Commodities

Goddess Of Inflation Slips Out Of Sight Again

Today we look back into the not-so-murky past to see how insidious inflation can be. Today, the markets rejoice because they imagine they all can have fun and games by making funny money deals. Commodities are down! Well, this is...

REITS POP, COMMODITIES FLOP

July 2008 was one of the more challenging months for strategic-minded investors in recent memory. There was plenty of red ink on last month's tally, as our table below shows, although the headwinds were even stronger than losses alone suggest. Let's begin by noting that the big stumble last month came in commodities. The DJ-AIG Commodity Index, for instance, dropped by an astonishing 11.9% in July. That's the biggest month setback for the benchmark, as far as we can tell, based on records we can...

10 signs the stock market may have bottomed

(Photo: Toru Hanai/Reuters) The following is a condensation of an analysis issued earlier this week by McLean and Partners of Calgary. It doesn’t necessarily reflect my own view of where the market has going. Personally, I have no strong opinion on the probable short term move of stocks, or interest rates, or commodities or particular economic or geographical sectors. Certainly there are any number of gloomier prognostications floating around, from John Mauldin to Richard Russell to Peter Gra...

Teck Cominco & Talisman ? Levy's Manager Picks

Manager: Ari Levy, TD Asset Management Style: GARP (growth at a reasonable price) rooted in fundamental asset value Portfolio: TD Resource Strategy: Barbell approach heavily weighted on one end by larger cap resource stocks with internally financeable growth projects and on the other end by smaller cap resource stocks that provide torque to the portfolio. Buy recommendations: Talisman Inc. Teck Cominco Ltd. Suncor Energy Inc. Sell recommendation: Sherwin-Williams Co. PREVIOUS PICKS Commentary:"T...

Capital Gold Group Report: Hong Kong Approves First Gold ETF to Meet Investor Demand

Commentary: ETF's add to global gold demand and allow investors to participate in the commodities market, but do not provide the safety and preservation of physical gold assets, nor do they add the additional portfolio diversification of a hard asset allocation in physical gold. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has approved the city`s first gold ETF The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has approved the city`s first gold exchange-traded fund to meet investors` demand aft...

REFLECTION ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AND RECIPROCITY

I believe that friendship is like flowers, both needs much caress and fondness to grow well. When its bloomed and open, it produces a lovely flower. "Friendship is mutual reciprocity of affection and purpose". "Friendship is mutual reciprocity of affection and purpose". -- Aristotle. "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom". -- Marcel Proust. "Friendship of goodness depends on love, on likeness, on recognition, on reciprocity, o...

Dow Jones Newswires to start new commodities markets column

Simon Constable has been hired by Dow Jones Newswires to write a new column about the commodities markets, according to an internal e-mail from Americas senior editor Rick Stine. Stine writes, “The focus of the new column will be investment ideas for people interested in the commodities markets. Some of the columns will be aimed at [...]

Week in review: Reversal of fortune, but don't cast caution to the wind

This post is a guest contribution by Prieur du Plessis, Investment Postcards from Cape Town The end is nigh was what many despondent investors were starting to believe as the past week kicked off with volatile trading amid concerns that US regional bank IndyMac's demise was a harbinger of many more bank failures. Furthermore, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to rescue the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), left investors unconvinced. The US g...

Argentine Taxes "Killing Their Incentives"

"Marcelo Marchetti, president of Cigra group." Source of caption and photo: online version of the NYT article quoted and cited below. (p. 6) WENCESLAO ESCALANTE, Argentina -- When the government decided in March to raise taxes on farmers' profits, it set off a rural revolt in Argentina. For three weeks enraged farmers blocked roads nationwide, paralyzing grain and meat sales and causing food shortages. . . . The farmers say they are concerned not only about profits, though the steeper taxes hav...

No Easy Money On The Worlds' Stock Markets These Days

But isn't it great to hear the sound of speculators losing billions of dollars on market volatility. Has oil topped out? Have financials bottomed out? Has stagflation set in? On and on, investors ask economists and financial gurus these questions. The experts look into their "crystal balls" and come up with the usual long or short winded explanations of what is happening and what is going to happen. This fortunetelling makes good press releases, but it really doesn't tell anyone whether we're go...