Finance / the Markets

• The Hot Money Likes Commodities These Days

  Inflows of speculative investment money into gold, copper and oil continue unabated and the numbers are staggering. I wrote a few months back about investment inflows into commodities setting a new weekly record, at just over $1 billion. In November and so far into December that record has been left in the dust. As of December 2 (the last date for which we have data), global investment inflows into commodities had run over $1 billion weekly for three weeks straight. In the week from November 12 to 18, a new record was set: $1.341 billion. Nearly 30% higher than the…

• Interdependence, Integration and Investment:The Ineluctable Need to Find New Emerging Oil Players

  In October 2009, Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who was presenting at the International Energy Week and at the Oil Congress held in Moscow, predicted a medium-term stabilization of global oil demand in 2010-11 at a 2007-08 level until 2014, whether World GDP growth is high or low. He also mentioned a very impressive and robust surge in Russia’s oil production for 2009 - from 10mb/d in January 2009 to over 10.2mb/d in September 2009 - that took all observers by surprise. However, the World oil supply capacity growth prospects will be curbed due to…

• How Long Can The Gold Bull Keep On Charging?

  Most financial experts going on record these days seem to agree with the assertion that, at least for now, wise investors in the winter months of 2009 and heading into the spring of 2010, won’t need to travel all the way to the narrow streets Pamplona Spain in order to participate in the most exciting bull run of the season. No need to risk hair nor hide as these market commentators who are openly talking about the current “Gold Bull Run” seem to be in agreement that the bulls will continue to run, smiling and laughing all the way to…

• Are we at the Start of Another Commodity Boom? According to Jim Rogers we are

  There are very few guarantees in the world of investment, especially at a time when so many national economies are in a current state of flux and seizure, which in turn, “muddies up the water” when it comes to asserting confident prognoses regarding the foreseeable global economy in general. However, one fairly accepted “rule of thumb” to be found in this wonderful field of global economics states clearly that: “Following every substantial financial crash, comes an equally robust and vital commodity boom!” So are investment gurus beginning to rub their hands together in preparation of the size Commodity Boom that…

• How to Speculate in the Energy Markets: Crude Oil Traders have Options

  Crude oil is among the most notorious commodity markets but is also among the most treacherous.  Nonetheless, speculators are drawn toward the leverage and volatility provided in this trading arena...and the stories of riches made and lost by its participants. Before risking your hard-earned money speculating in crude oil, it is important to be aware of a few details.  For starters, it is possible to trade oil via ETF's that attempt to track the price of crude, through the shares of firms that are correlated to crude oil prices or by using the futures and options markets.  Despite the alternatives,…

• WHERE DO THE OIL & REFINING STOCKS GO FROM HERE?

  AN ANALYSIS USING FIBONACCI IMPULSE STRATEGIES.XLESince breaking below our long term "89" line more than a year ago, the XLE made a strong move above the line to record a Weekly closing price of 58.99, within striking distance of weekly Fibonacci Cluster Resistance of 62.27. (See Weekly chart) A single close above the weekly line is not an official trend change.  We require three (3) consecutive weekly closes above the line for a trend change, because very often on the first thrust above the weekly "89" line, the market will return to test the line.  This seems likely with a…

• A MEDIA FAILURE COMPOUNDS THE FINANCIAL FAILURE:

  The Press Is Still Missing The Story Of  Fraud and Economic Decline Ahead. We know that Wall Street has not learned much from the crash it helped instigate. We know that our government, whatever its stated desire to clean up the markets and reform the financial behemoths, lacks the willingness and perhaps the clout to rein in the real power centers. We are not sure if they have been “captured” by them, or just lack the guts to take on institutions and individuals that helped fund their rise to power. But do we know that, even now, much of our…