» Metals

It only took eleven years, but in 2011 global gold-mine production has finally returned to pre-bull levels.  In fact, with 2011’s volume expected to come in at around 88m ounces, we’ll see a new all-time production high.  The latest exploration-and-development cycle is finally starting to be...

Back in August of 2011 as Gold was cresting $2000 an ounce we penned a missive on our website about the pending correction of a “parabolic spike”. That played out well as prices subsequently declined to $1550 an ounce. Just recently we updated that analysis in our weekly newsletter which cov...

Gold is enjoying an awesome January, rallying strongly out of its oversold late-December lows.  But last month’s hyper-pessimistic sentiment deserves some reflection before it totally fades from memory.  One of the core theses of the bears resolutely predicting sub-$1400 gold prices soon was the...

Since rocketing to new all-time highs last summer, gold has weathered a major correction.  While that selloff was healthy and necessary given the excessive optimism that catapulted gold to very-overbought levels, a strong US dollar accelerated gold’s swoon.  But with the dollar now as overbought...

Gold had a tough December, falling 10.5% to grind along near its worst levels since July.  This sparked hyper-bearish sentiment and end-of-gold’s-secular-bull talk.  Naturally gold stocks fared even worse in this rampant gold pessimism, with the flagship HUI gold-stock index plunging 14.7%.  Bu...

As 2011 comes to a close, investors will reflect on one of the most tumultuous years in market history.  Though the stock markets were essentially flat on the year, those who’ve had skin in the game probably feel like they just stepped out of a barrel that went over Niagara Falls. In assessing wh...

The long-in-the-tooth commodities correction plunged to new lows this week.  Traders were disappointed the Fed didn’t announce a new quantitative-easing campaign, so they dumped the popular commodities with a vengeance.  But realize the primary driver of the recent commodities weakness is not th...

Commodity expert Dennis Gartman certainly struck a nerve in the financial community as word hit the street of his call on gold in the latest Gartman Letter(subscription required). Here is the gist, as reported by Bloomberg: “Since the early autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere gold has...

After updating my gold-seasonality research last week, I heard from traders wondering how it affects gold stocks.  Since the price of gold is their primary driver, gold seasonality naturally has a major impact on gold-stock price levels.  This is readily apparent in the seasonality of the HUI, the...

Here is an interesting story from a reader about huge stockpiles of metals building up, right here in the US, because of limited demand from manufacturers. Dear Mish, The link below is to a recent article in the New Orleans newspaper, the Times Picayune. I have read a lot about metal stockpiling i...

Gold has been almost as volatile as the stock market since August. After becoming overheated in July and early August, it plunged $340 an ounce to its low of $1,592 in late September. In one brief period in September it collapsed $214 an ounce in just four days. Not surprisingly that cooled off the ...

Gold has just entered its strongest time of the year, embarking on a major seasonal rally.  Naturally this is very bullish for not only this metal, but the companies that wrest it from the bowels of the Earth.  Gold’s well-established seasonality is important for speculators and investors to und...