A few legendary influencers in investing are making huge bets right now on commodities, an area that's faced - and continues to face - some pretty strong headwinds.
Famed hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller recently made a $323 million bet on gold. Carl Icahn took an 8.5% position in copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX).
What are we to make of this? And how could this impact commodity prices? Take a look...
A few legendary influencers in investing are making huge bets right now on commodities, an area that's faced - and continues to face - some pretty strong headwinds.
Famed hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller recently made a $323 million bet on gold. Carl Icahn took an 8.5% position in copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX).
What are we to make of this? And how could this impact commodity prices? Take a look...
After nearly five years of a correcting bear market, platinum prices have fallen by nearly half, from $1,800 in 2010 to $1,003 on Sept. 8.
To stem the tide, some of the world's largest producers of the precious metal are cutting production.
It's been five months since we last checked in on palladium, the precious metal so critical to the consumer electronics we use hundreds of times a day.
At the time I said I was bullish for a number of market reasons.
As it turns out, there were even more...
Now it's time for another close look, since the bullish forces are only picking up speed.
What's more, some new ones have materialized, pointing to a massively profitable palladium spike...Full Story
Industrial firms, Wall Street hedge funds, and any big money investing in platinum anxiously await Johnson Matthey's semi-annual review of the platinum industry - and they got incredibly interesting reading in the group's most recent report, released Tuesday.
In its Platinum 2013 Interim Review, Johnson Matthey said the platinum market this year is moving toward a supply and demand deficit of 605,000 ounces - the largest deficit since 1999. That's up from a 340,000-ounce shortfall in 2012.
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Although Rogers admitted he wasn't going to be selling his hard assets, he predicted further consolidation and a near-term correction in the metals markets.
Predicting this short-term downturn, Rogers cautioned that gold had been on the rise for twelve consecutive years, a streak that was unparalleled. That was then.
This week, his prediction rang true as gold and silver prices took another huge hit. In the aftermath, gold prices are now down approximately 30% since reaching an all-time high in August 2011.
According to Rogers gold prices have even further to fall.
If you want a lesson on how to manipulate gold prices, you need only look at what Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) has been doing over the past few months.
Goldman set the table by predicting a turn in gold prices back in December 2012, which no doubt contributed to the precious metal's 5% decline in the first two months of the year.
At the end of February, Goldman issued a research report that said the big Wall Street bank had soured on the yellow metal, and dropped its three-month target for gold prices from $1,825 an ounce to $1,615, its six-month forecast from $1,805 to $1,600, and its one-year outlook from $1,800 to $1,550.
Then, just yesterday (Wednesday), Goldman doubled down on its negative outlook for gold prices.
The bank's new targets for gold prices are $1,530 in three months, $1,490 in six months and $1,390 in one year.
The double whammy - two downgrades in two months - had its intended effect, as gold prices fell 2%, to $1,558.80, after Goldman released its report. It was the biggest single-day percentage drop for gold in nearly six months.
"If you've ever suspected gold prices are being manipulated, you're not alone - and you're right, they are," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald.
The proof is right in front of us.
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Platinum prices, which have been below gold prices since mid-2011, are once again higher than the yellow metal, and the spread's widening.
Platinum was trading around $1,674 an ounce Friday, while gold was down around $1,605.
Platinum prices have been climbing since the start of the year as industrial activity and automobile production have picked up in the U.S. and in China.
The white metal has also been given a boost by new restrictions on platinum ore exports by the government of Zimbabwe and the closure of several mines in South Africa.
With production down and demand rising, many analysts expect platinum prices to continue to rise.
Gold, on the other hand, continues to consolidate after hitting an all-time high in the fall of 2011.
Historically, platinum has usually traded at a small premium to gold. For most of the period from 2000 until the financial crisis of 2008, platinum traded at a premium of 50% to 100% over gold, occasionally spiking even higher.
However, as platinum and other platinum group metals (palladium and rhodium) became widely used in catalytic converters, demand for these metals has skyrocketed and so have prices.
This makes now a good time to be investing in platinum.
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