Analysis Topic: Commodity Markets - Metals, Softs & Oils

The analysis published under this topic are as follows.

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

Silver Q4 Seasonal Outlook / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Mike_McAra

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

• Ecclesiastes 1:9

History repeats itself. Not always, and not 100%, but often enough and to an extent that’s significant enough to make these repetitions potentially profitable. In order to take advantage of this tendency, we created a tool called True Seasonals (and we are now providing it free of charge). If you heard about seasonality, you already know what to expect, but you may not know what you have been missing. Many things take place at the same time each year (for instance people making a lot of jokes on April Fools’ Day), but quite a few of them take place only more or less regularly.

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

... / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: MoneyMetals

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Trump: Transform The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Into An Oil Bank / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Steve_H_Hanke

Following the attacks on key crude oil production facilities in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump announced the authorization of the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to keep the market well supplied. This move changes nothing in the way the SPR is governed. The market, not the President, should determine the release of the massive SPR.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Saudi Oil Shock: Who Wins, Who Loses / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Steve_H_Hanke

On September 14th, drones targeted Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil refinery and Khurais oil field. The strikes reportedly knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia's total output. That amounts to a whopping 6-7% of the global daily oil supply. Not surprisingly, before the dust had settled, the press sounded an alarm and spread fear. Then, President Trump jumped in, claiming the attack “won't affect us and ultimately I don't think it will affect the world either.” Well, let’s take a look at the data.

Brent crude prices surged by 15%, from $60/bbl on September 13th to $69/bbl on the 16th, the first trading day after last weekend’s drone attacks. Brent crude is now trading at $65/bbl. While a significant increase, the response to this incident has kept oil in what Arend Kapteyn of the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) deems to be in a safe zone ($50-$75/bbl). When prices are in this sweet spot, the “gains” and “losses” from oil price changes are roughly balanced, so the global economy can hum along without missing a beat.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Silver/Gold Ratio is a Guide as Inflation Signals Fade Again / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Gary_Tanashian

The interplay between gold and silver is a critical component to understanding what is out ahead; to understanding whether long-term Treasury yields will rise and if they rise, whether it will be due to inflationary pressures. It is a critical component to understanding whether cyclical commodities and other aspects of a greater inflation/reflation trade will finally break existing downtrends. See…

The Continuum is Still in the Deflation Camp (9.24.19)

Pictures of a Reflationary Bounce-a-Thon (9.11.19)

The first and more recent post noted that the 30yr yield needs to climb above 2.2% to even think of hinting toward a temporary inflation trade. The chart from that post shows that while the Continuum is of a long, deflationary structure the periodic pings upward to the (monthly EMA 100) limiter often represent times of cyclical inflationary bursts. This morning the 30 year yield stands at 2.15%.

Friday, September 27, 2019

More smelters, scrap metal ban driving Chinese copper imports / Commodities / Copper

By: Richard_Mills

Despite evidence of a slowing economy, shipments of raw materials are gliding across Chinese docks at a torrid pace, especially metals, which form the backbone of China’s industrial supply chain.

In fact a recent report shows that, while Chinese imports are down 5% compared to last year, and the trade war is hitting China’s manufacturing sector, imports of raw materials and ores “continue their seemingly perpetual upward trend.” 

A blistering trade 

MINING.com quotes BMO Global Commodities Research, the report’s author, saying that “In our opinion, while the trade war has caused many problems for China, it has not shaken the overall commodity business model of importing raw materials, having enough process capacity and ideally exporting a small amount of finished product as an inflation hedge.”

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Will Gold Benefit from Trump Impeachment Proceedings? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

This week, Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would launch a formal impeachment inquiry. Is it a well-grounded argument, publicity stunt or reflection of the growing polarization inside the Democratic party? Storm in a tea cup or not, should Trump be worried? And gold?

What’s This All About?

On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, announced that “the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” That’s a big shift among Democrats, who control the House. They were talking about the Trump impeachment for months and for a variety of reasons, but never launched the process. What changed their minds?

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Gold not in Real Bull Market Yet / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Jordan_Roy_Byrne

Is Gold now back in a bull market? Most gold bugs think so and are quick to proclaim that.

But, could Gold remain in a secular bear market? It hasn’t made a new all time high in 8 years and the perma-bull, financial asset loving crowd certainly believes so.

This is semantics because what really matters is making money and nothing else.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Repo Liquidity Crunch Reveals Market Stress. Will Gold Shine? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

Last week, the Fed had to inject liquidity into the repo market for the first time since the Great Recession. Not once, but several times – and also commit to do more. Will such a crack in the proverbial dam let gold’s allure shine?

Scramble for Liquidity Pushes Rates Up

The focus last week was on the FOMC decision to cut interest rates. But a real drama was unfolding in the background. The Fed injected $278 billion into the securities repurchase, or “repo,” market over four days, to stabilize short-term interest rates and to calm the repo market scrambling for liquidity. More precisely, the U.S. central bank injected $53 billion in overnight repurchase agreement on Tuesday, followed by $75 billion re-open on Wednesday, then on Thursday and on Friday as well.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Is Silver About To Become The Super-Hero Of Precious Metals? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Chris_Vermeulen

If you’ve been following our research, you already know how accurately we’ve been nailing the precious metals price moves.  We’ve been calling Gold and Silver accurately since early 2018 and continue to focus a good portion of our efforts in studying these incredible setups.  Let’s have a little fun and start with two charts from near July 20, 2019, to help our followers understand what we’ve been expecting, but first, be sure to opt-in to our free market research newsletter

This first Monthly Silver chart highlights what we believed would be the approximate wave structure of the silver price advance going forward.  We did not attempt to accurately time these peaks of valleys, we simply used our Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arcs to allow price to tell us where these peaks may form.  From those levels, we used our best “guess” to identify the trough bottoms.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Surprising Advantages Of Investing In Gold, A 50 Year Historical Analysis / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Dan_Amerman

One of the most common reasons to buy gold is to use it as a stable store of value. This analysis uses 50 years of history to test that common belief, and finds it woefully lacking - for it misses the best parts of investing in gold.

The graph below will be developed, and we will show that gold is instead a more sophisticated (and desirable) investment than most people realize. When properly understood, gold can deliver unique advantages to knowledgeable investors, and it can be put to much better uses than just acting as a mere stable store of value.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Crude Oil Price Volatility Returns / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Avi_Gilburt

By Andy Hecht: Crude oil is the energy commodity that powers the world. Over half of the world’s petroleum reserves are in the Middle East, which is the most turbulent political region on the face of the earth. Meanwhile, the United States is the leading consumer of crude oil.

For many years, the US dependence on Middle Eastern oil contributed to its price variance. The Arab-Israeli War in the 1970s led to an oil embargo and gasoline shortages in the US. When I first got my driving license, the US was on a program where gas was only available on alternate days each week depending on if a license plate had an odd or an even last digit. In 1979, the Islamic revolution in Iran led to a hostage crisis and supply concerns in the oil market.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Silver and the Yield Curve Inversion / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Hubert_Moolman

Yield curve inversions have historically been great for silver prices. Currently we are experiencing such a phenomena, and again it is evidence of conditions that are conducive to some impressive silver rallies.

Below, is a long-term chart showing the spread between the 10-year Treasure Note Yield  and the 3-month Treasury Bill Rate.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Comparing Gold Producers to Main Stream Stocks / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2019

By: Peter_Degraaf

Long term trends take a long time to reverse.  One such trend compares gold mining stocks to the S&P 500 stocks.  From 2002 until 2011 gold mining stocks outperformed generic stocks, as can be seen in the following chart.  (Charts courtesy Stockcharts.com).

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Incredible World of Gold Stock Chartology / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2019

By: Rambus_Chartology

Tonight I would like to start out by looking at the old ratio combo chart that has the GOLD:XAU ratio chart on top with the XAU on the bottom. I’m not going to go over all the details the ratio combo chart has, only to emphasize the 20 year 6 point parabolic arc which shows how gold had been outperforming the XAU until the small double top at 24.33 in late 2015. When the parabolic arc was broken to the downside in early 2016 that strongly suggested that it was going to be the XAU’s turn to outperform gold.

Initially, you can see the sharp vertical move down that broke the back of gold outperforming the XAU at 12.50. From the low in early 2016 the ratio had been building out the blue rising flag until the bottom rail was broken to the downside just 3 months ago in June. Since then the ratio has been in backtest mode to the bottom rail of the rising flag which looks like it could be coming to an end which shows up better on the weekly chart we’ll look at later.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

How Russia Seized Control of the Uranium Market / Commodities / Uranium

By: Richard_Mills

Critical Mass - A point or situation at which change occurs.

Just over a year ago Cameco made the difficult decision to close its MacArthur River and Key Lake mines, in response to low uranium prices, leaving the Canadian company’s flagship Cigar Lake facility as its only operating mine left in northern Saskatchewan, home to vast reserves of the nuclear fuel.  

The mine closures by Cameco were preceded by 20% production cuts in Kazakhstan, the number one uranium-producing country. The former Soviet bloc nation has said 2020-21 output will not rise above 2019 levels. In Canada, the second largest U producer, 2018 production was cut in half to 7,000 tonnes. 

An estimated 35% of uranium supply has been stripped from the market since Kazakhstan’s supply reductions in December 2017. 

While the mine closures kicked up the price of uranium in 2018, they haven’t been enough to build momentum. Spot uranium finished last year up just over 20%. Year to date 2019, triuranium octoxide, or U3O8, is down a disappointing 11.9%, trading at $25.25 per pound, as of Sept. 19. 

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Gold Leads, Will the Rest Follow? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: The_Gold_Report

Fund manager Matt Geiger provides his overview of the resource market and shares some principles he is using to invest in today's market. The natural resource landscape has shifted dramatically since the end of 2018. At the time, we were still nursing our wounds from an unexpectedly vicious 2018 and hoping to avoid a repeat performance in 2019. I did speculate that "we may have already exited the bear market as of late December 2018. The nickel price is up roughly 25% YTD, the gold price is up roughly 10% since early December, the TSXV is up 15% since mid-December, and the MJG partnership itself was up 20.5% in January alone."

In hindsight, it looks like we did indeed exit the bear market as of late December 2018. The nickel price is now up 54% YTD. The price of gold is now up 25% since earlier December. The MJG partnership was up 42% in the first half of the year. The major diversified miners have hit 52-week highs within the past 60 days. The major precious metal royalty names have hit either multi-year or all-time highs recently. The same applies to the GDX and GDXJ. These are the types of moves you'd expect to see in a mining bull market.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Gold among Negative-Yielding Bonds / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

The amount of global debt with negative yields soared to $16 trillion, or more than 25 percent of the market. This number has nearly tripled since October 2018. In July, even the 30-year German government bonds went negative for the first time ever, while Nordea Bank, a leading Danish bank, said it will begin offering 20-year fixed-rate mortgages with zero interest, as well as 30-year mortgages at minus 0.5 percent. Isn’t this economic madness? And what does it imply for the gold market?

Normally, instead of spending it themselves, lenders offer the borrowers money, in return receiving the promise of being paid back, and interest. Negative bond yields seem to turn the credit relations upside down. But after closer examination, it turns out that the negative yields do not necessarily deny the laws of economics. The key to understand it is grasping that negative yield to maturity does not mean negative coupon payments. Negative yields imply losses for investors who purchase these bonds and hold them until maturity, not for all bond investors.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Precious Metals Setting Up Another Momentum Base/Bottom / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Chris_Vermeulen

Just as we predicted, precious metals are setting up another extended momentum base/bottom that appears to be aligning with our prediction of an early October 2019 new upside price leg.

Recent news of the US Fed decreasing the Fed Funds Rate by 25bp as well as strength in the US stock market and US Dollar as eased fears and concerns across the global markets.  These concerns and fears are still very real as the overnight credit market has continue to illustrate.  Yet, the precious metals have retraced from recent highs and begun to form a momentum base which will likely become the floor for the next move higher.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Fed Cuts Interest Rates and Gold Drops. Again / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

History may not repeat itself to the letter but it certainly rhymes. That’s what the Fed watchers would say now. The Fed cut the interest rates for the second time this year and the price of gold declined again. What is going on?

Fed Trims Interest Rates by 25 Basis Points

Yesterday, the FOMC published the monetary policy statement from its latest meeting that took place on September 17-18th. In line with expectations, the U.S. central bank cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, for the second time this year: