Reports from China indicate the Chinese economy grew 9.7% in the first quarter of 2011 with foreign exchange holdings rising to a record $3 trillion. This brought about a fresh round of speculation that the Chinese government will tighten lending further in an attempt to curb and control inflation after two years of record credit expansion. The central bank has already raised interest rates four times since October 2010 along with increasing reserve requirements for Chinese banks.

Institutional investors are no doubt recoiling on news that one of their very own – the $20 billion Texas University Endowment Fund – has taken a $1 billion position in dumb ol' gold bars, stored on their behalf in New York vaults, collecting dust but earning no interest and paying no dividend.

Recently, I argued that gold and silver are so underowned that assigning target prices to either is a pointless task. The global population today is far greater than any prior time and, unlike most of human history, gold and silver are not exchanged for goods or even widely considered an investable asset class.

Over the last two years, the price of copper has skyrocketed on the assumption that demand will outpace supply of the industrial […]

Yesterday was quite a weak day in the commodity markets, with a few staging outside reversals on their charts. It appears some […]

Between March 2008 and March 2009, stocks declined by about 50%. Of course, since March 2009, we’ve seen one of the best periods in history for stock investors, as stocks more than made up their lost ground. But was this really something to celebrate? Sure, the main stock indices more than doubled in value – but that is only true if you measure your cycle from the depths of the financial crisis. The best way to think of this gain is not as an advance, but as the upswing in a roller coaster of volatility, brought on by systemic factors like irresponsible valuation of securities and a poor regulatory environment.

When a Chinese vase that might be barely a century old fetched $18 million recently at a Sotheby’s auction in New York—obliterating its pre-sale estimate of just $1,000—that was surely based on inflation fears and money printing by the Federal Reserve. Conversely, when the sale of a much more esteemed ceramics collection failed to live up to the hype Thursday night in Hong Kong, clearly worries about slowing economic growth were to blame, exacerbated by Chinese monetary tightening.

ETFs for copper have moved lower this week and came under additional selling pressure Wednesday after Goldman Sachs (GS) said it’s closing […]

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is the biggest derivatives issuer of all U.S. banks, but it is busy below the radar, loading up its […]

Last Thursday, it was reported that China officially overtook the United States in wind power. While the U.S. added 5,116 megawatts last […]

Long commodities and short the dollar. This is has been a “perma-trade” that keeps on giving. What would have made this even […]

It's that time again. Time for the monthly inflation dance, that is. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics led off this month's waltz with Producer Price Index data today. Prices for finished wholesale goods rose 0.7% in March, following a 1.6% surge in February. Most of the March PPI increase was due to hikes in energy prices. Still, core prices - that is, the PPI less food and energy prices - rose 0.3% in March, a slight acceleration from February's 0.2% pace.