Category: General

Post-Election Thoughts

Posted on by The INO.com Team

The opening segment of NFTRH 212 did what an unbiased financial writer probably should not do and discussed politics. Then 24 pages of straight analysis followed.

Financial writers far and wide are weighing in on the US Presidential election result and its implications. So jumping into the ring, here are mine.

For the third cycle in a row I cast a protest vote. After voting for George Bush in 2000 (actually it was more a vote against Al Gore) I wrote in Ron Paul in 2004 and 2008. This year I voted for Gary Johnson, although I do not consider myself a Libertarian. I consider myself an independent who has long since been alienated from a two party system that looks a lot like dangerously competitive cartoons from opposite ends of a narrowly constructed ideological spectrum.

When you write a newsletter, you learn about being a newsletter writer; just like when you become a plumber, you learn a lot about plumbing. I once made an unfavorable public blog post about what I considered to be a cartoon that went by the name of Sarah Palin and was summarily served with an indignant email and subscription cancelation from an otherwise satisfied NFTRH subscriber. Lesson learned: There is little place for political commentary in financial analysis. Besides, political ideologues make really biased financial commentators; and in the markets bias just kills you. Continue reading "Post-Election Thoughts" →

Christopher Welch: Searching for a Perfect 10

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The Gold Report: Chris, the lifeblood of your business is financing. What's your read on the appetite for junior financings compared to earlier this year?

Christopher Welch: The appetite for high-quality projects in the mining space is basically the same as it was in early 2012. However, in the current environment, where share prices are a bit depressed, it's getting harder to match investors with companies at share prices that are acceptable to both parties.

Aureus Mining Inc. (AUE:TSX; AUE:LSE) is conducting a big fundraising for its New Liberty mine in Liberia, which is positive news demonstrating there are green shoots in the equity space for West African gold, which is encouraging. We're optimistic that there will be more deals done in the near term.

TGR: There's been some instability in Mali, which stemmed from instability in Libya in part, and now there's growing religious tension in Nigeria. Does West Africa remain as stable as you once believed it was? Continue reading "Christopher Welch: Searching for a Perfect 10" →

Most in U.S. won't be able to escape 'fiscal cliff'

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Everyone who pays income tax _ and some who don't _will feel it.

So will doctors who accept Medicare, people who get unemployment aid, defense contractors, air traffic controllers, national park rangers and companies that do research and development.

The package of tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" takes effect in January unless Congress passes a budget deal by then. The economy would be hit so hard that it would likely sink into recession in the first half of 2013, economists say. Continue reading "Most in U.S. won't be able to escape 'fiscal cliff'" →

How Dangerous Is Genetically Modified Food?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Last month, a group of Australian scientists published a warning to the citizens of the country and of the world who collectively gobble up some $34 billion annually of its agricultural exports. The warning concerned the safety of a new type of wheat.

As Australia's number-one export, a $6-billion annual industry, and the most-consumed grain locally, wheat is of the utmost importance to the country. A serious safety risk from wheat – a mad wheat disease of sorts – would have disastrous effects for the country and for its customers.

Which is why the alarm bells are being rung over a new variety of wheat being ushered toward production by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia. In a sense, the crop is little different than the wide variety of modern genetically modified foods. A sequence of the plant's genes has been turned off to change the wheat's natural behavior a bit, to make it more commercially viable (hardier, higher yielding, slower decaying, etc.). Continue reading "How Dangerous Is Genetically Modified Food?" →

Gold Chart of the Week

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Each week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report 11-12 through 11-16

We begin this week in a light volume trade as the United States recognizes Veterans Day across the country. While the Gold Futures trade inside Fridays range, the market appears poised for higher prices this week.

After collapsing on the first and second day in November, the market has shown strength on a day to day basis. Fundamentally, all markets had to deal with a heated Presidential Election in the United States. The expectation was that a win by Barack Obama would help underpin Gold prices, as his policies would continue to give Ben Bernanke freedom to devalue the US Dollar through Quantitative Easing. Surprisingly, the US Dollar and Gold rallied side by side last week, which caught many traders off guard, but was welcomed by market bulls. This decoupling is not something that we see every day, which probably explains Gold’s cautious rally throughout last week’s trade. One can only wonder how high the price could have gone if the Dollar was down last week! Continue reading "Gold Chart of the Week" →