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Indians soon may get a chance to be like Westerners and pretend to own gold
"Inflation remains well controlled."
-- Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke,
Thursday, February 24, 2005.
"What remains 'well controlled' is
only the precious metals market."
-- Joe Gata, Monday, February 28, 2005.
* * *
Commodity Prices Rise
to 24-Year High as Demand Grows
By Claudia Carpenter
Bloomberg News Service
Monday, February 28, 2005
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=10000081&sid=ak0.xZU1Y0nw&refer=australia
NEW YORK -- Commodity prices surged to a 24-year high, extending a
rally that began in late 2001, on signs of growing global demand for
everything from energy to metals to crops.
The Reuters-CRB index rose as much as 4.54, or 1.5 percent, to
304.77, the highest for the index since February 1981. The index of
17 commodities, including oil, corn, sugar and hogs, has risen 8.4
percent this year after jumping 11 percent last year, 8.9 percent in
2003 and 23 percent in 2002.
Production of some raw materials is failing to keep pace with
consumption, just as a drop in the dollar against the euro and yen
made commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper to import in
Europe and Asia. Copper reached a 15-year high, coffee was near a
five-year high, and heating oil in New York climbed as a snowstorm
approached the U.S. Northeast.
"We're seeing demand-driven rallies in commodities," said William
O'Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors LLC, a commodity consulting
company in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. "Commodities are back in
a big way as an asset class."
Heating oil for March delivery rose 1.49 cents, or 1 percent, to
$1.469 a gallon at 12:45 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices have climbed 53 percent in the past year.
Cocoa, used to make chocolate, rose 4.6 percent, the biggest
fluctuation of any commodity in the index. Coffee jumped 3.5
percent. Natural gas, orange juice, crude oil and corn were lower.
Higher coffee costs led Procter & Gamble Co.'s Folger's coffee and
Altria Group's Maxwell House to raise retail prices by 28 cents a
pound, or 14 percent, in December. Hershey Foods Corp., the largest
U.S. chocolate maker, in December, boosted wholesale prices on about
half its candy, the second increase in the past two years, because
of rising costs, including for cocoa.
The Goldman Sachs Commodity Index, which is more heavily weighted to
energy prices, fell 0.17 to 352.84, pulled down after crude oil
prices declined. The index has jumped 27 percent in the past year
and reached a high last year of 374.89 on Oct. 27, two days after
oil reached a record $55.67 a barrel.
The Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index of 20 raw materials rose 0.771 to
155.917, up 6.5 percent from a year ago.
The dollar fell today against the euro and yen.
"When you see overall dollar weakness, that gives people around the
globe the ability to purchase greater quantities of dollar-
denominated assets," said Darren Stoody, who manages the futures
trading at Fort Wayne, Indiana-based OmniSource Inc. which processes
scrap copper for automakers, builders and electronics companies.
Crude oil prices have climbed 42 percent in the past year as cold
weather in the U.S. and Europe boosted demand. The International
Energy Agency, which represents oil-consuming countries, has raised
its demand forecasts in all but three months since November 2003.
Demand for oil in China, the world's second-largest user after the
U.S., grew 16 percent in 2004 and is projected to rise 6.3 percent
this year, the agency said on Feb. 10.
China's growing demand for copper used in wiring and plumbing has
strained supplies from mines and scrap yards. China surpassed the
U.S. in 2002 as the world's largest copper consumer.
Hedge funds and other large speculators have increased their
holdings of the metal in the past two weeks as the U.S. currency
fell against the euro and yen, helping to keep copper at or close to
a 15-year high since Feb. 17.
"The funds are in just about everything," O'Neill said. "They're
participating in cotton. They're participating in sugar. They're
participating in coffee. The grains, which have been one of the
weakest, have been rallying because of weather concerns in
Australia, and South America."
The dollar earlier today fell to the lowest in almost seven weeks
against the euro, heading for the sixth month of declines in the
past seven, on speculation Asian central banks will slow purchases
of U.S. assets and invest new reserves in other currencies. The
dollar fell to $1.3258 per euro, from $1.3244.
Last week the dollar fell the most in six months against the euro
and the most in four months versus the yen, after the Bank of Korea
said it intended to diversify its currency holdings. The dollar is
down 1.7 percent against the euro so far this month and is still up
0.6 percent versus the yen.
* * *
Chinese's Biggest Steelmaker to Pay
71.5 Percent More for Brazilian Iron Ore
By The Associated Press
Monday, February 28, 2005
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050228/brazil_iron_ore_china_1.html
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio
Doce SA on Monday announced that China's biggest steelmaker has
agreed to pay 71.5 percent more for iron ore supplied in 2005.
CVRD said in a statement that the Shanghai Baosteel Group negotiated
the deal on behalf of the Chinese Iron and Steel Association, made
up of 13 steelmakers holding contracts to buy 35.4 million tons of
iron ore from the Brazilian company this year.
The 71.5 percent hike will take effect April 1, 2005.
The price agreement follows a series of identical deals with Asian
steel makers, including Japan's Nippon Steel, South Korea's Posco,
and Taiwan's China Steel Corp.
The agreements could strengthen CVRD's hand in ongoing talks with
other steelmaking clients, some of whom have bristled at the idea of
paying such a steep rise for iron ore, a main ingredient for making
steel.
CVRD is one of three largest iron ore miners in the world, along
with Anglo-Australian miners BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Plc,
and is the biggest exporter of the three.
----------------------------------------------------
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RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
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http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
http://www.resourceinvestor.com
Subscription sites:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
http://www.interventionalanalysis.com
http://www.investmentindicators.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East First Ave., Suite 807
Denver, Colorado 80206
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Lone Star Silver Exchange
1702 S. Highway 121
Suite 607-111
Lewisville, Texas 75067
214-632-8869
http://www.discountsilverclub.com
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
The Moneychanger
Box 178
Westpoint, Tennessee 38486
http://www.the-moneychanger.com
Franklin Sanders
1-888-218-9226, 931-766-6066
----------------------------------------------------
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