Red-Hot Resources

"Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.”

Thursday, October 23, 2008

It's been a heck of a day. Gold cratered in overnight trading, then bounced, and now is headed lower again. The same for the broad stock indices. Crude oil is rallying, but not much when you consider that OPEC is about to announce a production cut (according to whispers).

METALS

Gold Falls Below $700 in New York as Investors Flee to Cash; Silver Rises Gold fell below $700 an ounce for the first time in more than a year as a rising dollar and stock-market losses forced investors to sell the metal to raise cash. Silver also dropped.

Gold's recent slump bewilders investors
The reason, according to analysts at the World Gold Council, is that the latest bout of the credit crisis has been deeper and more far reaching. Funds were forced to sell desired assets such as gold to meet margin calls, while weakness in European economies lifted the U.S. dollar, which then pushed dollar-denominated gold prices lower.

Platinum Drops to 4-Year Low in New York on Recession Concerns
Production of platinum fell short of demand in eight of the past nine years, according to London-based Johnson Matthey Plc, the maker of about a third of the world's auto catalysts. Platinum demand outpaced production by 480,000 ounces last year, the largest deficit since 2002, Johnson Matthey has said.

ENERGY

OPEC Output Cut May Fail to Halt Price Collapse as Financial Crisis Widens OPEC's first production cut in almost two years may fail to stanch a collapse in oil prices as roiling stock markets signal that the financial crisis has spread to emerging markets, the center of demand growth.

When is the Uranium Price Going Up?
With the recent market meltdown, what does the future hold? Is the uranium bull market finished or will these beaten down stocks come back?

US ECONOMY

GLG's Roman, Economist Roubini Predict Hedge-Fund Failures, Market Panic Emmanuel Roman, the co-chief executive officer at GLG Partners Inc., said as many as 30 percent of hedge funds will close and the U.S. will regulate the $1.7 trillion industry.

AIG's Liddy Says $123 Billion U.S. Loan `May Not Be Enough' to Stem Crisis American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the U.S., may need to borrow more than the $122.8 billion already offered by the government if capital markets don't improve, said Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy.

ASIA

Asian Stocks Drop to Four-Year Low on Growth Concerns; Mazda, BHP Decline Asian stocks slumped, driving the region's benchmark index to the lowest level in four years, as Japanese exports missed estimates, commodities prices tumbled and South Korea's worst financial crisis in a decade deepened.

Iron Ore Surplus Will Arrive Next Year, Earlier Than Expected, China Says China, the world's largest iron ore consumer, said the global market will be in surplus in 2009, one year earlier than expected, as the credit crisis slows economic growth and orders from steelmakers.

LATIN AMERICA

Brazil to Sell $50 Billion of Currency Swaps, Ramping Up Bid to Stem Rout Brazil's central bank pledged to sell $50 billion of currency swaps, its boldest move yet to stem a two-month, 28 percent tumble in the real that has saddled companies with losses and sparked concern inflation will surge.

AGRICULTURE

Potash Corp. Net Income Climbs Fivefold as Crop-Nutrient Prices Advance Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world's largest producer of crop nutrients by market value, said third-quarter profit increased fivefold as fertilizer prices advanced.
Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com