Yesterday’s announcement by the International Energy Agency that member nations, including the US, would release 60 million barrels of crude sliced 5% off the price of a barrel of WTI crude. Oil is down…
The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) was perhaps one of the largest secondary offerings out there of its sort. The tally was close to $6 billion when it was all said and done. We had…
One of the major caveats related to gold mining and gold prices has been the rising cost of production. Higher labor costs, higher energy costs, and lower grade ores have all contributed to boosting…
A Goldman Sachs analyst has raised the coal sector from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Attractive’ this morning. The big gainer was Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) which was raised from ‘neutral’ to Goldman’s Conviction Buy List.…
In the past 12 months, copper has risen from about $2.80/pound to as high over $4.60/pound, an increase of about 64%. The red metal now trades at about $4.10, or about 46% above its…
The failure of the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to reach an agreement on a second bailout package for Greece, combined with a variety of other poor economic news, has sent…
Glencore International (LSE: GLEN) was supposed to be a hot IPO in the world of commodities. It turned out that it caught a serious downward trend in the stock market, some commodity bubbles were…
An organization called the International Nickel Study Group is projecting a 60,000 metric ton surplus of nickel by the end of 2011, compared with a shortage of 30,000 metric tons at the end of…
ThinkstockAs is the case with crude oil, people just can’t seem to get enough coffee. Global consumption of coffee rose 2.4% in 2010, to 134 million bags (each bag weighs about 132 pounds). Demand…
Consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers has released its annual review of the mining industry, claiming that “the financial results for the Top 40 were spectacular.” That’s pretty hard to argue with, given a few facts. …
How many companies can announce that they are raising cash and see shares rise or even remain flat going into the pricing of the offering? Not many, but don’t tell that to Cliffs Natural…
About 94% of the US corn crop is now in the ground, and that fact, along with other news, has put some recent pressure on corn prices and on stock prices for some of…
Ollanta Humala, a left-leaning nationalist, won nearly 51% of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election in Peru and will take office in late July. Humala has promised to raise royalty payments on mining and…
Today’s commodities watch offers some thoughts about the coming end of the Federal Reserve’s QE2 program and the effect that will have on commodity prices. One could make a pretty good argument that the…
Today’s commodities watch looks at a government-ordered suspension of mining concessions in Peru and the continuing worries over grain prices as US corn planting remains behind schedule and Russia gets set to resume wheat…