Salient to Investors: The slump in commodity prices to a 5-year low signals investors are cautious about the strength of the global economy. Brent crude touched a 2-year low last week and iron ore at Qingdao is the lowest since 2009. Economists expect China to grow 7.4% in 2014, the weakest
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill O’Neill at UBS Wealth Mgmt said the story is still the combination of easy money policies and expectations of growth into 2014 and that growth is on the horizon. The Investment Companies Institute reports individual investors gave $30 billion to managers in 2013, the first net
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeremy Grantham at GMO said: Commodity prices fell for a hundred years by an average of 70 percent, and then from 2002 basically everything tripled and regained the whole decline in 6 years – tobacco was the only commodity that fell. The game changed because of the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The New York Times reported that every time an American opens a can of soda, beer or juice they pay a fraction of a penny more because of a maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars. The allegation is that investment banks
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Copper stockpiles are rising to the highest in a decade, yet manufacturers are paying the biggest premiums for the metal in as much as 7 years as financing deals lock up supply and extend lines at warehouses. LME copper inventories more than doubled in the past year and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds et al reduced net-long positions across 18 US futures and options last week, the largest decline since November 13, as signs of improving US growth reduced demand for gold and rains in South America added to signs that crop harvests will be bigger. Bets on higher gold prices
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Laurentia Amica Darmawan at PT First State Investments Indonesia said the currency issue is the biggest risk factor in the foreseeable future for Asian companies, and will continue until we have clarity on how long global monetary easing will last. Credit Suisse lowered Turkish banks to neutral from
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Barclays estimates stockpiles will rise for at least the next four quarters, and production will exceed demand by the most since 2009. The median analyst expects futures to rise as much as 16 percent in 2013. Buyers are waiting a year to get metal. Credit Suisse says as much as
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Peter Richardson and Hussein Allidina at Morgan Stanley said: Calls for the end of the commodities super-cycle is too simplistic as commodities are cyclical but the elasticity of supply and demand and length of the cycle vary significantly. Gold, silver and corn will outperform other raw materials next year
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Justin Smirk at Westpac Banking focuses primarily on economic cycles, central banks and financial markets to make commodity predictions. He says: Industrial metals will rally through June 2013 as the economy strengthens in China. China’s economy is at a turning point both for policy and inventories, said We are at the worst
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