Happy Monday! Charts and News

I have a story in the Marketwatch “Trading Strategies” section this morning that is currently the most read story on Marketwatch AND the most emailed story on Marketwatch.

Read it here: http://tinyurl.com/2zvfhy

And it includes the following tagline …

Editor's note: Sean Brodrick is a contributing editor to Moneyandmarkets.com

Cool beans! The story was also reproduced on Fin24 (a European finance site) and THAT version was linked to by Kitco.com, which is the Internet’s biggest gold website. However, on that version, I am credited as working for Dow Jones. I guess I’ll call about my back pay, LOL! Anyway, I’ve asked Fin24 to fix the credit line.

Here’s another story I can’t find on the web, but a friend emailed it to me (it was on Dow Jones Newswires) …

DJ China Plans US$12.5 Bln Purchase Of US Goods

BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China has drafted a plan to purchase US$12.5 billion worth of goods from the U.S., a person familiar with the plan said Monday.

The plan calls for China to purchase US$10 billion worth of mechanical and electronic goods, US$2 billion of soybeans and US$500 million of cotton, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

China plans to make the purchases in May and is now coordinating with Chinese companies and associations about the plan

Holy Commodities, Batman! As we analysts say, that is a lot of stuff!

Now, let’s look at some charts. We’ll start with the daily chart of gold …And then silver ...Next, we look at crude oil ...
Finally, here is a uranium index (made up of 43 Canadian uranium stocks) ...

Other news you can use …

Japan's Companies to Increase Spending Faster Than Forecast, Tankan Shows Japanese companies plan to invest at a faster pace than economists expected, indicating they're upbeat about the outlook for growth at home and abroad.

Vale Workers at Ontario Nickel Operations Begin Strike; Output May Decline Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's biggest nickel producer, said technical and office workers at its Sudbury operations in Canada began a strike, which a union official estimated may cut output 25 percent amid record prices.

Copper Prices in Shanghai Settle at Highest Since December on China Demand Copper futures in Shanghai advanced to their highest close in more than 15 weeks, on an improved outlook for demand from China, the world's largest user.

Cheapest Stocks in 20 Years Signal a Bull Market as the Economy Slows The U.S. economy is slowing. Mortgage defaults are rising. And stocks are the cheapest in 20 years, a ``buy'' signal for some of the world's biggest money managers.

Big Oil Spends More, Extra Spending May Not Translate Into Higher Production

Exxon Mobil Corp Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA and Chevron Corp. plan up to a total of $97 billion in capital spending this year, up around 9 percent from 2006.

"Most companies have dressed down their volume growth estimates," said Jason Kenney, analyst at ING in Edinburgh, referring to the European oil sector. "Essentially, they are spending more and getting less.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com