Dave Forest

Latest articles from Dave

• Uranium Sector Hit by Mining Safety Fears

  Published 31 May 2010 | viewed 7,895 times

  Just going through the usual heap of news that piles up over the weekends. A tiny article from the Brisbane Times caught my attention. It…

• A Snapshot of the Global Oil Market: The Good and the Bad

  Published 30 May 2010 | viewed 5,222 times

  JODI is the Joint Oil Data Initiative. A project run by the International Energy Agency and a consortium of partners, collecting data on oil demand…

• Asian Gas Market Starting to Heat Up

  Published 28 May 2010 | viewed 11,620 times

  Asia is one of the more interesting gas markets in the world. Places like Thailand and its southeast Asian neighbors have seen phenomenal demand growth…

• U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan Back to Pre-2003 Industrial Production Levels

  Published 27 May 2010 | viewed 8,942 times

  An interesting chart from the Bank of Japan's latest monthly economic report. Japanese capacity utilization is way down. Around 20% of manufacturing facilities are standing…

• Amid the Financial Turmoil One Economic Indicator is Soaring

  Published 25 May 2010 | viewed 11,670 times

  The financial world is coming unglued again. Greece has pushed the E.U. to the brink. Global stock markets are tumbling. And yet, at the same…

• The Stealth Shale Gas Company

  Published 22 May 2010 | viewed 6,546 times

  A lot of companies have been rushing to get into shale oil and gas plays the last few years. But apparently at least one major…

• China Continuing to Buy U.S. Treasuries

  Published 20 May 2010 | viewed 6,085 times

  More talk last night about China getting out of U.S. Treasuries. On the Q1 conference call for U.S. power major Duke Energy, management discussed the…

• When Higher Metals Prices Aren't Good for Miners

  Published 14 May 2010 | viewed 7,215 times

  A couple of interesting data points on costs in the mining industry. Cost containment is once again becoming a major issue for miners. TD Newcrest…

• The Bond Check-In

  Published 13 May 2010 | viewed 6,956 times

  Lots of concern the last few weeks over sovereign debt. Investors globally were wondering how Greece would fund its budget shortfalls. Now we're looking at…

• Exotic investment Vehicles: An Unproductive Abuse of Capital

  Published 12 May 2010 | viewed 7,744 times

  Michael Lewitt has an interesting new book out, called "The Death of Capital". In it, Lewitt attacks speculative investment activities such as private equity buyouts.…

• Return of the Dollar Cavalry

  Published 10 May 2010 | viewed 5,994 times

  The world is in distress. The economic future looks bleak. Who can the citizens of our great planet turn to, to save them in this…

• Follow the Platinum-Brick Road

  Published 07 May 2010 | viewed 18,281 times

  Exciting couple of days on the market. With the Dow having its worst intra-day drop ever yesterday, most of the commodities got trashed. Over May…

• Vanishing Uranium Resources

  Published 07 May 2010 | viewed 15,882 times

  There was a mysterious disappearance of uranium in South Australia last week. Uranium mining hopeful PepinNini Minerals reported a new resource estimate on its Crocker…

• Bank Lending and Other Key Stats Take a Turn for the worse

  Published 04 May 2010 | viewed 12,219 times

  I wrote last month that several economic indicators seemed to be turning positive. I may have spoken too soon. The last two weeks a number…

• Australia’s Super Profits Tax on Resource Companies Leads to Immediate Fall-Out

  Published 03 May 2010 | viewed 8,864 times

  Australia sent the major miners into a tailspin overnight. The Rudd government announced Sunday night that it will impose a new "resource super profits" tax…

• Japanese commercial banks are hurting. Will the government step in with more bailouts?

  Published 30 April 2010 | viewed 5,916 times

  Sometimes the briefest bits of information are the most critical. The Bank of Japan today put out its usual one-page summary for the April meeting…

• The Gravitational Pull of Financial Disaster

  Published 29 April 2010 | viewed 4,491 times

  There are two views on the economy and stock markets. The first (and most widely-held) is that these are "responsive systems". Prices for homes, stocks…

• Signpost Event Signals the Geothermal Business is Ready for Prime Time

  Published 28 April 2010 | viewed 12,817 times

  Scenario planners like Peter Schwartz often talk about "signpost" events. These are happenings, often small in and of themselves, which suggest a larger change rippling…

• What to Look For When Investing in an Exploration Company

  Published 27 April 2010 | viewed 10,764 times

  Calling all mineral explorers. Australia needs your help. The Australian Institute of Geosciences (AIG) this week released a report noting that the Aussie exploration sector…

• Chinese Profits: Bad for Metal prices?

  Published 20 April 2010 | viewed 8,563 times

  Metals investors globally were cheered this week by good news from Aluminum Corp. of China (A.K.A. Chalco). The aluminum giant swung back into profitability for…