The base metals were all basking in the green again on Friday. Copper had another strong day, pushing steadily higher from the pre-dawn hours to the noon hour, after which it came off a little to finish at $2.1688/lb., up 4 cents.

Nickel was choppier but had an upward bias, closing just off its intraday high at $6.2271/lb., up nearly 11 cents. Zinc followed copper’s path closely, ending at $0.6828/lb., up 2½ cents. Aluminum moved ahead, tacking on more than a penny, to $0.6353/lb., while lead made a powerful move, adding 3 2/3 cents, to $0.705/lb.

Copper led the industrials higher for a second day in a row, and ended May with its fifth straight monthly gain, as traders rode the declining dollar and those elusive green shoots northward.

Copper is now up 56% on the year, as commodities in general have done well. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodity futures posted

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Russian industrial production dropped sharply again in December – by the most since at least 2003. Output was down 10.3 percent following an 8.7 percent fall in November, according to data from the Federal Statistics Service announced yesterday (Thursday) by central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatiev. Output growth for the year was 2.1 percent, the slowest since at least 1999. br /br /a href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SXnHod1_lII/AAAAAAAAMVY/OmOY6oKT5Zk/s1600-h/russia+manufacturing.png”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 237px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SXnHod1_lII/AAAAAAAAMVY/OmOY6oKT5Zk/s400/russia+manufacturing.png” border=”0″ alt=”"id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294482334970516610″ //abr /br /Manufacturing fell an annual 13.2 percent in December, compared with a decline of 10.3 percent in November, as steel-pipe production dropped an annual 35.3 percent and coking coal output plunged 44.2 percent. Truck production plummeted 67.1 percent. br /br /This data is not surprising, and only confirms what we have been seeing in the VTB PMI. The next interesting data appointment will be on 2 February, when we should get to see what …

Russian industrial production dropped sharply again in December – by the most since at least 2003. Output was down 10.3 percent following an 8.7 percent fall in November, according to data from the Federal Statistics Service announced yesterday (Thursday) by central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatiev. Output growth for the year was 2.1 percent, the slowest since at least 1999. br /br /a href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SXnHod1_lII/AAAAAAAAMVY/OmOY6oKT5Zk/s1600-h/russia+manufacturing.png”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 237px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SXnHod1_lII/AAAAAAAAMVY/OmOY6oKT5Zk/s400/russia+manufacturing.png” border=”0″ alt=”"id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294482334970516610″ //abr /br /Manufacturing fell an annual 13.2 percent in December, compared with a decline of 10.3 percent in November, as steel-pipe production dropped an annual 35.3 percent and coking coal output plunged 44.2 percent. Truck production plummeted 67.1 percent. br /br /This data is not surprising, and only confirms what we have been seeing in the VTB PMI. The next interesting data appointment will be on 2 February, when we should get to see what …

By Edward Hugh: Barcelona br /br /The German economy is about to suffer its deepest recession since World War II according to economics Minister Michael Glos speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag due to be published tomorrow (Sunday). Glos said growth in Europe's largest economy is now expected to drop by as much as 2.5 percent this year (and there is still downside risk here). Earlier government estimates had been for slight positive growth (0.2 percent). This suggests that the miracle export-driven-recovery in German economic performance that so many were enthusing about in 2007 has actually been a short lived, one-off, affair, driven largely by an unsustainable lending boom in the UK, and Southern and Eastern Europe. If we take as good this year's government estimate, it gives us average growth for the German economy over the last 10 years of 1.07%, hardly ...

The German economy is about to suffer its deepest recession since World War II according to economics Minister Michael Glos speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag due to be published tomorrow (Sunday). Glos said growth in Europe's largest economy is now expected to drop by as much as 2.5 percent this year (and there is still downside risk here). Earlier government estimates had been for slight positive growth (0.2 percent). This suggests that the miracle export-driven-recovery in German economic performance that so many were enthusing about in 2007 has actually been a short lived, one-off, affair, driven largely by an unsustainable lending boom in the UK, and Southern and Eastern Europe. If we take as good this year's government estimate, it gives us average growth for the German economy over the last 10 years of 1.07%, hardly changed from the supposedly "correctional" pace ...

Commodity prices are bracing for their worst month in 52 years as global demand continues to slide. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index - a measure of 19 global commodities from light crude to lean hogs - fell 24% in October, Bloomberg reports.

“October is at last ending - the worst month in commodity history,” Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, told Bloomberg. “Investors are expecting lower growth for the longer term and that is putting prices under pressure.”

The news came one day after the revelation that the U.S. economy shrank 0.3% in the third quarter, and on the very same day that the government announced consumer spending tumbled 0.3% in September - meaning the world’s largest economy is struggling to produce and purchase.

It also continues a steady, months-long decline of commodity prices.

The past year’s inflation epidemic has waned significantly because consumer spending

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Commodity prices are bracing for their worst month in 52 years as global demand continues to slide. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index - a measure of 19 global commodities from light crude to lean hogs - fell 24% in October, Bloomberg reports. "October is at last ending - the worst month in commodity history," Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, told Bloomberg. "Investors are expecting lower growth for the longer term and that is putting prices under pressure." The news came one day after the revelation that the U.S. economy shrank 0.3% in the third quarter, and on the very same day that the government announced consumer spending tumbled 0.3% in September - meaning the world’s largest economy is struggling to produce and purchase. It also continues a steady, months-long decline of commodity prices. The past year’s inflation epidemic has waned significantly because consumer ...

EcoloCap Solutions Inc. (OTCBB: ECOS) addresses climate change concerns by offering solutions for green energy projects in emerging economies. The company focuses its operations on projects that qualify for Carbon Emission Reduction credits as part of the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol. EcoloCap works with governments and enterprises to reduce greenhouse gas, and relies on a qualified management team and board of directors to execute its business plan.

The company today announced the addition of Michael J. Oliver to its board of directors. Oliver’s extensive background as a senior banking and finance professional in the United States, Australia and Europe is expected to enhance EcoloCap’s business strategy.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome Mike Oliver to the board. He brings a wealth of experience and his extensive network of senior level contacts across Asia will be a significant help in developing our client and project relationships throughout the region,” chairman

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Concerned about the recent decline in stock prices, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday (Tuesday) called for the creation of European sovereign wealth funds. The funds would be virtual carbon copies of the state-owned investment vehicles that have sprung up from Beijing to Abu Dhabi to disperse their respective nations’ cash reserves in foreign assets.

Addressing the European Parliament, President Sarkozy implored his European contemporaries to embrace the current period of economic upheaval as an opportunity to restructure the global financial system. According to the Daily Telegraph, he also articulated the concern of many Western authorities that sovereign wealth funds, located primarily in Asia and the Middle East, could use their massive cash reserves to scoop up key foreign assets at extraordinarily low valuations.

“Stock markets are at historic lows. I do not want European citizens to wake up a few months from now and discover that European companies belong to

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by Edward Hugh: BarcelonaWell the action in Russia this week has moved on slightly, and the damage has started to spread from pressure on the domestic stock market (accompanied by capital flight) to the real economy - via a very rapid tightening in credit conditions for Russian domestic users. We are also seeing a rapid slowdown in Russian manufacturing industry as internal demand slows while the inflation-driven decline in cost competitiveness continues to make imported products (where available) an attractive alternative to the home produced variant.Emerging-market bonds have been generally falling this week as the U.S. Senate's approval of a $700 billion bank rescue package did little to revive demand for riskier debt, and Russia has, unsurprisingly, been among the worst affected. The extra yield investors demand to own developing-nation bonds rather than U.S. Treasuries rose 8 basis points yestreday to 4.14 percentage points after widening ...