The recent hype surrounding commodity economies from Australia to Brazil has been stoked by outlandish rationales for why the spike in commodity prices over the last decade represented a permanent upward shift—a high-speed edition of the “new normal.”
The case for rising commodity prices builds from the assumption that demand from emerging markets will continue to rise as it did in the last decade, but that wave has already broken up. China, Brazil, India and Russia are slowing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

BHP Billiton , the world’s biggest mining company said on Wednesday it was necessary to maintain investment in new projects even through down periods in commodities price cycles.
“It is quite often the case that an investment decision in a particular commodity will be made in a part of the business cycle that results in a low price environment for that particular commodity, but the investment is made nevertheless in recognition of the expected future demand and prices,” BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Natural resources are getting hammered. During the past three months, crude oil, aluminum, copper and corn, have dropped well over 10%.
The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking exchange-traded fund, which tracks a basket of 14 commodities and is the most heavily traded exchange-traded product devoted to commodities, has dropped 17% during the same period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices near $100 a barrel are still a threat to a slowing global economy that is likely to consume less fuel than the International Energy Agency (IEA) had forecast, the IEA’s executive director said.
Brent crude this week dropped to a 16-month low below $96 a barrel before recovering to around $99, well off a peak of more than $128 in March but not low enough to stimulate, rather than hinder growth, Maria van der Hoeven said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The price of Opec’s basket of crude oils dropped below $100 a barrel for the first time since October 5, ending the longest run in triple digits.
The basket, a weighted average price of the main crude grades produced by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), was at $97.44 a barrel on June 1, data on the group’s website showed yesterday. The price had been above $100 for more than seven months, the longest stretch ever………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices continued to remain low on Tuesday due to expectations of falling demand. That followed another round of poor economic data from the eurozone, with services and manufacturing output contracting in May.
At the same time the International Energy Agency warned that the cost of crude – though well off its peak in March of more than $128 a barrel – is still high enough to be a threat to the global economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The speed with which oil price paradigms can change is truly incredible. After a soaring rally that took off toward the end of 2011, crude oil prices began to slide in March and finally collapsed in May, falling more than 17% both in the U.S. and internationally.
The rout is set to continue, as weak demand and a fading risk premium meet an oversupplied market………………………………………..Full Article: Source

At the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna on June 14, members will have a lot to talk about. Oil prices have been dropping like a stone and not only because of the bad economic numbers coming out of Europe and China. There’s been also been dissent among the OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia has telegraphed earlier last month that they would increase production, trying to blunt the effect of an Iranian boycott still slated to go into effect July 1………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global demand for natural gas will likely grow 17 per cent over the next five years as Chinese consumption doubles, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
China’s demand for natural gas should expand 13 per cent a year through 2017 while U.S. consumption will probably grow 13 per cent by 2017, the Paris-based IEA said. It forecast European demand to increase by 7.9 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold is stuck in the longest slump in a decade as investors shun bullion for the dollar and bonds, just seven months after Bank of America Corp. said Europe’s debt crisis would send prices to a record $2,000 an ounce.
The bank was joined by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc in urging investors to buy in December and January. Now, after gold fell 10 percent in a four-month slide through May, they say prices will rebound this year or next as the Federal Reserve shores up the world’s biggest economy by easing monetary policy and devaluing the dollar………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A 4 percent rally for gold on Friday on weak U.S. jobs data could signal a return to the safe haven status that has eluded bullion for the past seven to eight months.
The dollar, U.S. Treasuries and German Bunds have been the safe havens of choice in recent months, while gold has moved in tandem with riskier assets that are under increasing pressure from the euro zone crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After flirting with a 20 percent bear market correction from its 52-week peak, gold is again on the rise. Will it last? Weak economic data is fueling speculation the Federal Reserve will debase the U.S. dollar further by unveiling an extension of monetary easing.
Any type of dollar debasement is viewed as fundamentally positive for gold and its strong performance during the past two rounds of quantitative easing (QE) have shown that. But will this time be different?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Indian government’s attempts to curb gold demand, since gold already represents 72% of India’s current account deficit, appears to be working. India’s demand for the precious metal is estimated to fall by 4% in volume and rise 4% in value in 2012, according to a report by global bank, Morgan Stanley.
The research report expects volume demand to drop 13% for urban India and rise 4% for rural India………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More accommodative monetary policies in China and India have positive implications for gold, said HSBC, British multinational bank, in a commodity research note.
As per Qu Hongbin, HSBC’s chief China economist, recent Chinese manufacturing data in China support the case for more decisive easing actions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

While gold and silver typically hog commodities headlines, one under-the-radar precious metal with plenty of upside is palladium.
So said North American Palladium CFO Jeff Swinoga when he presented at last week’s Euro Pacific Capital investor conference. Swinoga obviously has a vested interest in pushing palladium, but he made sure to back up his claims with evidence……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Copper could rebound to $7,500-$7,700 per metric ton within the next a week or two, said R.J. O’Brien & Associates in a snippet.
According to the firm, a key will be Chinese buying interest after the recent price decline. “Some Chinese traders were beginning to nibble when the market got to the $7,500-$7,700 area, but then they stood back in anticipation of lower prices.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The global mining industry is facing a growing disconnect as despite record profits for the world’s 40 biggest miners in 2011 thanks to high commodity prices, investors proved fickle, demanding greater capital discipline and increased shareholder returns.
A lack of confidence in the sector’s growth prospects saw market values plunge 25% to about $1.2 trillion and only six of the world’s top 40 miners saw their market value increase, according to a new report from PwC, Mine: The growing disconnect. (Press Release)

The Eurozone grumbling sapped investor confidence, stoking a “risk-off” sentiment and compressing the exchange traded fund universe, as investors dumped equities and commodities in favor of safe-haven fixed-income assets.
At the end of May, total assets in U.S.-listed ETFs and exchange traded notes stood at $1.14 trillion, up 2% over the same month last year, but still a drop from the $1.20 trillion in assets at the end of April, according to the ETF Industry Association………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia’s $5 billion exchange-traded fund industry could be 10 times larger within a decade as a series of innovations make them more attractive to superannuation funds.
Horizons ETFs Management president Howard Atkinson said yesterday that the 10-year delay in introducing ETFs to Australia had held back the development of the market and that an explosive period of growth lay ahead………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The major exchange traded funds gained ground Tuesday on positive service-sector data and as European financial leaders met with a focus on supporting Spanish banks. Institutional investors told clients that the market is oversold and due for a short-term bounce, at least.
In afternoon trade, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) gained 0.67%. It appears to be finding support at its 200-day moving average, a widely watched technical level that often serves as key price support………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Both the Northeast Asia Commodity Exchange opening ceremony and the headquarters building cornerstone laying ceremony was held in Dalian, Liaoning province on May 29, 2012.
The newly-established Northeast Asia Commodity Exchange is expected to realize a trade volume of 400 billion yuan ($63.16 billion), earning revenue of 400 million yuan, and paying 200 million in tax annually………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The yen’s strength and falling stock prices pose a risk to the Japanese economy, Finance Minister Jun Azumi told his G7 partners on Tuesday, signalling that Tokyo was prepared to intervene to curb its currency with or without the group’s approval.
Mr Azumi spoke to reporters after an emergency conference call of Group of Seven finance chiefs devoted to the euro zone debt crisis, as alarm grows over the threat to the global economy posed by strains inside the 17-nation monetary union………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As the region grows in economic significance, several Asian currencies are finding themselves at the forefront of global exchange markets for the first time.
Primary among these is China’s renminbi (RMB), with veteran market watchers, including Franklin Templeton’s Mark Mobius, expecting it to oust the dollar as global reserve currency within a decade. With UK investors putting more money into Asian and emerging market equities and bonds, could the region’s currencies provide a further source of returns?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Bank Indonesia may unveil further measures to ease volatility in the rupiah and may announce next week new rules on bank ownership, a central bank official said.
“In the region, we still suffer from the turbulence from the European countries,” Edi Setiadi, an executive director of the Shariah banking department at Bank Indonesia, told reporters in Singapore today. “We are busy with how to act on the currency turbulence” and Governor Darmin Nasution may announce measures “to make the market calm,” Setiadi said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When the climate bill died in the U.S. Senate in 2010, most observers assumed that was the last dying gasp for “cap-and-trade” as a policy for tackling global warming. Here in the United States, it’s hard to find an environmentalist or Democrat who will even whisper the phrase anymore.
Yet cap-and-trade is very far from dead. Across the globe, dozens of countries are either enacting or studying cap-and-trade programs for their heat-trapping greenhouse gases, according to the World Bank’s 2012 Carbon Market Report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Meetings between EU and Chinese officials aimed at helping Beijing to draft plans for its own carbon emissions market are “increasing in intensity,” the EU’s chief climate negotiator, Artur Runge-Metzger said.

The EU and China are currently involved in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship over the inclusion of international airlines within the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), with Brussels saying that it would exempt Beijing, if it implements an equivalent scheme of its own………………………………………..Full Article: Source