In case you couldn’t tell from the $4-a-gallon gasoline prices in your area, oil prices have been on the move. $80 per barrel, $90, $100… All have been sped past like interstate mile markers. The chart below pretty much says it all. As you can see,… Read More

By some estimates, the sum total of gold mined from the time of the ancient Egyptians through today would fit neatly into a 25-meter cube. That makes it pretty scarce. But for every 10 ounces of gold dug up from the ground, miners extract less than 1 ounce of platinum. And these precious metals are downright plentiful compared to promethium, a trace element that comprises just four parts per quintillion in naturally occurring ores. The entire global supply is thought to be a mere 500 grams — about the weight of a football. Read More

By some estimates, the sum total of gold mined from the time of the ancient Egyptians through today would fit neatly into a 25-meter cube. That makes it pretty scarce. But for every 10 ounces of gold dug up from the ground, miners extract less than 1 ounce of platinum. And these precious metals are downright plentiful compared to promethium, a trace element that comprises just four parts per quintillion in naturally occurring ores. The entire global supply is thought to be a mere 500 grams — about the weight of a football. Promethium is the rarest of the “rare earth metals,” a series of 17 obscure elements with unusual properties and valuable commercial applications. These metals aren’t exactly household names just yet. You might not even be able to pronounce ytterbium, let alone know what it’s used for. But if the combination of tight supplies and booming global demand intrigues you, then you’ll want to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this group. Because even after posting red-hot gains of 100% or more during the past year, stocks in this sector still have untold upside… Read More

It’s going to touch everything. It will make a difference in what we eat, where we travel, how we heat and cool our homes, even how much we save and spend. Actually, these sorts of changes are already taking place. But over the next… Read More

You’ve no doubt heard plenty as to why commodities are going through the roof. Yes, turmoil in the Middle East plays a part. As does a weakening U.S. dollar. But perhaps the underlying catalyst in the commodities pits is China. The… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, I spelled out the case for rising uranium prices. Then, tragedy struck. As you know, Northeast Japan suffered a devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11, which unleashed a monster 30-foot tsunami that wiped out everything in its path. Read More

This has been quite a winter. From Arab states falling to Twitter revolutions, to U.S. states finally owning up to their own fiscal shortfalls, to natural disasters in New Zealand, Australia and now Japan, stock markets around the world have been swinging up and down in manic… Read More

The last time this happened in this sector was 14 years ago, in 1997. Back then, Warren Buffett had investments in this sector during the phenomenon (and made millions from it). Meanwhile, investors watched the prevailing prices in the sector soar from $4.25 an ounce to above… Read More

The market’s biggest winners of the past decade are littered with natural resource stocks. Contango Oil & Gas (NYSE: MCF) has soared 753% in the past decade. Buenaventura Mining (NYSE: BVN), Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX), and Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) have produced gains… Read More

They finally did it. Gasoline prices have been creeping ever closer to the $3-a-gallon mark in my hometown. Now they’ve pierced through. And with oil touching $100 a barrel, gas stations may as well be in a race to see who can reach $4… Read More

It’s one of the rarest metals on the planet… 30 times more rare than gold. It takes anywhere from 7 to 12 million tons of raw ore to produce a single ounce of the metal. In 2009, miners extracted 64 million ounces of gold; stockpiles of this metal grew by just 6 million ounces. And I use the word stockpile figuratively, because unlike other metals there are typically little to no above-ground supplies of this rare and valuable metal. That’s because demand often outpaces supply. In 2008, the world consumed 7.3… Read More

It’s one of the rarest metals on the planet… 30 times more rare than gold. It takes anywhere from 7 to 12 million tons of raw ore to produce a single ounce of the metal. In 2009, miners extracted 64 million ounces of gold; stockpiles of this metal grew by just 6 million ounces. And I use the word stockpile figuratively, because unlike other metals there are typically little to no above-ground supplies of this rare and valuable metal. That’s because demand often outpaces supply. In 2008, the world consumed 7.3 million ounces of the stuff, compared to production of just 7.0 million ounces. We need every ounce available and then some. So why is this metal needed at all when it’s expensive, rare, and hard to mine? Above all, platinum owes its popularity to chemistry. You’ve probably heard of catalytic converters. Internal combustion engines would spew tons of noxious pollutants without these miraculous devices, which convert hydrocarbon exhaust into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Well, platinum group metals (PGMs) are the catalyzing agent — and try as they might, automakers have never found a… Read More