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 ...

Deprecated and reduced as a financial asset, gold is fast-gaining new buyers yet remains under-invested compared to previous crises…

“FEAR, Mr. Bond, takes gold out of circulation and hoards it against the evil day,” as 007 learns from a Bank of England officer in Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger (1959).

So “in a period of history when every tomorrow may be the evil day, it is fair to say that a fat proportion of the gold dug out of one corner of the earth is at once buried again in another corner.”

Evil-day gold buying really motored since the credit collapse began in August 2007. Soaking up investment dollars worldwide, in fact, new allocations to the metal – whether trust fund or owned outright – swelled by 38% during the first quarter of 2009 compared with total demand between Jan. and March 2008, according to marketing-group the World Gold Council (WGC).

Within that figure,

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Gold declined through to the close in Hong Kong, falling below $710 at its nadir, then about-faced and rose until the close of the Comex, peaking at $746, but then eased through the Globex to finish at $728.60, down $5.70 from Friday. Overnight, gold is sharply higher.

Platinum sank as low as $740 in the European market, rose to $785 at the close of the Comex, and then eased a bit to end at $781/oz., down $13. Overnight, platinum is trending higher.

Silver had a rough day, dropping as low as $8.70 in the far East, pushed back above $9.20 on the Comex, but lost ground on the Globex, closing at $9.05/oz., down 32 cents. Overnight, silver has fallen off. (Click here for charts)

There wasn’t much out there capable of buoying up the precious metals yesterday, as the usual suspects—a strengthening dollar and slipping oil prices—lined up in opposition.

Gold’s chart

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Gold held above $900 until the London market open on Tuesday, but then began a decline that accelerated with the New York open and turned into a very steep drop at the outset of Globex trading, with some late buying bringing it back to finish at $870.00, down $33.50. Overnight, gold is trending higher.

GOLD PRICES extended last week's 13% gain early Monday, nearing Wednesday's six-week high of $892 per ounce as the US Dollar tumbled on the foreign exchanges and world stock markets retreated from Friday's "big bail out" surge. Pointing to the US Treasury's plans for a $700 billion "resolution trust" for toxic mortgage-backed securities, "the US Dollar's response last week was further depreciation," notes Walter de Wet at Standard Bank. "That provided support to commodities in general and precious metals specifically." Commodity prices continued to rise sharply in London on Monday, while government bond prices fell back after last week's record jump. Crude oil leapt to breach $106 per barrel. Three-month US Treasury bond yields rose towards 1.00% after reaching an all-time record low of 0.02% last Tuesday. European government bonds also dropped, pushing 6-month yields back above 4.10% in London and Frankfurt as the ...