Archive

Posts Tagged ‘commodities’

Silver prices jump, playing catch-up to gold

February 29, 2012 1 comment

star-telegram.com

Silver prices shot up 4.5 percent Tuesday, playing catch-up to gold.
Silver is both a precious and an industrial metal. Traders can buy it to hedge against a volatile stock market, as they do with gold. But it can also be used to make products like computer chips, meaning prices can rise when traders expect demand from manufacturers to go up.
In March contracts, silver rose $1.616 to $37.14 per ounce. It’s up roughly 10 percent from where it was a year ago.
Sterling Smith, senior market analyst at Country Hedging in St. Paul, Minn., said part of the reason silver is surging is that traders believe it’s Read more…

Higher Gold Prices Seen For Next Week As Iran Tensions Lend Support

February 24, 2012 Comments off

kitco.com

(Kitco News) – Higher gold prices are possible next week as tensions with Iran continue to escalate, market watchers said.
Prices were lower on Friday, but up on the week. The most-active April gold contract on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $1,776.40 an ounce, up 2.9% on the week. March silver settled at $35.338 an ounce, up 6.4% on the week.
In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 32 participants, 24 responded this week. Of those 24 participants, 19 see prices up, while three see prices down, and two are neutral on prices. Market participants include bullion dealers, investment banks, futures traders, money managers and technical chart analysts.
Gold and crude oil prices rose this week, supported by concerns that Read more…

Categories: GOLD, Iran Tags: , ,

$6 Gas This Summer — U.S. Economy Falls Off Cliff

February 24, 2012 Comments off

etfdailynews.com

Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul: 

 Strap on that safety belt for one wild summer of frantic trading in the energy complex, according to economist, prolific author and wealth strategist, Stephen Leeb.  He says gas prices in the US could reach $6 per gallon by the summer driving season.

And if there’s any economic event that could surely torpedo an already near-flat-lined US economy into a death spiral, it will come from a massive price hike in that most critical commodity to any economy—oil.  According  to the charts, oil has again breached the Read more…

Silver may continue to outperform others

February 22, 2012 Comments off

sify.com

Silver has displayed a smart rally in the current year so far, rising 21.2 per cent from January onwards. And, there are indications it would continue to outperform other metals like gold and copper. This would be good news for India’s largest silver producer, Hindustan Zinc, as the metal is likely to contribute 14-20 per cent to its Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins.

Barclays Capital’s commodity outlook says: “The current profile of our price forecast suggests precious metals would be the strongest sector in 2012. We expect silver to reach $38 and rise even further in the third quarter of 2012, before profit booking sets in. At present, it is in a consolidation mode.”

Barclays says physical demand has been driving silver for the past few weeks.(Click here for graphs)

Following record gains in silver in late 2010 and early 2011, prices crashed towards $25. Since then, they have rebounded to $33-36. Currently, silver is facing strong Read more…

Bernanke Lights a Fire Under Gold and Silver Prices

January 26, 2012 2 comments

forexpros.com

“Party on!” was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s message to Wall Street yesterday, as he announced that the Fed will be keeping interest rates at “exceptionally low” levels until late 2014, owing to concerns about stubbornly-high unemployment and the sustainability of the current statistical recovery. Bernanke also confirmed that for the first time in the Fed’s 99-year history, the institution will explicitly target a 2% inflation rate, as measured on the Personal Consumption Index (PCI). Other central banks have long had explicit inflation targets, but not the Fed.

Unsurprisingly given their enthusiasm for easy money, the market response to this move was euphoric. The Dow gained 0.64% to settle at 12756.96, while the Nasdaq tacked on 1.14% to settle at 2818.31. Asian and European exchanges have also reported Read more…

Silver to Explode Upward … Regretfully, Most Will Miss out on This Next Great Wave of Wealth Creation

January 18, 2012 Comments off

sacbee.com

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Jan. 18, 2012  /PRNewswire/ — At Smith McKenna, precious metals trading advisors, Steve Smith, CEO, has been accurately forecasting gold, silver, copper and other precious metals commodities trends for decades. “The latest movements in spot prices in copper and silver were totally predictable, considering the time of year and the projected demands. 2012 will be a huge wealth creating opportunity, if you’re positioned correctly,” exclaims Steve.

“All leading manufacturing Data calls for an end to the GLOBAL SLOWDOWN and a boom in CAPITAL INVESTMENTS thru-out the word,” explains Stephen Smith. Further, “Global consumption will empty all above ground supplies of Silver within the next 36 to 48 months.” The secret, when realized, will take prices to the stratosphere. Smith McKenna is calling for Silver to hit $50 oz. 1st Qtr. 2012, $75 mid 2012, and $150 by year end.

The precious metals sage warns, “Don’t be fooled into buying gold or silver ETF’s, Certificates, and Mining Stocks. You must own the physical asset. But, Don’t buy anything until you have all the information! You Must First Have Accurate Investing Information and Know How to Use It to be a Successful Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals Investor.”

Steve Smith so much believes that knowledge is the key to profitable investing, that he is giving away a FREE Book, to the first 100 people that just ask for it. Go to www.smithmckenna.com/free-book/, and simply fill out the request form. He also makes available, free of charge, his weekly investing calendar to the public on the Smith McKenna website.

Why Has Gold Been Down?

January 6, 2012 Comments off

caseyresearch.com

In spite of some short-term fixes, there remains no real resolution to the sovereign debt issues in many European countries. We’re certainly not spending less money in the US, and now we’re bailing out Europe via currency swaps with the European Central Bank. Shouldn’t gold be rising?

Yes, but nothing happens in a vacuum. There are some simple explanations as to why gold remains in a funk.

  1. The MF Global bankruptcy, the seventh-largest in US history, forced a high degree of liquidation of commodities futures contracts, including gold. Many institutional investors had to sell whether they wanted to or not. This is similar to why big declines in the stock market can force funds and other large investors to sell some gold to raise cash for margin calls or meet redemption requests.
  2. The dollar has been rising. Money fleeing the Eurozone has to go somewhere, and some of it is heading into Read more…

World Gold Council Say Demand to Rise

August 21, 2011 Comments off

ibtimes

The World Gold Council reports that demand in Asia remains high for Gold. This was seen in Q-2 where total Global Gold demand measured 919.8 tons, almost a record demand at US$44.5-B.

The Top markets were India and China, accounting for 52% of the total Bar and Coin investment and 55% of Global jewellery demand.

The Gold council is also calling for demand to be high 2-H of Y 2011.

Indian and Chinese demand grew 38% and 25% respectively during Q-2 of Y 2011 compared to the same period in Y 2010, the growth is due to increasing levels of economic prosperity, high levels of inflation and Read more…

Silver Update 8/8/11 – Game Changer (Video)

August 10, 2011 Comments off

Gold/Silver Ratio Heads Back Up: Trend Might Continue Without QE3

August 8, 2011 1 comment

seekingalpha

I previously heralded silver’s breakout above $40, as well as gold’s breakout above $1600, as the dawning of the next leg up for precious metals — one that would send silver past its previous high of above $49 reached earlier this year. I still believe that silver will find its way well into triple digits in the coming years, as monetary demand from the global sovereign debt crisis is only escalating and will be the primary driver of silver’s price, but I’m not so sure it will happen imminently; in light of the tumultuous events of this past week, I’ve taken off some of my silver positions in exchange for gold instead. My rationale is as follows:

1. Because of its industrial role — silver is used to create a wide variety of goods, such as warfare weapons and solar panels — silver is more associated with risk. If we see the return of the bear market in equities like we saw in 2008, silver is going to get hit harder than gold.

2. I expected the gold/silver ratio to fall below 40 and approach its previous low of 33. Instead, we saw a bounce off 40. I still believe that silver will unofficially be re-monetized, and that this process will Read more…