Miners from Australia to Africa love this sugardaddy. And why not? It has consistently paid top-dollar for their mines and mining properties. It has greenlighted cost overruns. And it has sparked higher valuations of their stocks whenever it has moved into their sectors.
I’m not a champagne guy. Neither am I a scotch or cognac guy. But I am a Diageo guy. This is the company that makes Johnnie Walker whisky and Hennessy cognac.
Is it too early to talk about the end of OPEC? I don’t think so.
The year OPEC foisted itself upon the world gas was going for 31 cents a gallon.
Gas prices are killing us. A month ago they averaged $3.76 nationwide. Now they’ve risen to $3.936. Some say this happens every year. Really, like this? I don’t think so.
What’s up with gold? Is its bullish run finally over? The price of gold peaked at about $1,900 last August. It is currently at about $1,625, a fall of 15%. Fidelity says the fall happened because gold has fallen more on signals that inflation was contained than it has risen on signals that inflation remains a threat.
North American natural gas companies are facing a world of hurt. The problem is too much supply. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better, as American and Canadian storage capacities get filled up.
The US, with Britain’s help, is planning on releasing emergency oil reserves into the market. The US government tried the same thing last summer. It released 60 million barrels, half of which came from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
For a while it looked like all hell was going to break out last week…
Greece finally got its latest bailout approved on Wednesday. But both the Greek and EU sides were playing hardball. And it generated a great deal of nervousness in the markets.
