Other Commodities

Very poor sentiment towards gold and oversold conditions is reminiscent of the conditions seen in late 2008 and January 2009 [as seen in the chart below] when gold prices had fallen by more than 25% in 9 months. Subsequently, gold rose from a low on January 15, 2009 at $802.60/oz to a high less than 12 months later at $1,215/oz for a gain of over 50%. A similar move today would see gold above $1,800/oz by year end.

Below is an infographic presenting a crash course in the need for, problems with, and benefits of, building the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta through the American midwest to the refineries in Texas.

While the stock market is the only game in town - for now - stocks will not continue to out perform all other asset classes indefinitely. Eventually either bonds and gold will rally or stocks will crash very hard. It is one, the other, or even more likely a mixture of both.

I don't want to kill the dream of U.S. energy independence but the fact is it won't become a reality overnight. It's entirely possible, however, that the North American continent [Canada, the U.S. and Mexico] can achieve energy independence within the next decade. [Let me explain.]

Copper is one of the most important and popular industrial metals in the world. With 3% per year production growth since 1900, approximately 16 million tons of the metal was produced in 2011, according to the International Copper Study Group. Below, we outline some of the largest and most important copper-producing nations across the world:

After almost three years of churning bumper profits from the massive price gap between the world's two most actively traded crude oil contracts, traders, refiners, railways and investors are all asking the same question: Is the Brent-WTI spread game finally coming to a close?

While falling commodity prices are beneficial to countries that are net energy and commodity importers they actually may be signals of weaknesses in the growth of the global economy and economic weakness across the globe.

Dr. Copper, as it is affectionately known, has been a longstanding barometer of economic growth and historically has shown a high positive correlation to the S&P 500. However, over the past several quarters there has been an increasingly large disconnect between the performance of major indices and the price of copper. With copper hitting YTD lows it suggests that there is less demand and that growth is slowing down and this, in turn, forecasts lower levels for the S&P 500. Words: 420

Changes in economic indicators, copper and other commodity prices and stock market trends are covered in this month's market intelligence infographic.

Russia may be the ninth largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product, but its abundance of natural resources in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and the Russian Far East makes it much more important in the world of commodities. Below, we dissect Russia’s commodity industry to give investors an in-depth look...and some specific ideas on how investors might participate. Words: 935