Oil Hits $140: What Could Trigger a Reverse?
Source: Kathy Lien, Seeking Alpha  (6/16/08)
The only hope is for the US dollar to rise and rise quickly which is why the Bush Administration is no longer just paying lip service to the strong dollar policy. Instead they taking serious interest in making sure that the currency stops falling because they know that it is one of the few ways to stop oil prices from rising. More >

Commodities: Last Call?
Source: The Wall Street Journal  (6/14/08)
Over the past seven years, commodity prices have soared with the S&P GSCI Total Return Index rising nearly 300%. But starting this spring, with the huge exception of oil, many key prices have eased. More >

Something's Smelly: Gas Prices Should Soon Reverse
Source: Michael Filloon, Seeking Alpha  (6/13/08)
As a general rule, when gas goes up, refiners go up unless there is a major spike in oil prices. The refiners continued to sell off as traders got a second wind in the afternoon. This decoupling is beginning to show a last stand of gasoline bulls. More >

The Lessons Behind Oil
Source: Mineweb.com  (6/13/08)
Investors have been taking profits out of practically all sub-sectors of resources stocks, and rotating into commodity futures, principally the energy classes, viz., crude oil, natural gas, heating oil, and coal. More >

Nuclear Power Among Options for UN Greenhouse Cuts
Source: Reuters  (6/12/08)
Developing nations might get help to build nuclear power plants under proposals at 170-nation climate talks in Bonn for expanding a fast-growing U.N. scheme for curbing greenhouse gases. More >

Oil Replaces Gold as the New Inflation Hedge
Source: Michael Filloon, Seeking Alpha  (6/12/08)
No matter how you look at it, oil will be the center of attention and I believe this will be where the hot money will stay until next year. More >

Hot Commodities
Source: Fortune  (6/12/08)
Over the past five years the S&P 500 has had a total return of 59%. But over the same period, the diversified Dow Jones-AIG Commodity index has risen some 110%, and the S&P GSCI Commodity index, another broad measure, has jumped 141%. The price of gold has more than doubled, and crude oil and copper have soared more than fourfold. More >

China Plans More Nuclear Reactors
Source: Bloomberg  (6/11/08)
China's proven uranium reserves can cover demand until 2030 and it will need to import more uranium to satisfy long-term consumption, Chen Yuehui, deputy general manager of China National Nuclear Corp.'s overseas exploration unit, said in the text of a speech to be delivered at a conference today. More >

Energy Agency Reduces Forecast for Oil Demand
Source: The New York Times  (6/11/08)
But because of lagging investments in new sources of oil, the growth in consumption is still expected to outpace new supplies, according to the latest monthly report by the International Energy Agency, a policy adviser for industrial countries. More >

Energy, Metals Sector Funds Do Best in May
Source: TheStreet.com  (6/10/08)
As anyone who has bought gasoline might guess, the energy/natural resources sector easily outdistanced all other equity mutual fund categories in May. More >

Oil Price Likely to Hit $150 this Summer
Source: Mineweb.com  (6/10/08)
Goldman Sachs, the most active investment bank in energy markets and one of the first to point to triple-digit oil more than two years ago -- a once unthinkable level -- said last month oil could shoot up to $200 within the next two years as part of a "super spike." More >

But How Do You Hedge Against Commodities?
Source: Mineweb.com  (6/9/08)
In the final analysis, the best hedge against commodities is the action - or lack of it - taken by consumers. On the way up, consumers with the willingness and ability to have partaken in investment markets would have been hedging by riding the rising wave of crude oil-related investments: traditional equities, along with proliferating numbers of exchange traded funds and notes, futures, and indices. More >

67% Favor Building New Nuclear Plants
Source: newsmax.com  (6/7/08)
As a new summer and warm temperatures threaten to strain the nation’s aging electricity generation system, two-thirds of Americans (67%) said they support the construction of new nuclear power plants in the U.S., with nearly half (46%) who indicated strong support for new nuclear plants, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows. More >

IEA Calls for $45 Trillion Energy Revolution
Source: businessgreen.com  (6/6/08)
The International Energy Agency estimated that to reverse this growth trend and attain the 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the global economy will need to invest $ 45 trillion, or 1.1 per cent of average annual global GDP, in alternative energy technologies up to 2050. More >

Rejuvenation of Spot Price Predicted for 2H 2008
Source: Mineweb.com  (6/6/08)
In their Uranium Industry Report published Thursday, Haywood Securities forecasts primary uranium production at 113.5 million pounds this year, which is well below reactor demand as secondary uranium sources dwindle. More >

Coal Earnings Will Be Constrained by Cost Increases, as Regs Stall New Plants
Source: Mineweb.com  (6/5/08)
Constraints to developing new coal mines include high capital costs, the need for sales contracts covering a high portion of new tonnage, and a lengthy permitting process, according to Fitch. While some producers are announcing new projects, the analysts noted that "these have more than two years lead-time and may only replace declining production at existing mines." More >

Oil ETFs: What if the Dollar Strengthens
Source: Gary Gordon, Seeking Alpha  (6/5/08)
Enter a more stable U.S. dollar, or even a strengthening dollar. Now the only thing to keep egging the oil boom on in the near-term is the desire of speculators to make money on the long side. More >

Fuel Shortage Hits Nuclear Power Plants
Source: The Financial Express  (6/4/08)
A sustained shortage of nuclear fuel has put a question mark on the sustenance of existing and commissioning of new atomic power projects in the country. Confirming the crisis, minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh said, “Two new projects are now idle for want of uranium. More >

The Coming Oil Investment Boom
Source: The Wall Street Journal  (6/4/08)
If today's towering price of oil reflects some speculator's bet on a long-term scarcity of liquid motor fuels, this will prove the misguided bet of a lifetime. Hydrocarbons are abundant and can be extracted from living plant matter as well as from their fossil remains. Many oil fields under current technology are considered depleted when they're still 50% full. But technology advances, doesn't it? More >

What the Export Land Model Means for Energy Prices
Source: David Galland, Casey Research  (6/4/08)
The skyrocketing energy market has everyone craning their necks trying to figure where the top’s going to be. But the folks over at Casey Research aren’t concerned so much with where the top is … they want to know how best to make a profit from it now. Here, David Galland explains one of the main reasons for the current price gains… and how you might make it all work for you. More >

Is Investment in Coal Better than Gold?
Source: TheStockAdvisors.com  (6/3/08)
Despite its status as the most 'environmentally incorrect' source of energy, coal provides 25% of the world's energy and generates about half of the electricity in every state in the United States, except California. And the price of coal has been soaring to record levels. More >

Investing for the Oil Price Collapse (Part II)
Source: MarketWatch  (6/2/08)
The upstream sector of the oil industry will naturally suffer, as lower oil prices translate into lower profits, but without a precise one-for-one correlation. Taxes and royalties absorb much of the oil price around the globe so that oil producing governments in effect absorb much of the price risk. The larger companies will usually benefit relative to the smaller ones, having deeper pockets, and the relative debt levels will be an important indicator of performance after prices drop. More >

Study Sees a Uranium Price Lift Ahead as Buyers Venture Back
Source: Mineweb.com  (5/30/08)
Sydney-based Resource Capital Research (RCR) believes that a perceived recovery in the uranium price in the next quarter is linked to signs of improved market sentiment for uranium equities both on the Australian and Canadian bourses. More >

Uranium Prices to Stabilize at US$60
Source: FP Trading Desk  (5/30/08)
Desjardins Securities analysts John Redstone and John Hughes are betting that prices will now settle down and average US$60 in the long term, because supply and demand are finally moving into balance. More >

Investing for the Oil Price Collapse
Source: MarketWatch  (5/30/08)
Certainly, a political disruption of oil supplies -- civil war in Nigeria, major fighting in southern Iraq, attacks on Caspian pipelines -- could occur and would send prices sharply higher, but overall there is a greater likelihood that prices will drop in the next few years, and perhaps sharply. More >