Rhodium is not one of the topics sexy enough to hear much about. For one, not a lot of it exists. Another reason is that with Silver in a speculative burst writing about that is more fun for journalists. That said, we do now seem to read comments more often on Rh. That occurrence has gone from none to some, a large percentage increase.
The investment world has become obsessed with phenomena that cause catastrophic loss – so much so that a new language has evolved, subjugating old words to new meanings. Melt-downs, for example. Collapse. Bubbles.
The governing and legislative bodies have allowed a complete perversion in the history of accounting representations and presentations. How else could our "assets" come to be valued in only "liabilities?" Are all assets now only liabilities? Doe he with the most liabilities win???
We have heard many commentators implying that a U.S. economic recovery that leads to the sort of growth that was seen before 2008 will give investors reasons to divest from gold. As the year end approaches and another year is on us, it seems wise to us to look at this carefully.
It's almost impossible to find anyone who is long term bearish on the stock market or economy at this time. In the recent Barron's poll every single analyst expected a rise in stock prices next year and continued economic expansion.
As we kick off 2011, there are plenty of things for investors to worry about, including budget imbalances in developed nations, high levels of bullish sentiment, and a fear of rising interest rates. As of late December 2010, the market’s technical profile remains healthy relative to the outlook for the next few months, something we expand on in the video below.
The latest reports show consumer sentiment to be optimistic and rising, great for the economy, and investor sentiment to be at extreme levels of optimism, which might not be so good for the stock market as we swing into the new year.
Hopefully, those of you celebrating Christmas included lots of clothing in your gift shopping. Reason for that is giving or buying clothing is likely to become considerably more expensive in 2011. Our first chart below portrays the rather dramatic move in U.S. cotton prices over the past 90 weeks. Most noticeable is the price burst since late Summer, when the world discovered that global demand for cotton exceeded the global supply of cotton.
The recently released base case that will be used in the upcoming Annual Energy Outlook 2011 from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) paints a future of cheap and abundant energy for the US economy over the next quarter of a century. But its underlying assumptions are no more credible than those that underpinned the equally optimistic forecasts released by the International Energy Agency.
