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The Iron Ore Futures Collapse Chart That Everyone Is Talking About Joe Weisenthal Aug. 22, 2012, 8:39 AM You've probably heard the term "Dr. Copper" to describe copper's role in serving as a good bellweather of the global economy. But all the buzz these days is about iron ore, a key ingredient in steel. This morning, a hedge fund manager in Europe sent us this chart of front month iron ore futures over the last couple of years. It's obviously very early, but that is one ugly chart. Included with the chart he sent this nice, quick overview: Iron ore...

Report: Soros Unloads All Investments in Major Financial Stocks; Invests Over $130 Million In Gold Mac Slavo August 16th, 2012 In a harbinger of what may be coming our way in the Fall of 2012, billionaire financier George Soros has sold all of his equity positions in major financial stocks according to a 13-F report filed with the SEC for the quarter ending June 30, 2012. Soros, who manages funds through various accounts in the US and the Cayman Islands, has reportedly unloaded over one million shares of stock in financial companies and banks that include Citigroup (420,000 shares), JP...

Gold Priced For Collapse Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012 Aug 02, 2012 - 02:32 PM By: Peter Schiff Where is the gold price today? If you're like many Americans, you have no idea whether it went up, down, or sideways. Fortunately, I know my readers to be more informed - you likely know that after falling from almost $1900, gold has been trapped around $1600 since early May. But you may still be curious why despite continued money-printing and abysmal US economic reports, gold hasn't been able to hit new highs. Here's the truth: gold is currently priced for...

The world is facing a new food crisis as the worst US drought in more than 50 years pushes agricultural commodity prices to record highs. Corn and soyabean prices surged to record highs on Thursday, surpassing the peaks of the 2007-08 crisis that sparked food riots in more than 30 countries. Wheat prices are not yet at record levels but have rallied more than 50 per cent in five weeks, exceeding prices reached in the wake of Russia’s 2010 export ban. The drought in the US, which supplies nearly half the world’s exports of corn and much of its soyabeans...

Corn Is Still Ripping Higher, And Is Now Up More Than 50% In Less Than A Month Joe Weisenthal Jul. 16, 2012, 8:14 PM Non-stop going up. Thanks to the drought... December corn futures via the CME, now up more than 50% from recent lows.

Corn Futures SURGE As USDA Cuts Crop Forecast By 12% Mamta Badkar Jul. 11, 2012, 8:38 AM Corn prices are jumping after the USDA cut corn yield by 20 bushels per acre to 146 bushels per acre. This is down from 166 bushels per acre because of poor crop conditions from early June and because of the heatwave and drought conditions plaguing the Midwest. The corn crop forecast was cut 12 percent to 12.97 billion bushels. Corn futures are up 3.20 percent on the news. From the report: "Persistent and extreme June dryness across the central and eastern Corn Belt...

The Next Time Silver Crosses Above $30.00 Will Be The Last Time Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012 Jul 06, 2012 - 05:41 AM By: Bob Kirtley It has been an interesting week on the economic stimulus front with what looks like a co-ordinated effort by the major powers to ignite their respective economies. The European Central Bank (ECB) made the headlines with a widely anticipated cut to its key interest rate of a quarter of a percentage point to a record low 0.75 per cent in an attempt to ease Europe's financial crisis and boost its stagnating economy. This...

Silver, Gold And The Coming Deflation Commodities / Gold and Silver 2012 Jul 05, 2012 - 02:03 PM By: Hubert Moolman Historically gold has made its significant gains, relative to other assets (as well as nominally), not during inflation, but during deflation (Note: I am using the terms inflation and deflation very loosely in this case). These significant gold rallies historically occur when value flees instruments such as stocks and certain commodities. Since the 1920s there have been three major gold rallies (1930s, 1970s and the current rally). All three major gold rallies came after a significant top in the...

Is Silver Finally Bottoming Out? Tim Staermose June 26, 2012 Over a year ago, I penned an article entitled “4 Silver Investments to Avoid.” About two weeks later, on April 26th, I wrote another article: “Should I Sell My Silver?” saying that I expected an imminent correction in the silver price, after it had gone “parabolic.” It caused quite a stir at the time. There was no shortage of people calling me delusional for suggesting the bull market in silver was overdue for a pause. Some even labeled me a “traitor,” presumably to the “hard money” movement. One of the...

Dr. Copper Says Look Out Below 25 June 2012 by Sober Look By Walter Kurtz, Sober Look The dislocation between US equities and Brent crude is by no means unique. A very similar picture is developing between S&P500 and copper. And as with oil, one can blame it on supply fundamentals, but the reality has more to do with a sharp deterioration in global demand as world economies slow. Miller Tabak : – Traders often refer to the red metal as Dr. Copper because it is the only one that has a PhD in economics, and tends to be a...

Ben Davies: Gold Is Worth $6,000 Matthew Boesler Jun. 25, 2012, 7:56 AM Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital, spoke to King World News yesterday giving his thoughts on where gold is headed next. He is somewhat bearish, saying gold could fall over 10 percent to around $1400 per ounce as Europe continues to muddle through its crisis. Davies told King World News: If you look at it on a relative basis, gold has maintained its purchasing power. It’s done exactly what it should be doing. Short-term I am concerned that we could be going down to $1,400. Yes, that’s...

Chinese Economic Data Is Looking Horrible, And The Government Is Lying About It Joe Weisenthal Jun. 23, 2012, 12:10 PM AP Photo It's long been believed that China's economic data is untrustworthy, but now that the Chinese economy is clearly cooling down, that theory is being put to the test, and it seems to be confirmed that the government isn't always forthright about the numbers. Keith Bradsher at the New York Times has a good overview of the situation. He notes that in addition to there being an economic slowdown, this is a year of political transition, which further creates...

BofA Technical Analyst: Gold Is Set For A Rally, Could Go As High As $3000 Max Nisen May 22,2012 The technical analysis team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch thinks a month's long decline in gold is coming to an end. Here's an excerpt from a note by Mary Ann Bartels and Stephen Suttmeier: Gold has pulled back to test support at $1550-1500. This support is holding, which sets up gold for a rally. The downtrend line from the August/ September highs provides initial resistance near $1700. Chart resistances are near $1800 and $1900-1925. Our longer-term view remains that gold...

Forget Greece, China Biggest Risk to Global Economy: Faber Published: Friday, 18 May 2012 | 6:16 AM ET By: Jean Chua Writer for CNBC.com Forget Greece, which is an "insignificant" economy, it is China that poses the biggest risk to the global economy, Marc Faber the editor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report told CNBC on Friday. "I think the biggest risk is actually China because if you look at Greece, it's an insignificant economy," Faber said on CNBC Asia's “Capital Connection.” "Yes, they owe money, but the market knows that it's bankrupt." The European Central Bank...

Time To Accumulate Gold And Silver By Jeff Clark 05/01/12 Do you own enough gold and silver for what lies ahead? If 10% of your total investable assets (i.e., excluding equity in your primary residence) aren’t held in various forms of gold and silver, we at Casey Research think your portfolio is at risk. After speaking at the Cambridge House conference last month and talking with many attendees, I came away convinced that most investors fall into one of two categories: those who hold an abundance of gold and silver (which tends to be physical forms only), and those with...

We'd Like To Introduce You To Dr. Aluminum Sam Ro April 19, 2012, 8:21 PM Copper was given the nickname "Dr. Copper" because the industrial metal supposedly has a Ph.D in economics. Why? Because copper is widely recognized as a good indicator of economic health. However, copper might not be the smartest metal out there. According to this chart published in Citi's massive 110-page Q2 Commodity Update report, aluminum is much more vulnerable to the economy.

More pandering from Obama: [VIDEO AT SITE] Of course government needs to step in to protect consumers because god knows us consumers can't think for ourselves and we need to be protected from those eeeevvviiiiiilllllll bankers...woops, I mean those eeeeevilllllll CEO's....woops, I mean those evvvvvillllll speculators. Now it's the speculators and their evil capitalist ways. I mean how dare they want to make a profit? To a Socialist, like this man, it's pure evil to want to make money. Everything should be done to help the State, all profits should be confiscated and the government should be allowed to...

President Obama's call to rein in oil market speculation comes just as those very market forces appear to be accomplishing his real goal of lowering gasoline prices in the middle of an election campaign. The president announced Tuesday that he wants Congress to crack down on oil market speculators whom he argues have helped drive up the price of crude oil and gasoline. ,,,,, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, denounced the plan as unnecessary, saying the White House already has the tools available to crack down on any possible oil price manipulation. "Where is his Federal Trade Commission? Where is...

Why High Oil Prices Even At $200 Won't Cause A Recession Commodities / Crude Oil Apr 12, 2012 - 07:43 AM By: Money Morning Martin Hutchinson writes: Last Friday's weak unemployment numbers, with only 120,000 jobs created, brought renewed wails that high oil prices were causing a recession. Having heard this refrain so many times, I thought I'd dig a little deeper. After all, a peak of $145 per barrel in the West Texas Intermediate oil price pretty well coincided with the onset of the 2008 recession. The question is whether or not high oil prices are always correlated with...

From Ron Griess and the always fascinating Chart Store, we see a very different read of inflation. He shares this awesome selection from his weekly blog (subscription only) of commodities,  crude oil, copper, gold, silver, corn, coffee, cotton, and the S&P500 — all priced in terms of hourly earnings:>Click to enlarge:˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜