If seeing is believing, natural resources and infrastructure opportunities abound in Brazil. The above photo was snapped by our global strategist Jack Dzierwa at Satilde;o Paulorsquo;s Guarulhos International Airport as he spent hours trying to board a domestic flight to Rio de Janeiro. Not surprisingly, he didnrsquo;t make the flight. Jack has traveled extensively around the world, and he says hersquo;s never seen anything like the hectic scene at Guarulhos, which just canrsquo;t service the rapidly growing number of Brazilians who can now afford to travel by air. Scenes like this are important for investment managers to experience in order to grasp the significance of whatrsquo;s taking place in emerging countries like Brazil. You just canrsquo;t get the full flavor of the chaos at Guarulhos from an economic data spreadsheet or a research report. Jack traveled to Brazil to collect some insight on the countryrsquo;s infrastructure development and the best prospects for investment. His ...

This analysis is from Evan Smith and Brian Hicks, co-managers of the Global Resources Fund (PSPFX). Oil prices have bounced more than 150 percent off of December 2008 lows but inventory levels remain at historically high levels despite a healing global economy. However, Goldman Sachs says robust 2010 oil demand growth will deplete these inventories over the next 12-to-18 months and diminishing production rates in key areas around the world will create a supply/demand imbalance. The above chart shows the decline in production from the worldrsquo;s top 230 projects. After peaking in 2009, production from these projects is set to fall for the next several years. Excluding OPEC countries (right chart), the decline rates quadruple from 2007 to 2012 (est). Over that time period, non-OPEC production is expected to fall by 2.5 million barrels per day. Only Brazil, Canada and the former countries of the Soviet Union are expected to see production growth. One of ...

News that oil-producing countries are in talks with oil-consuming countries to denominate future transactions in a basket of currencies rather than in dollars sent the U.S. dollar to new lows and gold to new non-inflation adjusted highs of $1,045 before settling around $1,039. Portfolio manager Brian Hicks spoke with Stacey Delo from Marketwatch about whatrsquo;s behind goldrsquo;s big move upward today and whether todayrsquo;s move is just the beginning of a long-term trend for the precious metal. Hicks believes the trend has legs and has even moved his price target higher. My original target was $1,100 by year-end, and I think where the dollar is now and the potential for it to go lower between now and the year end, I think I have to move that target up a bit to $1,150, maybe $1,200 by year-endhellip; Wersquo;ve tested $1,000 an ounce on several occasions over the last 18 months and now wersquo;ve ...

News that oil-producing countries are in talks with oil-consuming countries to denominate future transactions in a basket of currencies rather than in dollars sent the U.S. dollar to new lows and gold to new non-inflation adjusted highs of $1,045 before settling around $1,039. Portfolio manager Brian Hicks spoke with Stacey Delo from Marketwatch about whatrsquo;s behind goldrsquo;s big move upward today and whether todayrsquo;s move is just the beginning of a long-term trend for the precious metal. Hicks believes the trend has legs and has even moved his price target higher. My original target was $1,100 by year-end, and I think where the dollar is now and the potential for it to go lower between now and the year end, I think I have to move that target up a bit to $1,150, maybe $1,200 by year-endhellip; Wersquo;ve tested $1,000 an ounce on several occasions over the last 18 months and now wersquo;ve ...

Portfolio manager Brian Hicks appeared on Bloomberg TV this week to discuss his outlook for oil and natural gas. After the weekly inventory report from the EIA showed a build in oil inventories from the prior week, Hicks reminded viewers to keep the big picture in mind when it comes to oil….

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reported a lower-than-expected second-quarter loss on Wednesday, the first in what is projected to be a lackluster season for U.S. corporate earnings.

Alcoa reported a loss of $312 million, or 32 cents a share, well ahead of analysts’ estimates of a loss of 38 cents a share – but down from its year-ago profit of 66 cents per share. The giant aluminum producer is the first component of the bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average to report its second-quarter performance, marking the beginning of the U.S. corporate earnings season.

Overall, earnings expectations are bleak. The companies that make up the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index are expected to post declining profits for the eighth consecutive quarter, a 36% decline, according toThompson Reuters.

Alcoa’s performance was a result of cost-cutting measures undertaken by the company.

“At first glance it looks constructive. They were able to

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With investors trying to figure out the most likely direction of stock markets, the US dollar, government bonds, commodities and gold attracted a fair bit of attention - also from the producers of this week’s video footage.

Commentators in the selection below include Josh Rosner, Byron Wein, Stephen Jennings, Paul McCulley, Ed Yardini, Doug Kass and David Rosenberg.

The compilation kicks off with Congressman Alan Grayson uttering some harsh words at The Big Picture Conference - Capitalism After Crisis & Recession, and concludes with a fun ditty - a Wild Life Boogie, AKA The Economy Song.

Yahoo Finance, Tech Ticker: Cost of Fed expansion of balance sheet is $30K per American

“Those were just some of the harsh words Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida had this morning regarding Washington’s handling of the financial crisis so far. His remarks were part of The Big Picture Conference - Capitalism After Crisis &

...

Gold rocketed higher in early Hong Kong trading, and continued on an upward path with few detours all through London and New York as it sloughed off the blahs of late last week and finished a solid day at $969.50/oz., up $27.90 from Friday. Overnight, gold has edged lower.

Platinum was a slow, steady gainer until noon on the Comex, after which it went flat to end at $1087/oz., up $26. Overnight, platinum is trending higher.

Silver was modestly higher when New York opened, then jumped 40 cents into the noon hour, busting past the $14 mark, backed off a bit, but rallied again through the Globex to close at $14.11/oz., up 44 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat. (Click here for charts)

It was a banner day for the precious metals after several days of consolidation, with gold hitting a seven-month high as it edges back toward the

...

The base metals were all strongly positive on Tuesday. Copper rose from the pre-dawn hours straight through the New York day, just edging below its intraday highs to finish at $1.5308/lb., up more than 10½ cents. Nickel peaked as New York opened, but only slipped a little during the day, closing at $5.8665/lb., up more than 23¾ cents.

Zinc had a decent day, ending at its intraday high of $0.581/lb., up better than a penny and a half. Aluminum pushed higher all day, ultimately adding 3¼ cents, to $0.719/lb., while lead shot straight up to its intraday high of $0.5398/lb., up 4 cents.

Copper led the industrial metals higher, soaring to a one-month high past the $1.50 mark as the new year buying momentum gathered some steam as economic stimulus optimism prevailed alongside the annual portfolio rebalancing by index funds.

“Metals could do somewhat better over the course of the week,” wrote Edward

...

he base metals were all in the green on Thursday. Copper was higher from the late pre-dawn hours straight through the day, only just coming off its intraday high late to finish at $1.4955/lb., up 2 cents.

Nickel was strongly higher until late morning, then leveled off and cruised to a close just off the $5 mark at $4.9222/lb., up 68 cents. Zinc had some sharp ups and downs but ended up less than a tenth of a cent, at $0.4928/lb. Aluminum pushed to its intraday high of $0.6919/lb., up nearly 3 cents, while lead tacked on nearly 2¼ cents, to $0.4655/lb.

Copper logged a second consecutive day of gains as the combination of a sinking dollar and rising oil made all metals a more appealing investment.

With that combination, “we’re seeing some money move back into commodities,” said Brian Hicks, of U.S. Global Investors in San Antonio. “We’re seeing people

...