Corn Planting at 77-Year High
ThinkstockThe latest report on U.S. crop plantings for this year have sent corn prices tumbling more than 5% today and ended the day’s trading when prices fell the maximum allowable $0.40 a bushel. U.S.…
Commodities & Metals
All Commodities & Metals Articles
Newest first · Page 69Pricing Continues to Bedevil Fertilizer Maker Mosaic
thinkstockThe Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) reported fiscal third-quarter 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The fertilizer maker reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.88 on revenues of $2.24 billion. In the…
U.S. Consumers Paying Less for Meat, More for Vegetables
ThinkstockThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released its preliminary report on March farm prices. The index uses prices from 1990-1992 as its base value (100). The March price index rose 3 points (1.5%)…
A Platinum Cartel in the Works
ThinkstockPlatinum prices have fallen nearly 10% from their 2013 highs in early February. Palladium prices are off as well, but the drop is just 3.6%. This is not good for South Africa, which produces…
Chinese Steel Production to Slow, Big Miners Could Suffer
ThinkstockIn an announcement today in Beijing, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planning agency, said that steel production in the country has reached a point where only modest growth can be…
Bullish on Coal: Contrarian Dream or Nightmare? (ANR ACI, CNX, BTU, JEF, AAPL)
ThinkstockIf there is one great American industry that has been left for dead, it is the U.S. coal industry. With every possible battle to fight from pollution and environmental concerns to mine safety and…
More Tough Times Ahead for Molycorp (REE, AVL, REMX)
ThinkstockOnce an investor’s darling, Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) has not aged well. The rare earths miner’s shares hit a post-IPO high of around $75 a share in April 2011, but the decline since then…
Commodity Alchemy: Turning Gold into Lead
ThinkstockWhen the commodity traders at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) say that commodities may be oversold right now they exclude gold from the rest of the asset class. In the near term, the…
Beyond Gold: ETFs Loving Silver, the Devil’s Metal (SLV, SIVR, SIL, SILJ)
ThinkstockWhile exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been dumping gold in the first two months of 2013, exactly the reverse is happening in the silver ETFs. Total silver holdings now amount to a near-record 20,253.6…
Gold ETFs Dumping the Yellow Metal
ThinkstockLast year marked the twelfth consecutive year for rising gold prices. But that could be the end of the yellow metals string. Since the beginning of the year, gold ETFs have sold 140 metric…
ETF Folly: New Gold and Silver Products Coming
ThinkstockThere will be yet two more exchange-traded products for investors to get exposure to the gold or silver market. These feel like “me too” products at this point but let’s hold off on that…
Glencore Follows Other Big Miners to Lower Profits
ThinkstockLondon-traded Glencore International has been making news for more than a year now for its takeover of Xstrata, a mining company of which Glencore already owns about 40%. The company is awaiting approval from…
Major Gold Miners Strike New 52-Week Lows (GDX, NEM, AU, ABX, GG)
ThinkstockThis will not sound nice, but it isn’t meant to: It really sucks to be a gold miner right now. Gold prices have lost the wind at their back, gold production prices are higher…
Hecla Diversification Buyout Seen as Too Costly
ThinkstockHecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) is seeing its shares clipped hard this morning due to an acquisition it is making. The company will spend close to $800 million to acquire Aurizon Mines Ltd. (NYSEMKT:…
U.S. Platinum Miner Hammers Estimates, Faces Challenge from Investor
ThinkstockStillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results before markets opened this morning. The platinum and palladium miner posted quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.46, compared with a consensus estimate…