Financial Sense Blog

Copper is often referred to as the metal with a Ph-D in macro-Economics, since it finds its way into so many industrial applications, including automobiles, appliances, airplanes, pipes, wires, and even computer chips, to mention just a few of its uses. As such, it acts as a top forecaster of where the global economy is heading next, especially China, Asia’s economic locomotive. Copper is a favorite tool for speculators in the commodities markets, given its cyclical nature and volatility.

The author has a unique design experience background of over 40 years as both a design engineer of Naval combat weapons systems as well drilling rigs, piping systems (ships and submarines, oilfield processing, nuclear power plant, industrial)...

How do we measure wealth? In some unit of account. Money is meant to function, among other things, as a unit of account, the denominator for any given asset value. But if the purchasing power of a currency is unstable, either due to inflation or deflation, this distorts the way in which real wealth is measured. For example, if your benchmark unit of account is the Zimbabwe dollar, you have made outrageous profits during the past few years almost regardless of your choice of investment.

Sadly, the disaster in the Gulf continues this week as BP’s efforts at containment keep hitting snags and residents along the coast scramble to clean up and defend their shores and wildlife. Many have criticized the federal government in the past weeks for not doing enough.

One good day in the equity markets covered an otherwise listless week as investors get a jump-start on the summer doldrums. While exciting, the 200+ point Dow rally did push the averages above some critical overhead resistance that needs to hold in the coming weeks to be genuinely an important change in psychology.

It is not exactly groundbreaking analysis to say that whats good for Gold is generally good for Silver. As observers of the precious metals know, Silver tends to lag Gold but eventually catch up quickly. In the long-term sense, Silver is still a year or two behind Gold as Gold has broken above all resistance levels. Technically speaking, we do favor Gold over the next few months, but ultimately, Silver is poised to catch up with vengeance.

The focus is on the continuation of the Dollar as the World's Reserve Currency. Are there eplacements surfacing?

The following is commentary that originally appeared at treasurechests.info for the benefit of subscribers on Tuesday, June 8st, 2010.

With gold reaching new highs, many more people from investors to journalists are paying more attention to gold these days, but is that a good thing?

Consumer deleveraging continues to be a hot topic in the mainstream press. This fear-laden focus could be a red-herring, however, a possibility we'll discuss in this commentary. Plus, an update on the latest action in the gold ETF.