dip, Commodity Prices May Slip” released on Feb 25, S&P found a strong correlation between movements in China’s investment-to-GDP ratio and prices for commodities such as iron ore and coal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds cut bets on a rally in gold by the most since 2007 and became the most bearish ever on sugar and coffee as concern that the Federal Reserve will slow U.S. stimulus programs drove prices for raw materials to the biggest loss this year.
Money managers and other large speculators reduced their net-long position in gold futures and options by 40 percent in the week ended Feb. 19 to 42,318, the biggest drop since July 31, 2007, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Wagers across 18 U.S. raw materials tumbled to the lowest since December 2011 as investors’ net-short positions for sugar and coffee hit record highs. Bullish corn wagers fell the most since June 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Gold dipped below $1,600 last week, falling to a six-month low, much to the chagrin of gold investors. I find the timing of the correction peculiar, given the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting taking place over the weekend.
There’s been a growing debate over Japan’s move to devalue its currency to stimulate growth, with reaction from the G-7 leaders stating that “domestic economic policies must not be used to target currencies,” reports Reuters……………………………………Full Article: Source

Over the years the world’s biggest mining companies have proved to be spectacular investments, but have very much underperformed over the past 4-5 years as corporate dealmaking, largely entered into when the companies’ boards took on CEOs who would embrace big merger deals and huge capital projects when the mining sector seemed to be headed onwards and upwards.
The first real halt to the upwards progression came with the Great Financial Crisis of 2007/8 which decimated the values of many mining sector companies. …………………………………..Full Article: Source