Brian Hicks, co-manager of our Global Resources Fund (PSPFX), is in London this week for the London Metal Exchangersquo;s 2009 Metals Seminar, which kicked off the annual LME Week gathering of leading commodities analysts from around the world. Here are Brianrsquo;s notes from the seminar: Danny Quah, professor at the London School of Economics, gave a compelling presentation that centered on China and the global recovery.nbsp; His main theme focused on the global economys shifting center of gravity, which has been steadily moving eastward to China over the past decade.nbsp;nbsp; He also mentioned that China isnt dependent upon U.S. consumption to create growth ndash; that notion is an old paradigm from the 1970s. Exports to the U.S. only make up approximately 15 percent of total exports, versus the 40 percent of total exports going to Southeast Asia.nbsp; Michael Jansen, director of commodities at JP Morgan, is one of a few who see ...

If we’re right about where the price of gold is headed, the general public will someday clamor to buy all things gold. While gold stocks will be where the real leverage is, the rush will start with gold itself. As a gold editor, I have a very natural question: is there enough to go around?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 6.783 billion earthlings. Meanwhile, CPM Group, a highly respected industry organization, estimates there are 4.8 billion ounces of above-ground gold in the world. And this includes jewelry, electronics, and dental. So, even if everyone around the world volunteered to have their chain, cross, or tooth melted into a coin, we’re already short. Those towards the end of the line are out of luck.

However, it’s worse than that. Of all the physical metal ever mined…

2.1 billion ounces, or 43%, is found in jewelry, decorative, and religious items. Private stock – ...

Gold started the summer doldrums looking strong and has retreated since, but what are its prospects for the rest of the year and beyond? That will largely be determined by the interplay between supply and demand; let’s take a look at the supply side.

Reports of dwindling supply are accurate in some areas; however, the story is not that simple. Unlike most metals that are consumed in industrial use, most of the gold ever mined is still around. Gold is forever. Thus newly mined, refined, and fabricated gold is not all that’s entering the marketplace; there are multiple ways of meeting demand. Here’s a look at each.

Breaking Rocks

Imagine that you could turn back the calendar to late 1848, as word was beginning to spread about the gold discovery at John Sutter’s sawmill on the South Fork of the American River in Coloma, California. Would you have loved gold enough to be

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Gold closed the month of May in resoundingly positive fashion yesterday, rising steadily from the far East to late morning in New York, then leveling off and holding its gains through the rest of the day to finish at $979.60/oz., up $20.60. For the week, gold was up 2.4%.

Platinum was also strong, peaking late in Comex trading, then easing off a little on the Globex to end at $1188, up $49. For the week, platinum added 3%.

And silver completed the trifecta, posting a stellar day in which it moved relentlessly higher with few retracements, and closed at $15.79, up 64 cents. For the week, silver gained a robust 7%. (Click here for charts)

Month’s end yielded a second gangbuster day in a row for the precious metals, as all three were well into the green, with the declining dollar providing strong support and rising oil chipping in.

Gold

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While investors’ attention was focused on global government bond yields marching higher, the holiday-shortened week produced a surprisingly small number of video clips.

Some quality footage was nevertheless produced, featuring the likes of David Rosenberg, now in his new role as chief economist and strategist of Gluskin Sheff, Mohamed El-Erian, Barry Ritholtz, Puru Saxena and Mario Gabelli.

And then there is “out of the box” analyst Marc Faber arguing that the US economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe. “I am 100% sure that the US will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time comes and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

The selection kicks off with a humorous take by Emmy

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New York (Platts)–10Mar2009

Central banks, which have been net sellers of gold in recent years, were net buyers of an estimated 1.1 million oz in January, according to the latest Market Alert by the CPM Group, the New York-based metals consultancy. The world’s central banks were both buyers and sellers, but the quantity bought outstripped what was sold.

Ecuador is estimated to have purchased 920,000 oz of gold in January, Venezuela bought 240,000 oz and Russia purchased 130,000 oz, after having bought 310,000 oz in December.

“Ecuador’s government has run into severe political and economic problems, and has a dollarized economy, using the US dollar as its currency and thus not having many monetary tools, such as being able to issue money that other central banks possess,” CPM noted.

France was the largest seller of gold in January by 40,000 oz and 10,000 oz, respectively.

“It seems highly unlikely that such large net purchases of

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The base metals were nearly all in the red on Wednesday. Copper declined from the pre-dawn hours straight through, only just coming off its intraday lows late in the day to finish at $1.4573/lb., down 2 2/3 cents.

Nickel followed pretty much the same path, falling back under $5 to close at $4.8534/lb., down 20 cents. Zinc ended barely off its intraday low at $0.5046/lb., down 3¾ cents. Aluminum was also a loser, dropping 2 cents, to $0.5925/lb., while lead bucked the trend, riding a late-day rally to a gain of 2 cents, at $0.535/lb.

Copper declined for a second day, as burgeoning stocks continue to underline the slackening demand for the metal.

Copper inventories monitored by the LME shot up another 8,375 metric tons yesterday, to 417,475 tons and a fresh 5-year high.

In addition, Catherine Virga, analyst at CPM Group in New York, suggested that traders are “pricing into

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Gold did nothing in the Far East during yesterday’s trading, but did develop a slightly positive bias as the London session advanced. The Comex open saw gold up about 1% immediately, only to have not-so-gentle hands hammer it (and any subsequent nascent rally) flat. The absolute bottom was during lunch hour in New York…and from there, a rally (short covering?) began.

This lasted well after the Comex close…and into electronic trading on the Globex, before developing the usual turn to the right. Estimated volume yesterday was a very large 162,902 contracts, with a switch effect of 19,368 contracts. And…except for greater price volatility…you could be forgiven if you thought the silver chart could be exchanged with the gold chart…as they were almost mirror images of each other.

click to enlarge

On Wednesday, gold open interest fell another 4,461 contracts to

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The base metals were all red-stained on Wednesday. Copper declined from the pre-dawn hours to the noon hour, but recovered a little ground late to finish at $1.4561/lb., down nearly 3 cents.

Nickel’s chart looked very similar, and it closed on a small upnote at $4.6954/lb., down more than 18 cents. Zinc had a weak day, ending at $0.557/lb., down a penny and a half. Aluminum was slowly lower, shedding a penny, to $0.6547/lb., while lead failed to get even a small late day bump, dropping to its intraday low of $0.5018/lb., down a penny and a quarter.

The industrial metals were down across the board, with copper leading the way lower after the weak retail sales numbers reinforced the notion that there isn’t anything bright in the metals’ future.

John Gross, publisher of the Copper Journal, sees the metal as rangebound at the moment, with key support in the benchmark March

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The base metals were nearly all in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper prolonged its rally, with buying coming in on dips through the day, and finishing at its intraday high of $1.9204/lb., up more than 7 2/3 cents. Nickel soared in the afternoon hours, before easing a bit late to close at $5.2435/lb., up 23 1/3 cents.

Zinc plummeted in the late morning and never found its way back, ending at $0.4885/lb., down nearly 2 cents. Aluminum had a very strong day, pushing to an intraday high of $0.9402/lb., up better than 4 cents, while lead raced to $0.6402/lb., up just over 7 cents.

Copper led most of the industrial metals higher yesterday as it followed equities markets up in anticipation of a rate cut by the Fed today.

“We’ve seen some signs of life coming back to the market with equities rebounding and commodities rising today across the board,” says Matt

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