Chris Berry: Energy-Metals Juniors with Derisked Projects Are Takeout Bait

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The Energy Report: In your Morning Notes in January, you defined much of the energy mining industry as an oligopoly. What do you mean by that?

Chris Berry: Industries like uranium, lithium, vanadium, rare earths or potash typically have a few players at the top that control production and hence pricing. This is a huge barrier to entry for juniors looking to join the ranks of producers.

TER: If the majors are producing enough material to meet today's demand, what are the prospects for the juniors in this market?

CB: It's challenging in the near term because I see supply and demand in balance in many of the metals markets. This is why companies with ample cash on their balance sheets should attract attentionthey can survive until demand recovers. Economic growth has slowed across the globe, which implies lower demand and less need for the many juniors out there. Continue reading "Chris Berry: Energy-Metals Juniors with Derisked Projects Are Takeout Bait" →

Today's Video Update: Cyprus, the mouse that roared

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Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, co-founder of MarketClub with your mid-day market update for Wednesday, the 20th of March.

Cyprus, The Mouse That Roared
On Monday, I appeared on CNBC Asia's "Cash Flow" program and discussed Cyprus as being the "mouse that roared." Cyprus geographically is a very small country and represents only .5% of GDP for the EU. However, the ramifications and the notoriety of what this small island country is/was trying to do by seizing savers bank accounts is a psychological bombshell that was heard around the world, especially in Europe. That leads us to Russia, which has a great deal of its money on deposit in Cyprus. It is also rumored that some of the largest deposited funds belong to the Russian mafia. If that is the case, we would not expect to see the proposed disastrous idea of stealing savings from individuals and companies get passed. Continue reading "Today's Video Update: Cyprus, the mouse that roared" →

Rob Cohen Imagines a Gold-Centric World

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The Gold Report: Robert, you presented a paper at the Prospectors Developers Association of Canada conference that focused on, among other things, the uses of gold as a monetary asset. Please tell our readers about that.

Robert Cohen: Gold is quintessentially a monetary asset. Many people believe it is the most ideal monetary asset on the planet, given that the world's other monetary assets are fiat currencies that can be expanded at the whim of a government.

Every ounce of gold ever produced is still kicking around on the surface, a total of about 160,000 tons. Half of that may be in the banking system. Miners produce about 2,500 tons a year. So only a very tiny expansion of liquid gold accrues every year, especially compared to the global liquidity created by printing money. Continue reading "Rob Cohen Imagines a Gold-Centric World" →

Today's Video Newsletter: The Fed meets today and tomorrow … what to expect

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Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, co-founder of MarketClub with your mid-day market update for Tuesday, the 19th of March.

What Will The Fed Do?
The Fed will be meeting today and tomorrow to decide the future course of action for interest rates. I suspect the blowup in Cyprus, which could be the tip of the iceberg, will be weighing on policy makers' minds and that the Fed will hold steady. The Fed is on a tricky course to try to juice up the market and the economy with low interest rates. The strategy of keeping interest rates low and pumping money into the system to the tune of $4 billion every trading day has many detractors, who claim the cost of doing this is just too expensive and the nation cannot afford it. It would seem to this market observer that the Fed and the market are both addicted to cheap money. When interest rates begin to rise, and they will, expect to see a radical change in sentiment towards the equity markets as inflation will once again rear its value robbing head to a whole new generation of investors. Continue reading "Today's Video Newsletter: The Fed meets today and tomorrow … what to expect" →

Congress works on budget for both 2013 and future

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Congress is finally cleaning up its unfinished budget business for the 2013 budget year with a bipartisan government-wide funding bill. But even as that measure heads toward approval, the House and Senate are moving toward divisive votes that will underscore sharp differences on a bigger problem: how to fix the nation's long-term deficit woes.

The Senate is positioned to approve the catchall spending bill Tuesday after it cleared a procedural hurdle Monday by a strong 63-35 vote. The House, which approved a narrower version two weeks ago, is expected to quickly clear the measure and ship it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

On a separate track, the GOP-controlled House and Democratic Senate are readying votes this week on sharply different budget blueprints for next year and beyond. The measures are non-binding and largely symbolic. But they veer off in opposite directions at the same time President Barack Obama seeks to nurture a future compromise blending new tax revenues with spending cuts beyond what his Democratic allies are willing to offer now. Continue reading "Congress works on budget for both 2013 and future" →