Gold futures drop on China rate concerns

Gold futures sold off Friday on concerns China will soon take steps to rein in its inflation and move to increase interest rates.

Gold for December delivery /quotes/comstock/21e!f:gc\z10 (GCZ10 1,368, -35.00, -2.49%) dropped $37.80, or 2.7%, to $1,365.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was gold’s largest one-day drop since early July.

The contract earlier traded as low as $1,359.30 an ounce, according to FactSet Research.

Gold had lost more than $30 overnight, but seemed to have recovered somewhat at the start of floor trading. Nervous investors, however, pulled the plug on gold after they saw other commodities and stocks selling off.

On the week, gold has lost 2.3%, its worst weekly decline in four weeks and a first drop after two consecutive weekly gains.

If China tightens, it raises the likelihood more countries would follow suit, said Matt Zeman, a trader at LaSalle Futures in Chicago. Gold would lose one of its main engines so far: fear of inflation, he added. (more)

Bloomberg Businessweek - 15 November-21 November 2010

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Gold and Silver : The Final Countdown ?

When To Sell Gold

By now you have plenty of reason to congratulate yourself for having boarded the gold bandwagon. The early tickets are the cheap ones, and you’ve already had quite a ride. The best of the ride, I believe, is yet to come, and it should be very good indeed. It should be so much fun that your wallet may start to feel a bit giddy – which can be dangerous. So it would be wise to consider, now, how things will be and how they will feel when the current bull market in gold reaches its “end of days.” Because it will end.

Buying at the right time is the key to building profits. Selling at the right time is the key to collecting them.

The 1980 Peak

In 1980, gold briefly touched the then record price of $850 per ounce. In terms of purchasing power, that would be $2,400 in today’s dollars. And for the value of the world’s entire gold stockpile to attain the same share of the world’s total wealth that it represented at the 1980 peak, the price would need to reach $5,800 per ounce.

But so what? Before you can look to those numbers for guidance about what the peak in gold’s bull market will look like, you need to consider how the process that drove the earlier bull market compares with what is happening today. (more)

NIA Releases Food Price Estimates For A QE2 World: Bread To $23.05, Corn To $11.43, $62.21 For Sugar

On one hand we have the WSJ writing day after day that prices of food and energy products are not "really" rising. On the other hand we have empirical evidence that virtually every staple is already higher in price, or is being served in proportionally smaller portions. One possible arbitration on the issues comes from the NIA, which even if biased, does provide an estimate of where prices of various key perishables will end up in a post-QE2 world. These are as follows: "$11.43 for one ear of corn, $23.05 for a 24 oz loaf of wheat bread, $62.21 for a 32 oz package of Domino Granulated Sugar, $24.31 for a 32 fl oz container of soy milk, $77.71 for a 11.30 oz container of Folgers Classic Roast Coffee, $45.71 for a 64 fl oz container of Minute Maid Orange Juice, and $15.50 for a Hershey's Milk Chocolate 1.55 oz candy bar." Granted these are likely somewhat whimsical, but even if they are partially correct, it would mean the bulk of US society, as we pointed out previously, is in for a long, cold, hungry winter. (more)


foodpriceprojections -

BNN: Top Picks

Benj Gallander, President, Contra The Heard Investment Letter, shares his top picks.

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Copper price hits record high

Copper futures HG-FT hit record highs in London Thursday and 27-month tops in New York, after strong economic data out of China and persistent supply fears stoked by falling stockpiles of the metal.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit a record $8,966 (U.S.) a tonne, compared with $8,760 at the close on Wednesday. The previous record peak was $8,940, touched in July, 2008, before prices slumped to below $3,000 in late 2008 as the global economic slump hit commodity prices.

The metal used in power and construction gave up some gains, and was untraded at the close but last bid at $8,830.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most-active copper contract, December, settled up 5.35 cents, or 1.4 per cent, at $4.0250 per pound – its highest since July, 2008.

Other metals were also firm with battery material lead at its highest since January at $2,650 a tonne. Aluminum AL-FT hit a two year high at $2,500 a tonne.

Economic data from China – the biggest global consumer of copper – including industrial production figures gave the market extra impetus to rise. (more)