You don't need to be a farmer or an economist to understand that weather events can have a dramatic impact on agricultural production from one year to the next. Much of the country has received above-average rainfall in the past few months and there has been widespread flooding as a result. The Mississippi River, for example, is currently experiencing a 100-year flood event. If you live in most parts of the country – such as the West Coast, the East Coast, or the Midwest, you might not realize that Texas and the greater Southwest have scarcely received any rain at all this year. In fact, much of Texas is currently suffering through an "exceptional" drought – the highest level achievable. In other words, if the drought in Texas were a hurricane it would be a "Category 5." A drought simply doesn't get any worse than this and the present conditions

Ella Fitzgerald was absolutely brilliant. She had the most rabble-rousingly glorious voice, which cannot help but inspire. So by borrowing a few song sheets from her extensive back catalogue, I’m going to elaborate on some of the key issues in energy through ‘The First Lady of Song.’ First up we’re going to take a look at gasoline, which is ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.’

Latin America used to be known for its economic and political instability. But it fought off the global financial crisis with relative […]

Cliffs Natural Resources announced that underground mining operations at its Oak Grove mine in Alabama, have now resumed after being stopped abruptly 2 weeks ago - after the mine was hit by severe weather, including a tornado storm on April 28th.

Markets do not need to trend higher or lower to trade if you trade both from the long and short side. Inside […]

A correction in silver prices is now under way after an almost parabolic move. Silver prices reached a high of $49.79 on April 25, and quickly pulled back and plunged to a low $32.65 on May 12, shedding 32% of gains made in recent months.

Jewelry and watch demand softened moderately in the U.S. market in March. New data indicates that total jewelry and watch sales rose […]

Red flags are flying everywhere as we travel farther into the “sell in May and go away” period of the year.” We remain in a defensive posture and continue to enjoy unrealized gains in our inverse ETF positions and put options.

Taseko Mines Ltd. (TGB) has bought put options to hedge its 2011 copper production, signalling that miners, too, are worried about commodity […]

As the chart below demonstrates commodity prices are driven by different factors. The precious metals prices have been the hyperbolic driver of headline commodities news relative to the broader based commodities index and oil. The latter two are more geared to industrial use as gold’s commercial use is limited. The chart highlights the divergence in the components of the commodities index. iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG) tracks 24 different commodities including energy (67%), industrial metals (16%), livestock (7%) and precious metals (3%).

Advances in energy and agriculture are creating demand for previously ignored metals such as scandium, tellurium and indium. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Mining Analyst John Kaiser, editor of Kaiser Research Online, explains the science that could exponentially increase the value of overlooked stocks.

There are two markets where supply and demand fundamentals have gone out the window and where the value of the dollar and […]