The Japan, the EU, and the U.S. will join forces to ask the World Trade Organization to intercede over China’s exports policies on rare earth metals. These metals are scarce and are used in a number of electronics products. China has…
Is it starting to feel like the silly season all over again? On a day after higher consumer confidence and weak durable goods, spot gold is up just over 1% at $1,788.90 but spot…
New data from the Department of Agriculture shows that, as world demand for food continues to be relatively high, price increases will moderate or even fall. This is in contrast to several years of sharp…
The metals and materials sector, including miners, has been hit hard by the weaker global economy. China’s manufacturing slowdown, the turmoil in Europe, and slow growth in the US have caused prices to fall…
They say there is an ETF for just about any investing strategy and just about any sector. Today, there are five new ETFs hitting the market from BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) under its iShares ETF…
TrimTabs is out with its newest round of investment research and it is calling for investors to buy gold and silver for the long-term on what it calls a dollar cost average basis. While the…
The US Energy Information Administration today reported the US natural gas stocks fell by a total of 192 billion cubic feet in the past week, somewhat more than the drawdown of 182 billion cubic…
Earlier this week, Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) released a preliminary statement on 2012 production, mining costs, and a writedown a portion of $4.6 billion in goodwill on an African property. Shares traded at…
The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) and the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) are not falling on this news due to ‘risk-on trading’ this morning, but the two metals were part of a large metals…
US coal miner Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) said this morning that it was closing three of its contractor-operated coal mines and two production units in West Virginia “in response to weaker market demand…
Low prices for phosphate fertilizer products have forced The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) to cut production by up to 250,000 tons in the first quarter of 2012. Fertilizer makers Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE:…
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is being punished today on news which some would argue is very mixed. J.P. Morgan decided to lower its price target and earnings estimates for Molycorp. The new target is…
Peru was recently listed as one of the few nations which could actually face a ratings upgrade in 2012. Not all nations are being downgraded. Recent news of a new trade pact with Russia…
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is a stock that we started to really pan when the stock went up into the $60s and even into the $70s. It was a bubble that felt like the…
Fears for a supply shortage of corn earlier this year led the world’s farmers to plant more of the crop on expectations of higher prices. Now that the crop is in, it turns out…