Friday, April 9, 2010
Technical indicators tell Roger Wiegand that now is the time to buy gold
Korelin Radio click here for audio
New Deposits of Rare Earths Ores in Tanzania Substitute for China?
Rare Earth metals is the new black in mining circles, everywhere you turn whether it is a mining conference or a trade journal the focus is on finding and developing new sources of supply to counter the perceived threat posed by Chinese dominance of the supply market. In reality, Rare Earths (RE) are anything but rare in the words of Dr Roger Paul – General Manager of Business Development at South Africa’s center of excellence in mineral and metallurgical technologies, Mintek. The elements are widely distributed in the earth’s crust but often not in sufficient concentration to support commercial extraction. One resource that may be (and the reason for our conversation with Dr Paul) is Montero’s Wigu Hill deposit in Tanzania covered by Mineweb in an article this week. (more)
Pimco: Economy Will Hit Crawl in Second Half of Year
Pimco co-CEO Mohammed El-Erian says growth in the U.S. economy will continue to appear healthy during the first half of 2010 because markets will bounce back amid the huge fiscal stimulus and inventory rebuilding.
“Look for growth rates to be an annualized 4 percent to 5 percent in the first half of the year,” El-Erian says.
The second half of the year is a different story, El-Erian says: Growth will likely slow in the second half to an annualized 2 percent.
“Unfortunately, we will also have persistently high unemployment,” he told MarketWatch. “That’s very unusual in the United States, which tends to have a flexible labor market.” (more)
“Look for growth rates to be an annualized 4 percent to 5 percent in the first half of the year,” El-Erian says.
The second half of the year is a different story, El-Erian says: Growth will likely slow in the second half to an annualized 2 percent.
“Unfortunately, we will also have persistently high unemployment,” he told MarketWatch. “That’s very unusual in the United States, which tends to have a flexible labor market.” (more)
Study: 1.2 million households lost to recession
Since Richard Brown lost his job to the recession and his Boston home to foreclosure a year ago, he’s been working short-term consulting assignments until he gets back on his feet. In the meantime, he’s been “couch surfing.” “I’ve lived with my brother, my cousin, my friend and my dad,” he said. “The IRS keeps calling me, asking me: ‘What’s your address?’ And I say, ‘What week is this?’”
Armed with college degree and an MBA, Brown, 49, built a solid resume over three decades as a corporate controller for several Fortune 500 companies, including W.R. Grace and Wal-Mart, before launching his own global consulting business with clients in Europe and Mexico. But when the Panic of 2008 sent clients scrambling, he was unable to keep up with a jump in his mortgage payments and lost his home to foreclosure. (more)
Rates on 30-year home loans rise to 5.21 pct
Rates for 30-year home loans surged last week, rising to the highest level in eight months due to the improving economy and the end of a government push to keep rates low.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 5.21 percent this week, up from 5.08 percent a week earlier,
Rates had dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December, pushed down by a campaign by the
BLS Releases Latest Job Openings Data, Number Of Unemployed People Per Open Spot Increases In February To 5.5
The number of unemployed persons per job opening has started to increase again, hitting 5.5 in February, as just disclosed by the BLS' most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. In February, the total number of job openings declined from 2.85 million to 2.72 million sequentially. The job openings rate was little changed over the month at 2.1 percent. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and the separations rate (3.1 percent) were also little changed in February. Most importantly, there is no improvement in the rate of Hiring, which declined from 4.09 million to 3.96 million. Attached are the main charts of relevance along with BLS commentary. (more)
Canadian Dollar Parity
This month the Canadian dollar broke parity with the U.S. dollar, an exciting development. Will these gains continue for the Canadian dollar? I think so, but commodities are key to the equation, as are interest rates. Looking back, September 20, 2007, was the first time in nearly three decades that the Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S. dollar. Fueled by strong commodity prices, the Canadian dollar soared to a high of $1.1043 before falling back into a range of 0.97-$1.03. It traded within that range until the global financial crisis began in August 2008. With gigantic firms such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns failing, investors became risk-averse and bought U.S. Treasuries. That helped spark a short and powerful move up in the U.S. dollar, which weakened the Canadian dollar. The Canadian banking system managed to survive the crisis better than most nations' banking systems. And, as we saw commodity prices recover, so did the Canadian dollar, from a bottom of 0.7653 in March 2009.
In the last few months, traders and analysts have been anticipating the Canadian dollar would hit parity. Now that parity has been reached, some are taking their positions off, but many are letting their bets ride with the belief that the Canadian dollar still has a lot of upside potential. (more)
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