Salient to Investors: After decades of strong performance, coal producers are starting to fail faster than anyone expected. Walter Energy is filing for bankruptcy, Alpha Natural Resources was delisted from the NYSE due to its low share price. Arch Coal implemented a 1-for-10 reverse stock split to avoid delisting. Coal prices are
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Investors pulled the most money from US ETPs backed by raw materials since April. US corn and soybean crops are the biggest ever, global stockpiles of nickel are at an all-time high, the US is producing the most oil since 1986, while China is headed for its slowest
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Lewis Braham writes: Contrarian funds can be a hedge of sorts, though a potentially volatile one as out-of-favor sectors tend to be cyclical and prone to booms and busts. Shorting is inherently dangerous as markets have been trending higher. Brian Singer at William Blair Macro Allocation Fund
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bloomberg New Energy Finance says peak fossil fuels demand could happen in 2030 – the point when humans stop increasing their annual burn, either because the environmental danger makes it too costly or because buildings and cars run more efficiently. Oil and coal companies worth more than
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: Warren Buffett said coal use in the US will continue to fall gradually as electric utilities switch to cleaner alternatives over many years, and when natural gas prices get low enough. Buffett said coal plants produce 38 percent of all US electricity. Coal accounted for 49 percent in 2007.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeremy Grantham writes: The world, in its reckless use of resources and natural systems, shows many of the indicators of potential failure that brought down many prior civilizations. However, we have two saving graces that may save us – declining fertility rates and progress in alternative energy.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeremy Grantham at Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo says: The US is muddling through reasonably well in the short-term, but long-term we are in a slowdown unappreciated by most economists – because they are not interested in the long-term. US growth won’t ever return to previous levels because
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The IEA said: The US will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030, and become all but self-sufficient in meeting its energy needs in about two decades. Global energy demand will grow between 35 and 46
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: James Dunigan at PNC Wealth Mgmt said the fiscal cliff is going to be very messy, though we’ll get there. Alan Greenspan said the election perpetuated the political status quo and hasn’t increased the probability of resolving the fiscal challenges. Barry Knapp at Barclays recommended cutting risk, and lowered his estimate for the S&P 500
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