On Wednesday, Deutsche Bank announced plans to restructure its commodities ETFs, the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSEArca: DBC) and PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (NYSEArca: DBA).

We covered the story here.

The move wasn't that surprising. After all, when the CFTC revoked DB's position limits back in August, it was really just a matter of time before the two funds either got a makeover or shut down entirely.

But DB's restructuring plans are more than just a new coat of lipstick. The revisions, slated to take effect between Oct. 19 and 31, will significantly change the commodities exposure these funds can give investors.

DBA and DBC, currently worth $2.2 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, are two of the most popular commodities ETFs. With their high concentrations in just a few key contracts, the funds are ideal for gaining exposure to the Big Guns of the commodity markets.

DBA, for example,

Gold futures trimmed losses but still ended lower on Monday, as risk-averse investor sentiment and a tumbling Chinese equities market prompted selling in bullion and other commodities.

The positive link between gold and equities market has been on the rise, as the metal is used as a hedge against inflation and erosion of portfolio values.

“The markets today are focusing on China and the sharp break of the Shanghai equities index,” said Bill O’Neill, managing partner of New Jersey-based LOGIC Advisors.

“In recent weeks, we noted the weakness in the equities, of course, has had a positive relationship with commodities, and that continued to be a factor,” he said.

Global stocks fell on Monday, dragged by a six percent tumble in China, which sent nervous investors into the yen for safe haven. Wall Street was off about 1 percent in afternoon trade.

U.S. December gold futures settled down $5.30 at $953.50 an ounce on the COMEX

Gold hit a three-week high above $960 an ounce on Friday as buying linked to the weaker dollar pushed the metal through technical resistance, before paring gains after U.S. consumer sentiment data pressured the euro.

Spot gold hit a high of $961.00 an ounce, its firmest level since Aug. 7, and was bid at $955.10 an ounce at 1434 GMT, against $946.75 an ounce late in New York on Thursday.

Prices rose after heavy selling of the dollar late on Thursday, particularly against the Swiss franc, knocking the U.S. currency to multi-week lows versus the euro.

“In the near term is it still predominantly the currency that is in the driving seat,” said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen.

“That has managed to tip (gold) through a technical level where new buying and short covering has been triggered this morning, and that has given us a bit of momentum on the upside.”

Gold typically moves in

Silver is a great investment right now and prices could easily shoot above $20 per ounce by the end of this year.  I predict that with the right call options on silver you can make over 100% before the end of the year. In just a moment I’ll give you all the information you need to take action on an options pick on silver with explosive profit potential.  But first, I want to explain why silver will blast higher.

Silver is a precious metal therefore it does great when people get worried about the stock market, inflation and geopolitical risk.

Silver is a hard asset that holds its value in inflationary times and maintains its purchasing power.  We could see a steep rise in inflation due to all this out-of-control government money printing that’s going on these days.  The deficit this year is on track to be $1.8 trillion and the national

What if deflation wins? While we think the odds are strongly stacked against it, particularly given the government’s furious pace of money printing, the prudent investor understands – and respects – the time-tested adage, “Nothing is guaranteed.” So while our chips sit squarely on the spot marked “inflation,” what will happen to gold stocks if we’re wrong?

The Great Depression Speaks

The most notable example of what happens to gold stocks in a prolonged deflationary environment is the Great Depression. However, the United States was on a gold standard at the time, so miners had a guaranteed selling price – which was a good thing for them, because their operating costs were plummeting. So the comparability isn’t perfect, but let’s see what we can learn.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, gold stocks were part of the general wreckage (sound familiar?). The market then rallied and recovered almost 50% of its losses

Mark my words:  Silver is going over $20 per ounce!  Currently, silver is trading around $15 per ounce, up 40% already in 2009.

I first recommended that Investor’s Daily Edge readers buy the silver ETF (SLV) on February 5th . I hope you followed my suggestion. SLV is up over 23% since then.

It’s not too late for you to get in. The white metal and its tracking shares are still a great buy.

Silver is a precious metal so it does great when people get worried about the market, inflation and geopolitical risk. Monetary inflation is already here. It is only a matter of time before price and asset inflation arrive as well. Silver is a hard asset that holds it value in inflationary times and will maintain its purchasing power.

Silver is also an industrial metal, therefore it goes up when global manufacturing activity picks up and

Gold had about as lackluster a day as possible on Friday, trapped between $880 and $890 from the far East clear through the Globex, with every attempt to break out in either direction quickly thwarted, and it finished where it started, at $885.80/oz., down 40 cents. For the week, gold dropped 3%.

Platinum plunged from early New York trading to mid-morning, turned abruptly and shot higher to just past the noon hour, then eased for the rest of the day, ending at $1089, down $14. For the week, platinum fell by a steep 7.4%.

Silver was down from Hong Kong to the mid-point of the London session, falling almost to the $12 mark, moved higher through most of the Comex, peaking at $12.80 just after noon, then slipped a bit through the Globex to close at $12.50/oz., up 13 cents. For the week, silver lost 3.1%. (Click here for

div align=”justify”Copper has soared 60% from its low in December, recent strength supported by suspiciously fast rising Chinese PMI numbers and continued official stockpiling; as the most broadly used industrial metal and therefore a leading indicator of economic growth, this has supported the cyclical recovery case. The bull case is predicated on heavy infrastructure spending plus official stockpiling offsetting very weak industrial demand in China. If the country continues to grow GDP between 7-8%, even if the rest of the world has zero demand growth, copper consumption rises about 10% annually, or 490,000 tons each year. /divdiv align=”justify”/divdiv align=”justify”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322264450446939986″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 327px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”" src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9QbROiDNh6Y/Sdx7UbGUV1I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/BViQrE4TTsI/s400/COPPER.png” border=”0″ //divdiv align=”justify”/divdiv align=”justify”Betting on copper pushing much above the current $2/lb is essentially a bet on Chinese growth not only matching but beating current expectations, plus assuming an ongoing stockpiling appetite, and that’s …

Silver expected to outperform gold

Posted: February 24, 2009, 8:20 AM by Jonathan Ratner

Mining, gold, silver, Pan American Silver

Silver may have underperformed gold in 2008 because industrial uses remain its largest source of

Bullion and oil appear in the lineup of power players that Doug Casey thinks investors can count on as the world slips deeper and deeper into what he calls the “Greater Depression.” Despite the raging economic storm and Doug’s doubts that Western civilization’s governments will take the actions needed to quell it, though, the Chairman of Casey Research is nowhere close to calling the game. In fact, he sees silver lining in the clouds of crisis—opportunity—and expresses optimism that technological advances, coupled with capital rebuilding once over-consumption runs its course, will prevail eventually. The Energy Report caught up with the peripatetic author, publisher and professional international investor between polo matches in New Zealand, one of several nation-states he calls home from time to time.

The Energy Report: You’ve been discussing what you’re calling “crisis and opportunity,” and in fact have a summit by that same name coming up in Las …