The November edition of Donald Coxe’s Basic Points research report (subtitled “The Power of Zero”) has just been published. His investment recommendations, as summarized in this document, are listed in the paragraphs below, but I do recommend you also read the full report at the bottom of the post. (Also note that Donald’s weekly webcasts can be accessed from the sidebar of the Investment Postcards site.)

1. Remain underweighted in US equities-as a percentage of total equities within global portfolios, and as a percentage of assets in US balanced portfolios. Underweight US bonds in global portfolios.

The Obama long-term financial projections for the US are high risk and unsustainable. Forthcoming elections-or a currency crisis-could induce some discipline, but within the OECD, the US should probably no longer be accorded top ranking for bonds and stocks.

2. Within the US market, underweight US economy-related

The commodities market is a popular place these days. For investors not ready to leap into an “optimized” play, the ETF market is filled with opportunities.

If you are in the metals market, your eyes are certainly watching the action out of China. The more the country builds and expands, the higher its demand for anything that is pulled from the ground.

If you have been paying attention, you already know copper prices reached their highest prices since last October early yesterday. Buyers had to shell out $6,258 for a metric ton of the vital base metal.

While it is disappointing to see prices slipping today, it is no surprise. The commodities markets have often moved in lock step with the global equities market. And with mixed economic data coming from Beijing today, it is surprising prices are not down even further today.

Even with a few nuggets of less-than-expected data, China’s economy

Past posts have preached a look at the long-term and investing; not where the market is, but where one thinks it will be down the road. Some industries and markets are better suited in this regard than others. An investor that can find companies to fit this long-term strategy is one that will profit at some point. It really comes down to doing the research, investing and forgetting about the investment for a certain amount of time.

Century Aluminum Co., a primary aluminum production company, produces molten aluminum, billet and other value added aluminum products. Additionally, the company holds a 50% stake in the Gramercy alumina refinery of Gramercy Louisiana, capacity in Iceland and bauxite interests in Jamaica.

Although the company has been affected by the same economic conditions that a majority of the world’s companies are, it does seem that there may be an opportunity for investment. First quarter 2009 did

“Goodbye safe havens, hello risky assets.” This was the refrain of investors’ theme song during the past week. Safe-haven assets were out of favor as better-than-feared corporate earnings and signs of a budding economic recovery emboldened investors’ appetite for reflation trades such as equities and commodities.

Investors’ sentiment improved notwithstanding a number of influences that could potentially disturb financial markets. These included a three-day delay in the release of the stress test results of the 19 biggest US banks until May 7, the plight of the beleaguered US automakers with General Motors (GM) proposing a sweeping debt-for-equity restructuring and Chrysler filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and fears of an escalation in the number of swine flu (H1N1) cases.

Source: Vita

As to be expected given the countless catalysts, the past week’s trading was bumpy, but the major

By Ted Butler

A number of different factors have converged, creating what could be a lift-off point for the price of silver (and gold). This confluence of readily verifiable factors shows the silver market to be in a low risk and high reward situation. The factors involve both the paper and physical silver markets. The only question, as always, is if the manipulators, led by JPMorgan and protected by the CFTC, can thwart the set up once prices rally.

The structure in the paper markets, as defined by the CFTC’s latest Commitment of Traders (COT) and Bank Participation Reports, as well as the year-end OTC Derivatives Report by The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are extremely bullish on any objective historical basis. This means that the commercials, as a whole, have a greatly reduced total net short silver position after the recent engineered sharp sell-off. Normally, when the commercials have

Base metals had somewhat of a banner day on Wednesday. Copper rose 9.31 cents from Tuesday’s close to $1.6741/lb. Nickel gained more than 15 cents to finish at $4.5163/lb. Zinc tacked on more than 3 and one-half pennies, ending at $0.5364/lb. Aluminum increased slightly more than 1 cent and one-half, closing at $0.5945/lb., while lead moved to $0.5148/lb., up 3.55 cents from the previous session.

Copper, the base metal whose price movements reflect industrial activity, has gained over 12% in a week. The bounce in prices has been linked to falling inventories and (once again) growing hopes for a new stimulus package in China.

Copper stocks in LME warehouses fell 4850 metric tons to just over 526,000 tons, notching up a fall of more than 22,000 tons since February 25, and seemingly reversing a trend in which inventories had doubled since October last year.

Furthermore, the number of cancelled warrants - metal

Boy, I wish I had a time machine. I wouldn’t have to go far — just back a few months to buy silver at under $9 an ounce (a 38% discount to recent prices) and gold at under $715 (a 27% discount to recent prices).

Well, I do have the next best thing, though — a list of undervalued gold and silver miners that are trading at dirt-cheap valuations to their gold reserves.

These miners are leveraged to the price of precious metals. They’ve been beaten down, and they could rebound hard. Why?

Gold and silver have outperformed other investments by a wide margin recently. In January, we saw gold climb nearly 5% …

Gold finally delivered the monster up day many have been anticipating, starting upward at the outset of London trading and pushing higher all day, including a near-vertical $20 jump at mid-morning in New York, until finally finishing on the Globex just off its intraday high at $761.10, up $39.10. Overnight, gold has slipped lower.

Platinum bottomed below $800 in Hong Kong, but then it too was steeply higher through the day, ending at its own intraday high of $843/oz., up $31. Overnight, platinum has edged higher.

Silver blasted from $9.70 in Hong Kong past $10.50 at the noon hour, dropped back to $10.10 at the end of the Comex, then regained some ground on the Globex to close at $10.17/oz., up 38 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat. (Click here for charts)

It was a glorious day for the whole precious metals group yesterday, as rallies were sustained across the board.

An

One would wonder why miners hunt for a base metal such as gold. It takes extreme effort and months of aggravation just get the stuff out of the earth. Consistent value would be one possible answer, and then only part of the time. Fortunately, once the gold has been found and infrastructure put in place, there it remains waiting for those with the time and money to take it out and profit by it.

U.S. Precious Metals Inc., a gold and base metals exploration and development company, works to develop and exploit mineral deposits primarily in Southern Mexico. The company currently holds concession rights to the La Michoacan Mexico mineral region and exploration drilling rights to 6 other properties nearby.

The company has been concentrating its exploration and development activities at its Michoacan site. Test holes have indicated reserves at the site to be approximately 300,000 oz. of gold, with