Salient to Investors: Hedge funds et al lowered net-long positions in futures and options to the lowest since June 26, gold holdings dropped to the lowest since August, silver fell the most since July 24, and turned bearish on wheat for the first time in six months. Simon Ringrose at EPFR Global said money managers last week withdrew
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill O’Grady at Confluence Investment Mgmt said Boehner clearly is weakened as he couldn’t even deliver any tax increase, so we will go past Jan. 1 without an agreement – recession means $50 oil. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index decreased to 72.9, the weakest since
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Global investment through silver-backed ETPs reached a record equal to more than 9 months of mine output. The median analyst, trader and investor expects prices to rise as much as 29 percent in 2013. Hedge funds et al increased bets on higher prices 12-fold since the end of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: California has a good chance of emerging as the nation’s top oil producer in the next decade. The EIA says the Monterey shale formation could hold 15.4 billion barrels of oil, or 64 percent of all estimated US shale oil reserves. Fracking has found trillions of cubic feet of gas and billions
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Billionaire hedge fund managers have been heavily buying gold. John Paulson has been accumulating gold and gold mining stocks at a fevered pace. George Soros, Louis Moore Bacon, Julian Robertson et al have been buying gold, mining equities and ETPs. Bill Gross at Pimco has urged investors to buy precious metals. George
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Lawrence Williams writes: Virtually everything happening in the global economy suggests gold should be rising yet its stuck in a trading range of $1680 – $1750. A strong similarity exists with setback in late 2008 to a similar pullback back in 2006. The only way the gold price could burst downwards
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: EPFR Global said the increase in inflows into commodity funds in 2012 was 92 percent higher than the increase in 2011. The S&P GSCI, of which energy comprises 70 percent, fell 0.9 percent in 2012, the MSCI All-Country World Index rose 13 percent, the Dollar Index fell 0.9 percent, Treasuries returned 2.3 percent. Barclays
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: US oil production expanded in 2012 by the most since the first commercial well in 1859, and to the highest level in 15 years. Net petroleum imports now account for 41 percent of demand versus 60 percent 7 years ago. The IEA says the US will become the top producer in 8 years. US
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: John Stephenson at First Asset Investment Mgmt said the Fed basically admitted that they don’t have what it takes to deal with the fiscal cliff, and it dimmed the idea that unlimited money printing will help commodities. Saumil Parikh at Pimco said global growth will slow to near stall speed in 2013
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The US is almost free of imported energy dependence and positioned to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s No. 1 producer of oil, whether oil is $60 or $120. The IEA said America’s 6.8 million barrels a day in November was 30 percent less than Saudi Arabia’s 9.7 million,
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