Oil

It seems that the only growth stocks out there in this market are related to natural resources (i.e. gold, silver, oil, corn). We might only be halfway through the current commodity price cycle and, even if you don’t much believe in it, you can’t argue with the price performance of a lot of commodity-related stocks. It’s the hottest area of the equity market and it’s going to stay that way for a while.

I was starting to put on my bullish hat on Friday morning when out of the blue an ugly close has forced me to rethink my position.

Yes Gold has been flirting with all-time highs. Sounds strong, right? Wrong. In reality, Gold has been in a consolidation or running correction since October of last year. In recent weeks Gold has flirted with all-time highs but hasn’t been able to achieve a sustained breakout. Meanwhile, as the chart shows, the gold stocks (GDX, … Continue reading

Recent developments in precious metals space raise series of questions in terms of sustainability of yellow and white metal moves in the foreseeable future. In order to gauge near-term precious metal moves, investors track precious metals’ relationship between currency fluctuations, stock market influence and crude oil prices.

Mounting social and political unrest in the Middle East boosted appeal for commodities as a safe investment option in recent weeks.

Some financial commentators have picked up on the fact that the dollar has failed to get a safe haven bid so far during the turmoil in the Middle East. This isn’t normal, especially considering the problems one of the main alternatives to the dollar, the Euro, has had over the past year or so. The … Continue reading

Things are really starting to get interesting as civil unrest is having real effects on various markets. Oil is testing $100, gold is near its all-time highs, and stocks are selling off. Gadhafi has opened fire on his own people, which to me indicates that his grip on power is eroding. It appears this is … Continue reading

Let’s breakdown the December trade deficit numbers released today.  For all of December, the trade deficit was $40.6 billion, roughly in-line with expectations and up $2.7 billion from November.  The media is already pointing to the fact that imports increased by $5.1 billon from December to November as the signal that the U.S. consumer has returned and the economy … Continue reading

I want to discuss something that came up on the blog Friday. An anonymous poster hinted that we were going to see more gold weakness in the days ahead because big money was having to sell  positions. Folks, big smart money traders don’t sell into weakness. These kind of investors don’t think like the typical retail investor … Continue reading

It was an interesting options expiration week for equities that’s for sure. We saw some very choppy price action with large waves of buying and selling as the bulls and bears fought for control. Both Gold and Oil closed lower for the week which is not a good sign considering the US Dollar dropped like … Continue reading