It was a bearish week for commodities, with most of them closing in the red. Gold, silver, crude oil, base metals and most agriculture commodities remained weak following an improved US jobless data and the ECB maintaining its benchmark interest rates.
The latest report showed fewer Americans than expected filed for unemployment benefits in the previous week. The bank refrained from providing more stimulus measures after its latest meeting in Barcelona leading to a belief that commodities will not receive more investments………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Most commodity prices sank last week as traders took their cue from weak global data, particularly after Friday’s disappointing payrolls report in major consumer the United States.
Job creation numbers confirmed that the U.S. economy has hit a weak patch in the past month. The net number of jobs created in April in the world’s largest economy, at 115,000, was well below market expectations………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The London Stock Exchange last week played host to international resources investors clamouring to grab a chunk of the commodity-fuelled economic boom that is sweeping Mongolia.
Hailed as one of the last frontiers for resources exploration, the central Asian country is thought to have $1.3 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, including coal, copper, iron ore, zinc and gold, beneath its vast deserts and steppes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Raising the output target set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is not on OPEC’s agenda for now but probably will be, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi said on Sunday.
Asked about the prospect of increasing the target, Yousfi told state radio: “For the moment that is not the object of our discussions, but probably that will come at the OPEC level.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Rarely has the world economy been in such an uncertain condition — with oil supply plentiful and at the same time oil prices the level they are.
The price of the Opec basket of crude at the beginning of February was $110.61 (Dh406) a barrel but persistently rose to $124.64 by March 13, though with some volatility — a feature that has been clear and present in recent years and is not likely to disappear any-time soon……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Europe’s solar power market is expected to drive a rebound in activity in the region’s renewable energy mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sector in the second quarter, consultancy PwC said in a report on Monday.
A steep drop in module prices is expected to accelerate demand, making the sector an attractive long-term investment opportunity set to revive power market M&A after a weak start to the year, PwC said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) states in their new report that gold prices could hit a peak at $1800/oz by the last quarter of 2012. However, gold is expected to enter a period of steady decline from then, the bank warns
“As the road-map to a more normal macroeconomic environment is in sight and given gold will still be near its historical highs, we believe that investors will rotate into other asset classes”, the bank’s report states while adding that gold is expected to average $1725/oz in 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold prices to touch $2,100/ounce in the fourth quarter of this year, said Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in Germany, in a weekly commodities report. The German bank also added that Gold prices to reach $1,600 an ounce in the second quarter and $1,800 in third.
According to the bank, Central banks are proving to be a powerful source of gold demand, significantly outstripping purchases in previous years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

‘The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today’, says a Chinese proverb, and it is the advice Nick Barisheff, the leading precious metal expert, would give to investors who feel that it is too late to buy gold.
Gold is the most stable form of wealth preservation for over three thousand years, and it still does today, which out performed all other asset classes since 2002, said Nick Barisheff at an event in Toronto earlier this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many observers of the silver market have wondered why futures prices for silver seem so low when demand for the physical metal continues to increase in the face of an ever dwindling supply of the precious and industrial metallic commodity.
In essence, the economic model of price determination by supply and demand factors would seem to indicate a considerably higher equilibrium price for silver than what is currently prevailing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It was roughly a year ago that silver had topped out at 48 dollars and began its decline. Of course, after having tripled in a little over a year, even I thought that some decline was in order. Nothing goes up in an exact, painless, straight line.
Well, here we are one year later and the sentiment for silver could not be more different than a year ago. This morning we are seeing what I would think would be the irrational pessimistic washout in prices, though you just never know with this metal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Silver and China are coming full circle. In the mid-1930s the academic journal Foreign Affairs noted how “the world was startled by the news that China had abandoned the silver standard” after foreign miners began dumping surplus metal into China.
Seventy-eight years later, this coming Thursday, the Shanghai Futures Exchange begins trading silver contracts. China Daily noted there had been an absence of silver trading ability in China and — significantly — it would make the market more liquid………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Unless there is a real, game-changing shift in South African production, there is a danger of the structural surpluses now present in the platinum market becoming ‘hardwired’ into the system.
This is the view of Paul Walker, head of Precious Metals at Thomson Reuters GFMS, who says there is a degree of rigidity on the supply side that is likely to persist while there is nothing to denote a game changer in terms of demand………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Palladium prices are expected to trade in range of $575 to $775 through to end of 2012, according to Platinum and Palladium Survey, released by Thomson Reuters GFMS Ltd.
Palladium prices hit a record annual average of $734 in 2011 even as gross deficit almost halved to 313,000 ounces (9.7 tonnes). This was due to subdued 2% rise in global fabrication, which nonetheless reached a 11-year high, the survey said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds raised bets on higher commodity prices for the first time in six weeks, just before the biggest three-day slump since October as U.S. jobs data fell short of expectations and European manufacturing contracted.
Money managers increased net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 6.9 percent to 895,240 contracts in the week ended May 1, the biggest gain since Feb. 28, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity trading is prone to risk due to price fluctuations. Lately, some of the commodities trading in the futures market have been undergoing high levels of volatility. However, the market itself offers ways to mitigate losses and maximise gains in commodity trading.
“Futures trading offers high level of leverage as one can trade with the margin money. However, in commodities where daily level of fluctuation is greater than the margins, the investor can suffer heavy losses. In such cases, we always advise to limit the exposure………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It may only be a matter of time before the US dollar gets replaced as the main currency in international trade, according to economists attending the meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila.
For many years, the dollar “has been almost the sole ‘reserve’ currency,” banked on by the world economy, American economist Jeffrey Sachs said on Thursday in one of the forums held during the ADB annual event. “Going forward, (the dollar) can’t play that role anymore.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The greenback gets no respect these days. Every morning my inbox is bursting with emails from gurus advising investors to run for their financial lives – away from the U.S. dollar.
Jim Rogers even suggested that the dollar could go to confetti. Other investors are predicting that the U.S. currency is on its last gasp………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A unified currency to rival the euro in Asia is inevitable, according to recent reports, which have speculated that the search for more reserve currencies in the global economy will tie the countries together.
The reports come from economists who were speaking at the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) 45th annual board of governors meeting. Iwan Azis, head of ADB’s office of regional economic integration, said in a media briefing that “it is a matter of time, not yes or no,” before a single currency in Asia is initiated………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The carbon market has been damaged by three “whopping falsehoods” that slowed its growth and caused European lawmakers to question their belief in the system, said the retiring head of a carbon market lobby group.
“The political environment has been dominated by an ebb tide,” Henry Derwent, chief executive of the International Emissions Trading Association, said today by phone from Geneva on his last day at the lobby group’s headquarters………………………………………..Full Article: Source