Alcoa CEO Roy Harvey has sounded the alarm bell on global aluminum demand. Aluminum is widely considered an indicator of global economic health. The FT's Ed Crooks reports: Global demand for aluminium is likely to grow this year at its slowest pace since the global recession of 2009, according to Alcoa of the US, in the latest sign of a worldwide economic slowdown. Roy Harvey, Alcoa’s chief executive, said in a presentation to analysts that the company expected worldwide demand to grow by 3-4 per cent this year, which would be the slowest rate since the world market shrank during the … [Read more...]

Newmont Mining Corp. is buying Goldcorp Inc. to form the world's largest gold miner, report Bloomberg's Thomas Biesheuvel and Elena Mazneva. This deal and the recent acquisition of Randgold by Barrick will be followed by numerous smaller deals in response as both giants sell certain assets. Bloomberg reports: The deal will create a company that runs mines in the Americas, Australia and Ghana and exceeds Barrick-Randgold in scale, producing about 7.9 million ounces of gold a year. It also rivals Barrick’s purchase of Placer Dome Inc. as the gold-industry’s biggest takeover. That deal had a … [Read more...]

Copper prices have been sliding as the Chinese economy has weakened. The question is, can copper recover even if the Chinese economy has not? Christopher Alessi and Amrith Ramkumar examine at the copper industry for The Wall Street Journal: Growth worries have recently focused on China, which is the world’s largest consumer of copper, accounting for about half of global demand, and is in engulfed in a tariff fight with the U.S. Apple cited weak Chinese demand in cutting its revenue target, a move that came following tepid Chinese manufacturing figures that showed a commonly-referenced … [Read more...]

In 2018 crude oil prices fell 44.1% from peak to trough, a roller coaster ride for producers and investors for sure. But another oil price has also been plummeting. Coconut oil prices fell 58.2% from a recent peak in January of 2017 to $759.66/metric ton (Philippines Bulk, CIF Rotterdam, Average of Period) in November of 2018. Lucy Cramer, writing in The Wall Street Journal explains how some negative attention from doctors put downward pressure on coconut oil, which had been rapidly gaining popularity. She writes: Consumption of virgin coconut oil—a pure form of the commodity that is … [Read more...]

When OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers met in Vienna recently, there was one major player missing, the United States. America has become one of the world's largest producers, even recently becoming a net exporter of petroleum products. The IEA says American influence over world oil markets will only grow. CNBC's Holly Ellyatt reports: On the day OPEC ministers sat down to talk in Vienna last Thursday, the IEA noted that an important piece of data was published, noting that "according to the (U.S.) Energy Information Administration, in the week to 30 November the U.S. was a net exporter of crude … [Read more...]

Commodity prices are down, and the question is, are they accurately predicting a downturn in the economy, or reflecting irrational fears of a slowdown? Ira Iosebashvili writes in The Wall Street Journal: Many key commodities are on track to notch declines this year, underlining how fears of slowing growth, global-trade tensions and a persistently strong dollar have hammered prices for raw materials. The Bloomberg Commodity Index is down by more than 6% this year, led by a nearly 13% fall in oil prices. Other raw materials are also headed lower: Copper is off almost 16% this year, while … [Read more...]

Since the end of August, the Dow is down, the Russell 2000 index of small stocks is down, bonds are down, oil is down, foreign stocks are down, and guess what is rising? Gold is up nicely with technicals indicating further upside is possible. See charts below. … [Read more...]

I have been a longtime supporter of including gold in diversified portfolios. Gold is a safe-haven asset, an inflation and currency hedge, and a hedge against geopolitical turmoil and general market turbulence.  It is an insurance policy of sorts. When everything else is down, gold is often up. Gold’s counterbalancing effects can dull the pain of a market rout. We have seen shades of gold’s counterbalancing power over recent weeks as both stocks and bonds have sold-off while gold prices have risen. I’ve long been an outspoken advocate of owning gold (I say owning because I buy gold … [Read more...]

A promising zinc-based battery technology could revolutionize the economics of energy storage. Ivan Penn reports in The New York Times about the innovations of Patrick Soon-Shiong and Nant Energy. He writes: Over the past six years, 110 villages in Africa and Asia received their power from solar panels and batteries that use zinc and oxygen. The batteries are the basis of an innovative energy storage system created by NantEnergy, a company owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur and surgeon originally from South Africa. Thomas Edison tried to develop batteries made with zinc … [Read more...]