2012 Will Begin with Several Candidate Trades for the Commodity Crash Playbook

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 28, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Federal Reserve’s second phase of quantitative easing (QE2) is slowly becoming a distant memory…{snip} The stark contrast between winning and losing stocks (S&P 500 index versus many commodity stocks) leaves … Read more

From Destocking to Restocking, Joy Global Weakens Case for a Commodities Crash

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 20, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, Joy Global (JOY) reported its fourth quarter and 2011 operating results and provided some valuable details on the outlook for commodities in 2012. JOY blames inventory destocking for the … Read more

Time to Moderate Bullishness on the Australian Dollar

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 5, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Australian dollar was a particularly strong beneficiary of last week’s bullish euphoria. Although the dollar index has only lost about 1% since its most recent peak on Friday, Nov 25, … Read more

Molycorp Loses Big Despite Reporting Strong Earnings

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 13, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Thursday evening, November 10, 2011, rare earth miner and producer Molycorp (MCP) reported strong earnings. There were no surprises given the strong guidance CEO Mark Smith delivered the previous week. … Read more

Chart Review: Gold’s Upward Trend Revs Up Again As Chinese Demand Soars

The gold bubble continues to “unpop.” In fact, as it turns out, the recent dip in gold was just a pullback to trend. This three-year weekly chart puts some perspective on the recent pullback. Source: stockcharts.com While gold skeptics were declaring that gold’s “bubble” had popped again, the Chinese were busy scooping up the yellow … Read more