Cheap labor and a good climate for crops have positioned Brazil to make gains in agriculture. This week we sent global strategist Jack Dzierwa (pictured here) south for a look at opportunities. Brazil is currently #4 in the world in agriculture, and the sector is the largest component of the country’s $2 trillion economy.
Addressing One Factor is and will be absolutely essential to achieving Profit and Protection in the second Decade of the 21st century, and to anticipating the next Mega-Moves.
Good or bad, everyone likes a forecast. Usually, forecasters like to issue them at the end or the beginning of the year but I thought that now would be a good time to review past forecasts and issue some new or updated ones.
If the investment choice is between mining stocks and physical bullion, it is essential to remember that these are different asset classes with entirely different risk/reward attributes. Mining stocks and bullion perform quite differently when the global economic environment is in turmoil, as is the case today. Banking crises, trillion-dollar deficits and the accelerating depreciation of many of the world’s major currencies do not create positive conditions for equity markets, which is why investors are fleeing to the safety of physical bullion.
As an investor in the precious metals sector no doubt you are getting tired of waiting and probably on the verge of giving up. In our opinion, don’t. Yes, while many analysts, including us, are optimistic of a great explosion in the share prices of most precious metals shares, our timing has been elusive.
Mr. Treece discusses the frequently-observed similarities between the ancient Roman empire and modern America, particularly with regard to economic and monetary policy.
Last we talked was how pigs were being made into bacon in the markets for oats. Many at that time perhaps did not realize that both a cash and futures market existed for their oats. In that discussion we noted that a goodly reason the back of the bear run in oats was broken was too much rain in Canada. Weather, it seems, has a way of ignoring the forecasts of analysts and traders.
It’s no secret that Canadian gas prices are low right now, but few investors realize how low it is compared to the U.S. The spread is now over $1/mcf, when it’s usually about 70 cents – that’s nearly a 50% jump.
Trying to pick a winning trade in the foreign exchange market is similar to judging a “reverse beauty” contest. In other words, one must be able to identify the least ugly currency among its peers, at any given moment in time. All paper currencies are considered to be ugly, when compared to the “king of currencies” – Gold, since the central bankers are apt to print vast quantities of fiat currency, at the behest of government officials who have appointed them to run the printing presses.
