Unemployment and Precious Metals

Unemployment Discrepancy and its Impact on Precious Metals Analysts, financial planners and so called “experts” tout a variety of anti-inflation investments, ranging from commodities like oil and coal to sophisticated instruments like inflation-protected treasuries and annuities.  Although all these products may seem to be inflation-proof on paper, none have the intrinsic value of gold, silver or any other precious metals. (more...)

Precious Metal and Energy ETF Analysis

Precious Metals and Energy ETF Trading Report So far this week has been generous with our commodity ETFs moving higher, other than natural gas which is clearly in a bear market. Each of the commodity ETF trading charts below is at a different stage and it will be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming weeks. (more...)

ECB Gold Sales

10 November 2009 - Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as of 6 November 2009

Copper Prices Rally

Copper prices rally on brighter demand prospects LONDON (Reuters) - Copper rallied on Monday as demand prospects brightened after Codelco, the world's top copper miner, raised premium charges for Asian customers in 2010, while a weaker dollar also helped boost industrial metals. Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange MCU3 traded at $6,572 a tonne at 1537 GMT from $6,490 on Friday, when a weaker than expected monthly jobs report from the United States hit the dollar and sentiment. Chile's Codelco raised its term premium for copper to the Japanese port of Yokohama to $75 a tonne in 2010, and to $74 for South Korean buyers, in anticipation of rising demand in parts of Asia, industry sources said on Monday. (more...)

Gold Hits $1105… Still More Upside

Gold hits record above $1,105 and analysts still predicting more upside SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold powered to another record high on Monday on safe-haven buying as the U.S. dollar slipped and after a weaker-than-expected U.S. unemployment rate revived worries about the health of the global economy. Gold has gained more than 25% in 2009, driven by persistent weakness in the U.S. currency that has lost more than 6% versus the euro so far this year, and recently by the failure of a meeting of the Group of 20 finance officials to talk more specifically about the dollar's decline.. As expectations rise that central banks across the globe might look to buy gold to diversify their reserves, analysts say that there could be more upside for the precious metal. (more...)

Gold:Silver Ratio – Buy Silver!

This article suggests that silver is undervalued compared to gold by anywhere from 10% to 50% based on historical gold to silver price relationships.

With primary secular bull or bear trends easily running from 10 to 20 years of the average investor’s 40 year investing lifespan it is crucial to identify optimal accumulation points within these primary trends to avoid prolonged periods of under-performance and potentially negative returns and to avoid dramatically reducing the number of productive years in which to build one’s fortune. (more…)

Gold Wheaton and South African Uranium

The Canadian miner's Barbados unit will put up an initial payment of $50m Canada's Gold Wheaton Gold Corp (GLW.V: Quote) said its Barbados unit agreed with First Uranium Corp (FIU.TO: Quote) to buy gold from its South African unit for an initial payment of $50 million. Gold Wheaton will buy 7% of the life of mine gold production from Ezulwini Mining Co's mining right over its Ezulwini mine, which covers about 3,718 hectares, in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Under the deal, which is expected to close in late November, Gold Wheaton will pay First Uranium $400 per ounce on each gold delivery, or the prevailing spot price of gold, whichever is lower. (more...)

Investing in BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP)

The Best-Run Commodities Company In The World Some companies just stand out – both in their own sectors and in the larger market. Australian firm BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is one of them. As the largest and most diversified commodities producer in the world, BHP has leading positions in most key, low-cost, metal and mineral deposits in the world. (more...)

European Central Bank: Purchase of 44 kg of Gold

3 November 2009 - Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem as at 30 October 2009

Precious Metals Forecasting

LBMA Conference - bullish on gold but terrified on dollar... London - Asked by John Reade, in his anchor leg role on the Conference podium, to forecast the gold price at next year's LBMA Conference (late September 2010), the average forecast among this year's Conference delegates was $1,183/ounce,(a gain of 12% in dollar terms.  Last year the forecast for today's price was $956.50, which is perhaps a sobering thought for those of us to profess to have crystal balls.  We were not asked to project a dollar exchange rate as such, but not surprisingly 63% of delegates thought that the dollar would be weaker next September than it is now. (more...)

Precious Metals Investment Checklist

Investment Check-list for Precious Metals Miners: part II In Part I, I introduced readers to the different categories of miners, and outlined some of the basic characteristics which these companies possess. In the second part, I will provide some guidance on what to look for in separating the “contenders” from the “pretenders”. (more...)