Precious and industrial metal mining stocks were huge gainers during the bond-buying rumor rally. From Draghi’s “do-whatever-it-takes” hint on 7/26 through Bernanke’s QE3 announcement on 9/13, Mining ETFs rocketed more than nearly any other economic sub-segment. Rumor Rally: Metal Mining ETFs Skyrocket On Expectation Of Unconventional Easing % Run-Up (7/26-9/13) Global X Silver Miners [...] Continue Reading...
Back on September 14, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shocked and “awe-struck” the investing world. The U.S. Fed did not merely embark on another bond-buying binge like they had in previous versions of quantitative easing (i.e., QE1, QE2). Whereas the earlier iterations had specific dates, “QE3″ is open-ended. Bernanke has made it clear that the [...] Continue Reading...
Timber has been weak since the Federal Reserve announced its enormous bond buying initiative. Agricultural grains have been even weaker since the peak of drought fears in mid-July. And crude oil? Instead of surging past $100 per barrel, it closed below $88 per barrel on 10/3/12. The question is simple: If gurus from Jim Rogers to [...] Continue Reading...
The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing in 2010 (a.k.a. QE2) significantly boosted the share prices of resources-related ETFs. Some of the biggest winners from QE2 included iShares Oil Equipment (IEZ), SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration/Production (XOP), Market Vectors Russia (RSX), SPDR Metals & Mining (XME) and First Trust Natural Gas (FCG). Indeed, FCG went on a [...] Continue Reading...
According to Governor Romney, extreme environmentalism in the current White House has obstructed high paying jobs in the oil and gas sector. Indeed, “Drill Baby Drill” is more than a Republican mantra; Romney believes that abundant natural gas in North America is an avenue for reducing unemployment, lowering fuel costs and lessening dependence on foreign [...] Continue Reading...
I’ll be honest, I did not see “Helicopter Ben” dropping more electronically printed cash on the markets last week. Did I expect some form of quantitative easing (QE) to occur at some moment in 2012? Absolutely… everyone did. Yet I genuinely believed that the Federal Reserve would save “shock-n-awe” mortgage-bond purchases for a date shortly after [...] Continue Reading...
Economic uncertainty has been monstrous, from the cloud hanging over end-of-the-year tax policy and budget negotiations to a down-to-the-wire national election. And that doesn’t even include ever-present eurozone squabbling over bailouts for austerity. In spite of the question marks, stock assets continue working their way to higher ground. Remarkably, they’ve done so with limited resistance and a relatively low [...] Continue Reading...
In response to a severe recession and worsening unemployment in 2009, the U.S. Federal Reserve embarked on its controversial program of bond purchases. However, the U.S. Federal Reserve electronically created new money out of thin air to make those bond purchases, weakening the value of the U.S. dollar for years and causing many to question the value of quantitative easing [...] Continue Reading...
Roughly one year ago today (9/6/2011), gold hit a spot price high of $1921 an ounce. In mid-May of 2012, the yellow metal reached $1526 —  a bearish drawdown of -20.5%. And yet, the resilient commodity has worked its way back up to $1670 per ounce. Numerous articles lambasted investors who demonstrated interest in owning the precious commodity at [...] Continue Reading...
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and a variety of institutions that study human population growth, the world will need to feed roughly 70 million new mouths every year. That is the current ”net” projection when births are offset by deaths. Pundits from Marc Faber to Jim Rogers have talked about the demographic changes. Their solution? Invest in agriculture. Faber tends to [...] Continue Reading...
