Commodities & Metals

Commodities & Metals Articles

We saw the launch of two new ETF products today covering the global commodities boom.  In the metals and mining sector, Global X Management launched the Apex Silver Mines Ltd. (NYSE: SIL) and the...
The pressure on the FDA to take measure sthat would lowere the salt content of food increased today. According to the AP, “the prestigious Institute of Medicine said the food industry hasn’t done...
We aren’t going to bother telling you the news on Goldman Sachs being charged by the SEC with fraud over mortgage products.  The notion that hedge fund Paulson & Co. is being implicated and...
During the first quarter of 2010, Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RTP) boosted production of iron ore by 39% compared with the same period last year. The primary driver, as expected, is China, where the...
Yields on money market funds continue to drop. They currently pay interest of about .01% per year. Gold looks more attractive as an investment, and so do, perhaps, diamonds. Read more… Get Ready...
Gold needs a breather.  All of the same reasons that gold ran from $900 to $1200 are still in place outside of the catastrophic meltdown scenario on every investor’s mind in early 2009.  Greece...
Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is a stock that traders and investors alike try to use as a proxy for earnings season for the market as a whole and for the metals sector.  Sometimes it cooperates, sometimes...
The coal sector has been rocked in the past two weeks by deadly accidents at mines in China and the US. In China, 32 miners are still missing and 6 are dead, and in the US, 25 miners are dead and 4...
The US dollar and commodity prices are supposed to be inversely related, or so we saw during so much of the last 2009 gold rally.  Quite simply, global commodity assets quoted in dollars cost more...
For the past 40 years, the price of iron ore has been set annually in a negotiated deal between miners and buyers. Typically, the first large customer to cut a deal with a miner set the precedent for...
The under-developing world needs food while the developed world is full. US crop yield reports sunk commodities prices as the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Prospective Plantings numbers showed...
The Wall Street Journal reports that millions of acres of prime American farmland will be destroyed this year by a plague of grasshoppers. The paper reports that “grasshoppers will likely hatch in...
When oil was targeted by the CFTC for position limits, many did not want to believe that this would come to the gold market and to other metals.  We believe that this is coming.  Today there will...
How many quarters have we had to hear from fertilizer and potash companies that the earnings results will be disappointing but good news is closer rather than farther away?  This has been the trend...
Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) had a stellar trading day, with a gain of more than 10% which moved the shares above $20.00 for the first time since January 20.  The reason for today’s run...