Industry experts say despite the falls - the case for resources is now ‘very compelling’. Investors in commodity funds have felt the full blast of the global economic crisis – millions of pounds have been knocked off the value of natural resources funds.
Investors in the hugely popular £1.7bn JP Morgan Natural Resources fund have lost a staggering 24pc in the last three months alone………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe has dominated the financial news. No one needs to tell you that. But in the flurry of reports on election results, coalition governments and Spanish bond yields, the financial media has lost its grip on the commodity trade.
Be smart. Stop watching what everyone else is watching and keep your eyes on oil and copper — and gold. They will be where the money is made over the next several years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hedge funds raised their bullish commodity bets as mounting speculation that central banks will announce more economic stimulus halted a slide in prices and drove gold to its longest rally since August.
Money managers raised combined net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 9.1 percent to 587,327 contracts in the week ended June 12, rebounding from the lowest level this year, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A slowdown in Chinese and world GDP growth has seen commodities funds endure a difficult period. Industry favourites JPM Natural Resources, First State Global Resources and Smith & Williamson Global Gold & Resources are all down by at least 23 per cent over 12 months.
While Dennehy accepts that China’s shift of focus away from infrastructure and towards consumption will have an adverse effect on the sector, he believes there are still many reasons to invest in these funds………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC recorded its highest oil-exports revenue ever last year, earning a staggering 1 trillion dollars for the first time, the group’s data showed Monday.
The move underscores how turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, while pushing budgetary needs upward, has also vastly filled its members’ coffers………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In the midst of financial and political turmoil throughout Europe, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) met last Thursday in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the future of oil production.
The verdict? Production levels will remain at 30 million barrels per day (bpd.) Some countries were contributing to the overproduction of 1.6 million bpd (making for a grand total of 31.6 million bpa), but at Thursday’s meeting, agreed to embrace the 30 million bpd ceiling………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Iraq, gaining on Iran as Opec’s second-largest oil producer, is at least two years away from reaching an output level that will prompt a debate within the producer group on setting Baghdad’s individual output quota, a senior Iraqi official said on Monday.
Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq’s prime minister, said analysts had spoken of the possibility of conflict within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Iraq regains a leading role………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Signal comes as new round of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme gets under way in Moscow. The EU has said it has no plans to postpone its imminent oil embargo on Iran as a new round of negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme gets under way in Moscow.
The talks started at 11am Moscow time (8am BST) with a plenary meeting between an Iranian delegation led by Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and a six-nation group of negotiators from the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Market fundamentals have eased since the start of 2012, and economic concerns have risen again with risks skewed to the downside, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly Oil Market Report.
The Paris-based agency estimates that crude oil output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 31.9 million b/d during May, up by 1.4 million b/d from its December 2011 output………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold prices to rally above $1,900 by year-end, based on the likely impact of easy monetary policy, said HSBC Holdings pl, a British multinational bank, in a commodities briefing.
According to the British bank, it remains bullish on gold, maintaining a forecast for an average price of $1,760 for 2012. Gold prices have closely tracked shifts in monetary policy expectations this year, rallying in anticipation of any easing and falling when this receded………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The stock market may have been flat for the past few years, but there are still some lucrative investment options available. In addition to the opportunities in the equity market itself, there are several prospects in other asset classes.
This is because each asset class has a different cycle, which investors can use to their advantage. For instance, gold has delivered high returns over the past four years. Even in the US, gold has been beating equities for the past 12 years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The spectacle that was the Greek election over the weekend captured markets’ attention around the world as many felt that the fate of the Euro itself hung in the hands of Greek voters.
When, the results were posted, markets breathed an almost audible sigh of relief and then got back to worrying. Not, just about the euro zone which is still lost far out in the woods, but also about the US and what we can likely expect from the FOMC meeting scheduled for later this week………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold prices could move to $1640 per ounce but in the near term support is seen at $1580, 1560 while resistance is seen at 1641 and 1630, according to Barclays Research.
With silver struggling to gain bullish traction, gold/silver ratio may extend toward 57.50, Barclays added. Investment flows and macro-economic environment continues to be bullish for gold, with gold ETF holdings rising 9 tonnes over the past week to 2413………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The silver prices could potentially double over the next few years and the white metal investment is actually a better choice for investors over gold right now, said Stephen M Smith, the managing member at Smith McKenna.
Smith continued that, “Silver has very large ties to industrial uses and is heavily influenced by supply and demand. Because of this and the constant advancements for its applications, investing in silver now before the global manufacturing machine kicks into overdrive, means higher potential gains by investors.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Where, oh where, has the commodities supercycle gone? I’m all ears for racy, leveraged stories, but commodities leave me cold, even after their latest sinking spell.
Months ago, based on supply-demand metrics, the right price for WTI crude oil was $90 a barrel, not $110. WTI now trades in the mid-eighties, woebegone………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Copper consumption is rising dramatically in China, Brazil and India. Copper imports are normally an indicator of economic activity. For the first five months of 2012, copper imports by China increased by 52% year on year as demand for the red metal continued to soar.
China’s huge imports in the month of May further suggest firm demand from the world’s major commodity buyer. China’s copper imports surged 65% in May, as compared to the previous year, fuelling hopes of a pickup in growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

US Commodity Funds, the ETF sponsor behind the US Oil Fund and the US Natural Gas Fund, among others, will introduce the United States Metals Index Fund on Tuesday.
USMI will track the SummerHaven Metals Index, which is comprised of 10 metals futures contracts that are selected monthly………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In recent years, these funds, designed to track indexes of stocks, bonds, or commodities, and traded on daily exchanges, have undergone what many in the financial services industry are terming a boom.
According to the ETF Industry Association, at the end of May, ETFs accounted for more than $1.14 trillion, an increase of 2 percent from the previous month. There are now 1,465 ETF products available, up from 1,254 a year ago………………………………………..Full Article: Source

If you knew you could get a 30% return in a sector over the next year, would that be something that you might be interested in? Rational investors are nodding their heads in agreement right now, so if you are too, then it’s time you start looking seriously at that sector . . . and that sector is the beaten-up energy space.
Yes, oil prices are down big, with the price of crude sinking over 20% so far this year. A combination of a supply gut and slack demand have teamed up to put heavy downward pressure on energy-related commodities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The five BRICS emerging economies said on Monday they agreed to enhance their contributions to the International Monetary Fund and to explore currency swaps as part of efforts to promote global financial stability.
Leaders of developing world powers Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met on the margins of the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, and “agreed to enhance their own contributions to the IMF,” they said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Foreign ownership of agricultural land has become a subject of national debate in Australia as the country’s soft commodities sector attempts to meet world markets’ growing demand for food production.
The dialogue began in earnest following a report that Australia and China planned to release a joint study supporting Chinese development of farming land in Australia’s sprawling northern region………………………………………..Full Article: Source