Commodities & Energy This page contains specific information about commodities, raw materials and energy

New 2012 - 01 - 28:

[06:30 am] Caseyresearch: Green Energy Is a Financial Parasite

New 2012 - 01 - 22:

[08:30 am] In case of a war in Iran: Investors: All You Need To Know About Iran, $200 Oil, and $6.00 Gas Prices

Moors: Closing the strait would result in a rise in crude oil prices of between $20 and $40 a barrel in a matter of hours. Any interruption beyond 72 hours would push prices to between $150 and $200 a barrel.

This woud kill the global economy.

New 2012 - 01 - 17:

[11:15 am] Reuters: Oil prices gain after Iran warning

New 2012 - 01 - 12:

[01:30 pm] Green craziness: Every solar job in Germany costs €250,000

New 2012 - 01 - 06:

[09:30 am] Guest Post: War Imminent in Straits of Hormuz? $200 a Barrel Oil?

The pieces and policies for potential conflict in the Persian Gulf are seemingly drawing inexorably together.

 Since 24 December the Iranian Navy has been holding its ten-day Velayat 90 naval exercises, covering an area in the Arabian Sea stretching from east of the Strait of Hormuz entrance to the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden. The day the maneuvers opened Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told a press conference that the exercises were intended to show "Iran's military prowess and defense capabilities in international waters, convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries, and test the newest military equipment." The exercise is Iran's first naval training drill since May 2010, when the country held its Velayat 89 naval maneuvers in the same area. Velayat 90 is the largest naval exercise the country has ever held.

The participating Iranian forces have been divided into two groups, blue and orange, with the blue group representing Iranian forces and orange the enemy. Velayat 90 is involving the full panoply of Iranian naval force, with destroyers, missile boats, logistical support ships, hovercraft, aircraft, drones and advanced coastal missiles and torpedoes all being deployed. Tactics include mine-laying exercises and preparations for chemical attack. Iranian naval commandos, marines and divers are also participating.

 The exercises have put Iranian warships in close proximity to vessels of the United States Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, which patrols some of the same waters, including the Strait of Hormuz, a 21 mile-wide waterway at its narrowest point. Roughly 40 percent of the world's oil tanker shipments transit the strait daily, carrying 15.5 million barrels of Saudi, Iraqi, Iranian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari and United Arab Emirates crude oil, leading the United States Energy Information Administration to label the Strait of Hormuz "the world's most important oil chokepoint."

 In light of Iran's recent capture of an advanced CIA RQ-170 Sentinel drone earlier this month, Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi noted that the Iranian Velayat 90 forces also conducted electronic warfare tests, using modern Iranian-made electronic jamming equipment to disrupt enemy radar and contact systems. Further tweaking Uncle Sam's nose, Moussavi added that Iranian Navy drones involved in Velayat 90 conducted successful patrolling and surveillance operations.

 Thousands of miles to the west, adding oil to the fire, President Obama is preparing to sign legislation that, if fully enforced, could impose harsh penalties on all customers for Iranian oil, with the explicit aim of severely impeding Iran's ability to sell it.

 How serious are the Iranians about the proposed sanctions and possible attack over its civilian nuclear program and what can they deploy if push comes to shove? According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' The Military Balance 2011, Iran has 23 submarines, 100+ "coastal and combat" patrol craft, 5 mine warfare and anti-mine craft, 13 amphibious landing vessels and 26 "logistics and support" ships. Add to that the fact that Iran has emphasized that it has developed indigenous "asymmetrical warfare" naval doctrines, and it is anything but clear what form Iran's naval response to sanctions or attack could take. The only certainty is that it is unlikely to resemble anything taught at the U.S. Naval Academy.

 The proposed Obama administration energy sanctions heighten the risk of confrontation and carry the possibility of immense economic disruption from soaring oil prices, given the unpredictability of the Iranian response. Addressing the possibility of tightened oil sanctions Iran's first vice president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi on 27 December said, "If they impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz."

 Iran has earlier warned that if either the U.S. or Israel attack, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle East and close the Strait of Hormuz. On 28 December Iranian Navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari observed, "Closing the Strait of Hormuz for the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very easy. It is a capability that has been built from the outset into our naval forces' abilities."

 But adding an apparent olive branch Sayyari added, "But today we are not in the Hormuz Strait. We are in the Sea of Oman and we do not need to close the Hormuz Strait. Today we are just dealing with the Sea of Oman. Therefore, we can control it from right here and this is one of our prime abilities for such vital straits and our abilities are far, far more than they think."

 There are dim lights at the end of the seemingly darker and darker tunnel. The proposed sanctions legislation allows Obama to waive sanctions if they cause the price of oil to rise or threaten national security.

 Furthermore, there is the wild card of Iran's oil customers, the most prominent of which is China, which would hardly be inclined to go along with increased sanctions.

 But one thing should be clear in Washington - however odious the U.S. government might find Iran's mullahcracy, it is most unlikely to cave in to either economic or military intimidation that would threaten the nation's existence, and if backed up against the wall with no way out, would just as likely go for broke and use every weapon at its disposal to defend itself. Given their evident cyber abilities in hacking the RQ-170 Sentinel drone and their announcement of an indigenous naval doctrine, a "cakewalk" victory with "mission accomplished" declared within a few short weeks seems anything but assured, particularly as it would extend the military arc of crisis from Iraq through Iran to Afghanistan, a potential shambolic military quagmire beyond Washington's, NATO's and Tel Aviv's resources to quell.

 It is worth remembering that chess was played in Sassanid Iran 1,400 years ago, where it was known as "chatrang." What is occurring now off the Persian Gulf is a diplomatic and military game of chess, with global implications.

 Washington's concept of squeezing a country's government by interfering with its energy policies has a dolorous history seven decades old.

 When Japan invaded Vichy French-ruled southern Indo-China in July 1941 the U.S. demanded Japan withdraw. In addition, on 1 August the U.S., Japan's biggest oil supplier at the time, imposed an oil embargo on the country.

 Pearl Harbor occurred less than four months later.

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/War-Imminent-in-Straits-of-Hormuz-$200-a-Barrel-Oil.html

By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com

New 2011 - 12 - 30:

[05:15 pm] YahooFinance: Oil price ending 2011 near $100 a barrel

New 2011 - 12 - 22:

[02:00 pm] Guest Post: Earthquakes, Water Pollution and Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Fracking - Strike Number Three?

The last decade has seen a sustained campaign by the hydraulic fracturing ('fracking") industry against its critics, as the fracking industry in the U.S. alone was worth an estimated $76 billion in 2010 and is projected to grow to $231 billion in 2036 if only those pesky environmentalists can be sidelined. According to Washington's energy Information Administration, production of shale gas in the United States in 2010 totalled 4.87 trillion cubic feet (tcf) compared with 0.39 tcf only a decade earlier.

The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has already transformed North America's natural gas market in less than half a decade. In 2000 shale gas was 1 percent of America's gas supplies; today it is 25 percent. While U.S. energy companies began fracking for gas in the late 1990s, there was a dramatic increase in 2005 after the administration of President George W. Bush exempted fracking from regulations under the U.S. Clean Water Act. According to Washington's energy Information Agency, shale gas production has grown 48 percent annually.

But there still some snakes to be chased from the industry's campaign to convince the electorate that natgas produced by fracking is safe, as on 8 December the Environmental Protection Agency said for the first time it found chemicals used in fracking in a drinking-water aquifer in west-central Wyoming.

Soothing the electorate, the industry group Energy in Depth reported, "The history of fracturing technology's safe use in America extends all the way back to the Truman administration, with more than 1.2 million wells completed via the process since 1947."

And the feds are backing fracking as well, as a new estimate from the U.S. Department of Energy, estimates that the national gas resource can be sustained for 110 years at current consumption rates.

Numbers?

In 2009 an industry-financed study reported that 622,000 people are directly involved in the discovery, extraction and distribution of U.S. natural gas.

As for "insider" influence, in 2005 former Vice President Dick Cheney, in partnership with the energy industry and drilling companies such as his former employer, Halliburton Corp., successfully pressured Congress to exempt fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws.

Even worse, a report released the following month by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research noted that switching from coal to natural gas as an energy source could result in increased global warming, mainly due to the methane leakage problem, which is common but unregulated.

In a further potential federal sandbagging of the natgas industry, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which studied fracking and deemed it safe in 2004, is taking another, broader look at the practice and may end up taking a more active role, with a broader study expected to be finished next year.

Maalox moments all - but now fracking is being charged with contributing to global warming by releasing substantial amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 20-100 times more potent than carbon dioxide. According to Igor Semiletov of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, "Each methane molecule is about 70 times more potent in terms of trapping heat than a molecule of carbon dioxide."

Professor Robert Howarth, Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology and director of Cornell's agriculture, energy and environment program has noted that his research shows that one well-pad fracking shale gas would emit more greenhouse gases than a community of 100,000 people in a year. Methane already accounts for a sixth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs). In addressing earlier concerns about the pollution impact of fracking Dr. Howarth wrote in Boston University's Comment 14 September article, "Should Fracking Stop?," "Many fracking additives are toxic, carcinogenic or mutagenic. Many are kept secret.

In the United States, such secrecy has been abetted by the 2005 'Halliburton loophole,' which exempts fracking from many of the nation's major federal environmental-protection laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act... Fracking extracts natural salts, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and radioactive materials from the shale, posing risks to ecosystems and public health when these return to the surface...

Because shale-gas development is so new, scientific information on the environmental costs is scarce. Only this year have studies begun to appear in peer-reviewed journals, and these give reason for pause."

Even worse, during the UN climate change conference in Durban last week, Dominic Frongillo, a town councillor from Caroline, New York, which is atop the Marcellus Shale seam, estimated to contain 489 trillion cubic feet of extractable natural gas noted that "Before I left for Durban, Professor Howarth told me that "preventing unconventional gas extraction could be the number one thing we could do in the short term to control growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions."

According to Professor Howarth, "Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas... Our research indicates that methane makes up more than 40 percent of the entire greenhouse gas inventory for the U.S. ... We really need to get this methane leakage under control, if we are to seriously address global warming." His paper, "Methane and the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations," written with Renee Santoro and Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell concluded that shale gas is more polluting than oil and conventional natural gas, noting, "The footprint for shale gas is greater than that for conventional gas or oil when viewed on any time horizon, but particularly so over 20 years. Compared to coal, the footprint of shale gas is at least 20 percent greater and perhaps more than twice as great on the 20-year horizon."

The pushback has already started, with a number of his Cornell colleagues questioning Dr. Howarth's research methodology. See Lawrence M Cathles III, Larry Brown, Milton Taam and Andrew Hunter, "A Commentary on "The Greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas in shale formations" by R.W. Howarth, R. Santoro, and Anthony Ingraffea" @ http://cce.cornell.edu/.

What is clear is that while Cornell's faculty is divided over the consequences of fracking, the industry has impacted the university's Board of Trustees, which among other things oversees the university's $5.28 billion endowment fund. According to the 16 February 2010 edition of the "Cornell Sun," "Chairman of the Board of Trustees Peter Meinig '61 is one of the most powerful decision-makers at Cornell. But as the University begins a long process to consider whether it should lease its land in the Marcellus Shale to gas drilling companies, Meinig's former ties to the natural gas industry has raised some eyebrows in the Cornell community and beyond. From 1993 to 2001, Meinig served on the board of directors of Williams Companies, Inc, one of the nation's largest natural gas companies. A Fortune 200 company that generated $1.42 billion in profits in 2009, Williams transports about 12 percent of the natural gas consumed in America everyday and has interests in the Marcellus Shale basin, according to the company's website."

What is clear is that the impact of natural gas hydraulic fracturing at Cornell has turned into a mounting academic storm with passionate advocates on both sides of the fence. It is notable that Cathles', Brown's, Taam's and Hunter's critique features prominently on the website of America's Natural Gas Alliance," (ANGA) a pro-industry advocacy group.

Let the games begin!

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Earthquakes-Water-Pollution-and-Increased-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-Fracking-Strike-Number-Three.html

By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com

New 2011 - 10 - 25:

[05:15 am] Because of the MF Global collapse? Decline in Commodities Is 'Artificial': Jim Rogers

New 2011 - 10 - 17:

[05:15 pm] Will commodity markets collapse? "The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse" - Presenting The First MF Global Casualty

New 2011 - 10 - 14:

[05:15 pm] Profit Times: Platinum: the "cheapest" precious metal

[05:15 pm] Mineweb: For gold miners, copper no longer a swear word

New 2011 - 10 - 12:

[11:15 am] Video: Gold to $1,300 and 3 Other Commodity Shockers

"Ross: Gold Prices Will Fall, Needs to Be Sold Here"

Ah, that boy is truly a pain in the ass. He's a paper tiger from head to toe and we doubt that he'll ever come to senses.

Field work is going to be really hard for him in some years, but he just wouldn't listen...

New 2011 - 09 - 16:

[02:45 pm] MarketWatch: Gold, platinum ratio shifts, hints at wider change

Platinum prices have comfortably traded much higher than gold for the bulk of the last 20 years or so, but that relationship is starting to change and may signal a new order of value in the precious metals.

Indeed. Platinum simply isn't a money metal, like gold and silver are.

Just have another look at the post from July 25.

New 2011 - 09 - 02:

[01:15 pm] Oilprice.com: American Elements Says That U.S. Needs a Strategic Metals Reserve

New 2011 - 08 - 26:

[03:45 am] High food prices often bring about a revolution: The Cause Of Riots And The Price of Food

New 2011 - 08 - 17:

[04:00 am] Because of rising fuel costs: Army Interest in Renewable Fuels Growing

[04:00 am] Everyone's going green these days: Turkish Government Releases Solar Energy Investment Plan

[04:00 am] Oilprice.com: Iranian Oil Sales to India Decline

New 2011 - 07 - 25:

[06:15 am] Unimportant question: Is Platinum Undervalued?

The problem with platinum is that it is not a money-metal, like gold and silver are. Gold has been money for about 5000 years, but we can't say that the same applies to platinum. Furthermore there's the problem of an already very high nominal price. Many people today hardly have enough money in savings to buy only one single ounce of gold - which is now trading around $1600 - and therefore has the same problem as platinum has - a high nominal price. Platinum is simply not a metal for the masses.

We stay with gold, and especially silver.

New 2011 - 07 - 11:

[12:00 pm] Jim Rogers: Whatever happens, commodities win

"If the world economy gets better, I earn money on commodities. If the global economy gets worse then they will print more money and I will make money in commodities," Rogers said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

Got gold and silver?

New 2011 - 07 - 01:

[05:30 am] Would be better for people with thin wallets: Larger corn crop could slow food inflation

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- U.S. food prices may ease later this year now that farmers have planted the second-largest corn crop in nearly seven decades.

New 2011 - 06 - 29:

[10:45 am] Video: Holmes: 3 reasons $100 oil is here to stay

New 2011 - 06 - 28:

[03:15 pm] Mineweb: Platinum jewellery demand set to surge in India

New 2011 - 06 - 22:

[04:30 am] According to former Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official, Wang Caifeng, as other countries ramp up production, China's hold on global output will decline rapidly: China's share of global rare earth output to drop steeply

New 2011 - 06 - 21:

[03:30 am] Mineweb: Chinese copper imports to soar in June

New 2011 - 06 - 17:

[11:45 am] Mexico: $250 Million Worth Of Oil Stolen In 4 Months

[11:30 am] This time we're talking about aluminium: Goldman, JPMorgan accused of metal squeeze

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other owners of large metals warehouses are being scrutinized by the London Metal Exchange after being accused by users like Coca-Cola Co. of restricting the amount of metal they release to customers, inflating prices.

The board of the LME met on Thursday to discuss complaints from aluminum users and market traders, who say operators of warehouses, which also include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Glencore International PLC, should be forced to allow the metal out more quickly to meet demand.

Aluminum prices have jumped 13% since the start of 2010 even though economic growth had been tapering off. Aluminum for delivery in three months on Thursday closed at $2,557 a metric ton on the LME, down 1.3% on the day.

Actually we'd like to know if there is any market that these two banks do not manipulate?

New 2011 - 06 - 14:

[12:00 pm] Here's how you can save money, despite rising commodity prices: 17 Easy Ways to Save Energy at Home This Summer

Necessity is the mother of invention.

New 2011 - 06 - 09:

[12:00 pm] Food gets more expensive: Wet spring cuts corn crop, prices to stay high

New 2011 - 06 - 07:

[05:00 am] Mineweb: Gold, oil and the state of the world

New 2011 - 06 - 02:

[05:15 pm] We'll see: Crude to hit $150 in coming year: Kent Moors

New 2011 - 05 - 25:

[06:15 am] Inflation everywhere: Coffee drinkers keep chugging, as prices rise

New 2011 - 05 - 19:

[01:30 pm] Gonna get worse: High Oil Prices Hit Wallets, Consumers Forced To Spend More On Fuel

...so if you are already struggling with todays fuel prices, you should better go and make some MORE money or look for areas of life where you can save money. Otherwise it is definitely going to get tough for you. Cut spending, increase savings, increase good investments..and you gonna be just fine.

New 2011 - 05 - 18:

[11:00 am] Mineweb: Copper prices to feel weight of surplus by 2013 - CRU

Copper is an industrial metal, just like silver...but it will never be able to reach the same status as silver, as a money metal. Why? Coppers concentration of value is very very small. You literally have to buy tons of it in order 'to hide' some money in it.

New 2011 - 05 - 10:

[04:30 pm] Zerohedge: And Here They Go For Round Two: CME Hikes Brent, Crude Margins By 25%, First Of Many Such Moves

New 2011 - 05 - 09:

[07:00 am] He knows what the term 'bull market' actually means: JIM ROGERS ON COMMODITIES: The Bull Market Will Go Up, Consolidate, Go Up, Consolidate, Go Up And Consolidate For Years

New 2011 - 05 - 05:

[04:00 pm] All commodity prices are getting smacked right now: Commodity Futures

They are going especially hard against energy and the money metals - because they pose the biggest threat to the dollar. The same kind of thing happened in 2008. But back in the days the stock markets crashed, banks almost collapsed and the credit crunch began - something they want to prevent today by any possible means.

[01:00 pm] Bloomberg: Commodities Plunge Most in Two Years on Slowdown Talk

New 2011 - 05 - 03:

[06:45 am] Peak oil seems to be reality: Oil prices to keep rising as peak production reached in 2006

New 2011 - 04 - 30:

[05:30 am] Hear the sheeple whininig? Your Pain, Their Gain: How High Gas Prices Impoverish The Many While Enriching The Few

As long as the majority has enough money to buy black Iphones, white Iphones, ipads, ipods and all of that stuff, there is no reason to complain about high gas prices. And in the end one thing is clear: gas and oil prices belong to the kind of things we definitely can't change, either you refuel your car, or you have to walk or use the public transport system. It simply doesn't make sense to spend much energy day in day out on matters we absolutely have no influence on.

Instead of complaining, spend energy on thinking about how to make more money! The first step in the right direction would certainly be to make some good investments, which brings us back to gold and silver...

New 2011 - 04 - 25:

[04:15 pm] It's Chicago: Which City Has The Highest Gas Prices In The U.S.?

New 2011 - 04 - 21:

[03:45 am] While the mass media is mainly reporting on oil, silver is on the way to new All-Time-Highs, almost completely unnoticed: Oil above $112 on signs of strong US crude demand

New 2011 - 04 - 18:

[02:45 pm] GoldMoney: Platinum and palladium caught in the maelstrom of Japan´s earthquake

New 2011 - 04 - 05:

[05:30 am] Mineweb: China copper stockpiling makes market nervous

New 2011 - 03 - 30:

[03:15 pm] FollowTheMoney: The year of black gold

[12:30 pm] GoldMoney: Has platinum overcome its corrective phase?

New 2011 - 03 - 29:

[06:00 am] Yahoo Finance: So far, most of tax cut is going down the gas tank

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans are earning and spending more, but a lot of the extra money is going down their gas tanks. Gas prices have drained more than half the extra cash Americans are getting this year from a cut in Social Security taxes.

Unlike some other kinds of spending, paying more for gas doesn't help the economy much. Most of the money goes overseas, and higher prices leave people with less money to buy appliances, computers, plane tickets and other things that can be postponed.

And the oil price hasn't even reached its 2008 highs of $150 yet.

New 2011 - 03 - 28:

[02:00 pm] Oilprice.com: Oil Price Shocks and Monetary Policy

New 2011 - 03 - 15:

[05:00 pm] It's not unrealistic: $300 oil is on the way

New 2011 - 03 - 08:

[06:15 am] Oil is hot: Bob Chapman : Oil will go to $200 at least

New 2011 - 03 - 07:

[06:00 am] It's only the beginning: Oil jumps above $106 amid fierce Libya fighting

The price of oil hasn't even reached its 2008 highs of about $150 yet. However, the strategic oil reserves of the United States are enough to easily bridge a supply shortage of 2 years.

New 2011 - 03 - 01:

[05:15 pm] Forbes: Ben Bernanke Warns Rising Oil Prices A Threat To U.S.

He is a threat to US himself.

New 2011 - 02 - 26:

[01:15 pm] If there's a revolution in Saudi Arabia or in Iran: De Borchgrave: Mideast $400 Oil Imminent With Mideast Upheaval

This would lead to a bond market crash.

New 2011 - 02 - 23:

[02:00 pm] Half of Lybias output is already gone: Nomura Predicts $220 Oil If Just Libya, Algeria Cut Output

New 2011 - 02 - 21:

[05:00 pm] Bloomberg: Oil jumps to two-year high

New 2011 - 02 - 20:

[08:45 am] China shopping real hard: China hoarding food staples, world food prices continue to rise

New 2011 - 02 - 12:

[04:15 pm] Because of too many pin wheels in Texas: "We Spent Billions on Wind Power... and All I Got Was a Rolling Blackout"

New 2011 - 02 - 11:

[05:15 am] Ted Butler talking about Silver and Rare Earth metals: The Rarest Earth

New 2011 - 02 - 10:

[11:15 am] Mineweb: Rio Tinto's free cash flow soars by USD 10bn in 2010

[07:15 am] Slow-down? Commodities are overbought: Marc Faber

New 2011 - 02 - 06:

[04:15 pm] A shortage is coming: Cotton price causes 'panic buying' as nears 150-year high

New 2011 - 01 - 31:

[03:00 am] AEP about the hunger revolution: Egypt and Tunisia usher in the new era of global food revolutions

Many regimes who are afraid of revolutions try to buy big volumes of soft commodities and push prices even higher.

New 2011 - 01 - 18:

[02:30 pm] It's simply unique, no press in the world is able to print it: There's no substitute for gold as the world order changes

What does this mean for gold in particular?  The currency wars will keep gold prominent while the battles continue, but longer term the growth in the expanding economies of the East in particular will create huge demand for all commodities, while gold will continue as a more stable store of wealth in what are already hugely gold-oriented communities, even as the Western economies continue to stagnate. 

The Chinese view gold as an asset class which is far more reliable than say the dollar, the euro, or any other paper currency including its own.  Its central bank, and its people, will continue to accumulate gold - the latter in ever growing amounts as wealth spreads down through the country's population.

Try to imagine what happens when demand from the average Chinese people really starts to kick in, which means many hundred millions of people trying to get their hands on physical gold. Many people won't even get a crumb of gold. Then they will move on to silver...and you already know what this means. Total craziness.

New 2011 - 01 - 17:

[11:15 am] Investing in commodities is so easy: Anthony Bolton: 'Gold is the only commodity to buy'

New 2011 - 01 - 15:

[11:15 am] It's gonna get worse: Global food chain stretched to the limit

...more revolutions under the stimulus of hunger will emerge. Tunisia was first: Tunisia riots: presidential election to be held within 60

New 2011 - 01 - 10:

[03:15 pm] These "experts" always have an interesting explanation for certain price movements: Oil prices surge after Alaska pipeline shuts down

[10:30 am] Who is driving up the price of bread? Bets on Wheat Rally Climb to Highest Since September

New 2011 - 01 - 06:

[03:00 pm] The Baltic Dry Index loses more than 4% in a single day: BALTIC DRY INDEX

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a number issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange. Not restricted to Baltic Sea countries, the index tracks worldwide international shipping prices of various dry bulk cargoes.

The index provides "an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 26 shipping routes measured on a timecharter and voyage basis, the index covers Handymax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain."[1]

Now that's what we call a sustainable recovery, haha.

New 2011 - 01 - 03:

[06:00 am] This is what it's like when the big money escapes from all paper: Metals from copper to silver hit record highs

New 2010 - 12 - 28:

[09:30 am] Video: Marc Faber- Investing in Commodities is Wiser Than Saving Money

New 2010 - 12 - 20:

[09:30 am] Why so conservative? Gold to hit $1600 next year but platinum, palladium seen as the real stars

"I've never been a long term advocate of gold as an alternative to currencies, but it has now adopted that role," said JPMorgan Asset Management fund manager Ian Henderson.

Ok. It seems that the guys over at JP Morgan have learned something new regarding the many advantages of gold. It took them a pretty long time to understand that gold is real money and that it has in fact a monetary character, just like silver. And we ain't have to tell them that it's been real money over the past 5000 years.

This is another good example to prove the fact that these MBA idiots left their brains on the doorstep of Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

New 2010 - 12 - 17:

[09:15 am] Is it JP Morgan? One Company Holds at Least 90% of LME Copper Stocks

New 2010 - 12 - 13:

[04:30 am] Food becomes more expensive: Bloomberg's "Chart Of The Day" Warns Of Coming Surge In Wheat, Corn Prices

This means that the mass has less money for vacations, gadgets, fashion, pedicure, manicure...

New 2010 - 12 - 10:

[09:00 am] Mineweb: Barclays expects copper to rise above $10,000 in 2011

New 2010 - 12 - 09:

[04:15 pm] Next big move ahead? New Commodities Breakout Coming?

New 2010 - 12 - 08:

[12:30 pm] Tehran Times: Iran sees $100 oil price 'quite normal', crisis ahead

[12:30 pm] 24hGold: China's bubble and commodities

New 2010 - 12 - 04:

[12:00 pm] JPM is buying the copper: JP Morgan revealed as mystery trader that bought £1bn-worth of copper on LME

[05:30 am] Someone is buying all the copper: Mystery trader captures 80pc of London's copper market

New 2010 - 11 - 12:

[09:00 am] Also a sign of inflation: Oil now within cents of $90 per barrel

New 2010 - 11 - 11:

[01:30 pm] Telegraph: Why commodities are soaring in price

Rumor has it that central banks are printing too much money.

[01:30 pm] Mineweb: China powers uranium

New 2010 - 11 - 08:

[03:00 pm] UK: Chris Huhne Lied: Windturbine Orders Falling 93% And No Green Jobs

New 2010 - 11 - 02:

[04:00 pm] Mineweb: Rare Earths: production squeeze, stock bubble

New 2010 - 10 - 29:

[01:00 pm] Seeking Alpha: Palladium Rises on Supply and Demand Concerns

New 2010 - 10 - 24:

[06:30 am] Scarcity of raw materials: Rare Earth in BlackBerry to Prius Underscores Alarm Over Supply

New 2010 - 10 - 23:

[05:30 am] OilPrice.com: The true cost of oil

New 2010 - 10 - 21:

[11:45 am] Do you have to pay more for your daily coffee soon? Coffee surges to 13-year high

New 2010 - 10 - 20:

[09:30 am] Rare earths become even more seldom: China Said to Widen Its Embargo of Minerals

China, which has been blocking shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the last month, has now quietly halted shipments of those materials to the United States and Europe, three industry officials said on Tuesday.

What does China wanna do with it? Show everybody how strong they are? That it is as good as Russia when it comes to blackmailing? Eventually China turns out to be a driven and unreliable supplier.

New 2010 - 10 - 16:

[09:15 am] The next commodity increases like crazy: Cotton Climbs to 140-Year High

The only thing which is still missing - increasing interest on bonds. Coming for sure if the bond crash starts.

New 2010 - 10 - 14:

[10:30 am] How generous: OPEC keeps oil output targets unchanged

VIENNA (AP) -- OPEC oil ministers say they have left production targets unchanged in a move to reassure energy-dependent nations just starting to emerge from recession.

The present overall output target is just under 24 million barrels of crude a day. But OPEC nations overproduce, meaning that the 12-nation organization puts out about 27 million barrels a day -- 2 million over the target it agreed to maintain in March.

New 2010 - 10 - 12:

[05:00 pm] Nice lobby work: Administration lifts 6-month oil drilling freeze

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and others in the Gulf Coast, on Tuesday lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling that it imposed in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill. [...]

While the temporary ban on exploratory oil and gas drilling is lifted immediately, drilling is unlikely to resume for at least a few weeks.

Drilling companies must meet a host of new safety regulations before they can resume operations -- including a requirement that the CEO of the company responsible for the well certifies it has complied with all regulations. That could make the person at the top of the company liable for any future accidents.

It's always good to have a big lobby, like the oil industry has. All they gotta do is put some stacks of cash on the tables of a few government members and - ta-da - drilling can be resumed. Then pretend to protect the workers by setting up some really harsh regulations and everything is fine again. Welcome to the United States of America.

[07:15 am] Inflation knocking on the door: The mystery of rising commodity prices

New 2010 - 10 - 05:

[05:15 pm] Cartels wherever we are looking: The Gas Cartel Idea: On the Road to Another OPEC?

New 2010 - 09 - 28:

[04:45 pm] Creative Initiative: Ecuador To The World: Pay Us To Keep Our Oil In The Ground

New 2010 - 09 - 24:

[07:45 am] The workers' safety doesn't matter: Oil And Gas Industry May SUE To Keep Workers From Wearing Safer Clothes

The Association of Energy Service Companies, a large industry group that includes Halliburton and Key Energy, is weighing all its options -- including legal and political steps -- to fight OSHA on the issue [...]

Let's see if the oil lobby is strong enough to achieve something. I guess it is.

New 2010 - 09 - 23:

[05:15 am] Prices for soft commodities should continue to rise: Global food risk from China-Russia pincer

New 2010 - 09 - 22:

[05:00 am] But only because of a currency devaluation: Liberal Democrat Conference: 'Oil price could double in return to 1970s style shocks'

New 2010 - 09 - 13:

[08:45 am] European Trading: Oil up above $77 on US crude pipeline leak

New 2010 - 09 - 11:

[06:45 pm] Yet another problem on a US oil pipline: Oil price surges after Midwest pipeline shuts down

No money spent on safety and maintenance, but certainly more for the management.