By Marc Davis, BNWnews.ca
With potash prices spiking higher in response to surging global foods costs, the world’s most advanced “independent” potash project is in the cross-hairs of an increasing number of deep-pocketed suitors.
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Author: Brian Sylvester
Austerity programmes across Europe, continued debt problems in the US and further political uncertainty all point to a continued uptrend in gold prices, says Brien Lundin. A Gold Report Interview.
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By Michael Brush, MSN Money
Recent dips are giving us another chance to get in on the great gold rush. The factors driving the metal higher -- broken governments and fragile economies -- aren't going away.
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Author: Lawrence Williams
Speaking at GATA's sold-out Gold Rush conference in London, Eric Sprott affirmed his strong views on gold and his even more positive thoughts on silver.
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Edmund Conway
That's right: come Monday morning we will have managed to survive four decades of fiat money – though, given the chaos in markets in recent weeks, it is anyone's guess how much longer it will last.
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By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Silver has always been seen as less precious than gold, but it has certainly proved itself worthy of investors’ attention — and demand for it as a hedge against the world’s financial woes is likely to grow.
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Edmond J. Bugos
After launching the Shanghai Gold Exchange in October 2002, the exchange’s principals announced a three-part plan to liberalize trading: 1) establish a deferred delivery service (as physical transactions are settled pretty much the same day); 2) create gold-related investment products in order to promote domestic investment demand and create liquidity; 3) integrate the exchange into international markets – which includes expanding import/export licenses and allowing foreign entities to become members.
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Author: Amanda Cooper (Reuters)
Analysts believe that gold stocks could well take the upper hand after a long period of underperformance in relation to physical bullion as the flow of cheap money from the U.S. slows
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By The Economist
Striking gold is generally considered a slice of good luck. Owning it, however, is a sign that you fear the worst. Some people buy the yellow stuff because they think it looks pretty, to be sure. But the quintessential gold bug is an investor who expects every form of paper wealth to collapse, along with civilisation itself.
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By Marc Davis, www.BNWnews.ca
Though Nevada’s world-famous gold fields have historically yielded over 150 million gold ounces, they are still proving to be geologically fertile hunting grounds for exploration-minded junior mining companies. Two good examples are Auex Ventures and Fronteer Gold.
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By David Galland, Casey Research
While there are many reasons that gold and silver are going to keep moving higher as the fiat currencies trend lower, at our recent Casey Research Summit in Boca Raton, faculty member Mike Maloney pointed out a fact that, while obvious in hindsight, I had never heard mentioned previously.
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Author: Fayen Wong
SHANGHAI (REUTERS) -
London specialist consultancy GFMS reckons Chinese gold imports could exceed 400 tonnes in 2011 with silver, too, expected to exceed domestic supply.
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By William Mbaho, BNWnews.ca
Heightened global demand for vanadium especially from China, is prompting the global steel industry to aggressively seek out new supplies, especially in the U.S. where this 21st century metal is becoming increasingly indispensible. Even U.S. President Obama is championing this metal’s promise for green energy applications.
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Author: Geoff Candy
The yellow metals performance in the face of silver's washout last week was rather impressive and an addition to the factors why UBS expects gold to continue going higher this year.
Gold's performance last week, in the face of a drop of around 30% in the price of silver was rather impressive and, could be an indicator of things to come.
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By Marc Davis, www.BNWnews.ca
The quest to commercialize one of Latin America’s last undeveloped major gold deposits is one major step closer to a prospectively big pay day for its unlikely owner – a small gold explorer named Exeter Resource.
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By Debbie Carlson
Of Kitco News
After a sharp drop in prices this week, the outlook is hazy for precious metals price direction, but some analysts believe the metals could see the slide ending next week, at least for gold.
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Author: Lawrence Williams
Some observers think gold is in a bubble, but silver has been rising far faster. Can this momentum be maintained or is now the time to take at least some profits as the price closes on $50.
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Author: Jan Harvey (Reuters)
Silver rose to its strongest since 1980 and Gold hit five week highs on the back of growing unrest in the Middle East
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By Marc Davis, www.BNWnews.ca
Silver promises to become the next big buzzword among investors in 2011 and beyond, according to one of the investment industry’s most prescient and successful experts on precious metals.
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There are some bizarre things going on in the silver market at the moment, reminiscent of the supply shortages and high premiums witnessed in 2008. For starters, silver is currently in both short-term and long-term backwardation, suggesting there is higher demand for silver NOW than in the future.
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The Economist
Rising commodity prices both reflect and threaten the world’s economic recovery.
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Cheap, Industrial Silver is an illusion
From the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, contrarian investors began murmuring about getting into gold and short term Treasuries. It was almost a mantra: gold and Treasuries… gold and Treasuries. Something missing?
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The Economist
Commodity prices are surging at a very early stage of the cycle
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By Frank Holmes
Wall Street has been calling gold a bubble since 2005 when it hit $500. Some media naysayers remained negative even as they wrote the headlines proclaiming record highs and saw gold rise almost 30 percent in the past 12 months.
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By Marc Davis, www.BNWnews.ca
The ‘Holy Grail’ of renewable energy – grid scale power storage – appears to be finally within reach. So is the ability to make electric cars far more practical or user-friendly.
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by Egon von Greyerz - Matterhorn AM
We now live in a world where governments print worthless pieces of paper to buy other worthless pieces of paper that combined with worthless derivatives, finance assets whose values are totally dependent on all these worthless debt instruments. Thus most of these assets are also worth-less.
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The One-handed Economist
The establishment argument against gold comes down to the statement that it is a collectable that earns no yield. Art, rare coins, stamps and gold and silver bullion do not earn a yield. Stocks, bonds and real estate earn yields, so the prudent investor should focus on these assets rather than gold or precious metals.
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With gold well into record territory, investor enthusiasm is boiling over.
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If we continue down the same economic path that we have been following for the last four decades - and there is no indication that we won't even if we wanted to, or could, at this point - it is mathematically inevitable that gold and silver will approach infinity in U.S. dollar terms at some point in the future. Yes, approach infinity!
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Dead Cat Bounce
By John Browne
In economics, as in many other “soft sciences,” facts are often overshadowed by theories. The dominant economic theory currently in vogue is that the massive government stimuli orchestrated by the Bush and Obama administrations would produce an economic recovery by the end of this year.
Thus, it is no surprise that media cheerleaders have seized on the recent steep, but thinly traded, rally to find the facts that appear to fit the theory. From where do these talking heads draw this conclusion?
In recent months, we have allowed for the probability that a bear market rally, driven by seemingly low price-earnings multiples, would take hold for the first half of 2009. Months ago, I had stated that the rally would reasonably last into the summer and that the Dow could reach 10,000 before the next major downturn begins.
In the depths of the stock market crash of 2008/9, buying opportunities certainly arose. By March 2009, stock markets appeared to have been oversold. Certainly price-earnings multiples on many stocks had been compressed to generational lows. Ignoring the fact that these low multiples were underpinned by pre-recession earnings data, investors declared a bottom.
However, as is the tendency with sudden declines, bargain hunters entered the market too aggressively. On relatively thin trading levels, this led to a steep rise in stock prices which, in turn, drew in investors who feared being left behind. A steep bear market rally was in place. This mirrored the pattern of the Great Depression, when the initial crash was followed by a 68 percent rally in 1930. But after that rally had fizzled, stocks then declined by an astounding 86 percent over the two subsequent years.
While we urged caution in this rally by highlighting, among other indicators, a 38 percent decline in corporate earnings, speculative traders made enormous profits as stock markets rose by over 40 percent. But as dismal economic statistics continue to rain on everyone’s parade, the cheers are beginning to subside. Last week, the unemployment figures were released and the Dow slid by some 223 points.
Now, even speculative traders are preparing for a drop. The new-found concern is due to three basic indicators:
First, the U.S. dollar, linchpin of all American (and most global) transactions, is appearing increasingly weak. 10-year Treasury yields, as low as 2.1 percent post-crash, and continuing to stay below 4 percent, indicate a persistent bubble in “safe” U.S. bonds and cash.
Certainly, the fiscal situation of the United States government doesn’t warrant the confidence placed in its debt. The U.S. will soon have to choose between outright default and hyperinflation. The BRIC countries are already preparing themselves for the latter eventuality by seeking alternatives to the dollar.
Second, there has been a realization that the low multiples of March 2009 were largely illusory. With corporate earnings falling faster than share prices, price-earnings ratios are still high and historically expensive for an economy in an official recession.
Third, employment figures have been so bleak that the financial spin-doctors have been suggesting a “jobless recovery”! Reading between the lines, that means even the most deluded forecasters cannot find an argument for hiring to resume.
Despite the enormous stimulus packages, there are now roughly 15 million Americans unemployed, the highest total for some 26 years. Worse still, the official figures do not include the long-term unemployed or those who have been forced to accept part-time employment. If these “unofficial” unemployed figures were included, the total would be nearer to 20 percent than the official 9.6 percent. Furthermore, annualized figures show Americans earning less for each hour worked.
There can be little wonder that consumers are hoarding cash, increasing their savings and not buying on Main Street. American consumers are in a state of financial shock. The U.S. economy is heading deeper into severe recession, even depression.
The facts are universally bearish for the American stock markets. As for the pundits’ sentiments, you can measure their value by how much you personally pay for CNBC (very little) versus your cost if they’re wrong (very much). Now, there’s a statistic!
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