Commodities & Metals

Commodities & Metals Articles

ThinkstockThe Institute for Supply Management (ISM) this morning reported that its purchasing managers index (PMI) fell from 54.2 in February to 51.3 in March. The consensus estimate had called for a...
ThinkstockA region with unlimited access to water (though salt water) and a climate in which the temperature rises relentlessly — what a good place for farms. This may be the fate for some...
ThinkstockThe latest report on U.S. crop plantings for this year have sent corn prices tumbling more than 5% today and ended the day’s trading when prices fell the maximum allowable $0.40 a bushel....
thinkstockThe Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) reported fiscal third-quarter 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The fertilizer maker reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.88 on...
ThinkstockThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released its preliminary report on March farm prices. The index uses prices from 1990-1992 as its base value (100). The March price index...
ThinkstockPlatinum prices have fallen nearly 10% from their 2013 highs in early February. Palladium prices are off as well, but the drop is just 3.6%. This is not good for South Africa, which...
ThinkstockIn an announcement today in Beijing, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planning agency, said that steel production in the country has reached a point...
ThinkstockIf there is one great American industry that has been left for dead, it is the U.S. coal industry. With every possible battle to fight from pollution and environmental concerns to mine...
ThinkstockOnce an investor’s darling, Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) has not aged well. The rare earths miner’s shares hit a post-IPO high of around $75 a share in April 2011, but the decline since...
ThinkstockWhen the commodity traders at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) say that commodities may be oversold right now they exclude gold from the rest of the asset class. In the near term, the...
ThinkstockWhile exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been dumping gold in the first two months of 2013, exactly the reverse is happening in the silver ETFs. Total silver holdings now amount to a...
ThinkstockLast year marked the twelfth consecutive year for rising gold prices. But that could be the end of the yellow metals string. Since the beginning of the year, gold ETFs have sold 140 metric...
ThinkstockThere will be yet two more exchange-traded products for investors to get exposure to the gold or silver market. These feel like “me too” products at this point but let’s hold off on...
ThinkstockLondon-traded Glencore International has been making news for more than a year now for its takeover of Xstrata, a mining company of which Glencore already owns about 40%. The company is...
ThinkstockThis will not sound nice, but it isn’t meant to: It really sucks to be a gold miner right now. Gold prices have lost the wind at their back, gold production prices are higher and demand...