Category — Mining

Australian Resource stocks have kick-started 2013 with a explosively bullish ‘secret signal’.

It’s telling you that the 24-month bear market in resource stocks is over.

It signals that rather than the recent leg up being yet another quick bounce on the way down, it is in fact be the foundation block of the next big rally for mining stocks.

I dearly hope so – because after two long years in the trenches, the mining sector is littered with beaten-up bargains.

And with cheap resource stocks on offer, and a new bull market starting…this ‘secret signal’ could mean that NOW is the best time to enter the resource market in a very long time.

So, what is the secret signal that makes me so confident? [Read more →]

This exceptional educational Newsletter is contributed by Eric at TradingAustralianShares. Subscribe to receive his free Newsletter

What is of Interest in the Market today

The following is an extract from Money Morning (First Prudential Markets)

What happened in the market yesterday? ( (Source: First Prudential Markets)

Chris Finlayson, the new chief executive (CEO) of oil and gas giant BG Group , could look to free up capital by selling off assets, according to sources close to the firm. Analysts suggested that billions of dollars of utility and pipeline assets related to the British-based firm’s US$20.4 billion liquefied natural gas venture in Queensland would be a prime target for a sale. “A strategy of earlier monetization would make sense  the change in CEO may be the catalyst for change,” John Rigby, analyst at investment bank UBS, said.

Analysts and fund managers have warned that an almost six-year low in market volatility does not mean that instability is far away, with the European debt crisis, the fiscal debate in the United States and China’s economic growth all causes for concern. According to Australia’s equivalent of the VIX volatility index, the local stock market is running at approximately 12 percent, half of its 24.5 percent average over the last five years. Joshua Kirkwood, equity strategist at investment giant Bank of America Merrill Lynch, warned that “things could change very quickly”.  [Read more →]

We were greeted in the office this morning by Dan Denning telling us that the best performing commodity in 2012 was…wait for it…lead. That’s right, good old lead. And the best performing equity index last year? Venezuela.

Have a think about that when you read all the expert investment predictions for 2013 over the next few weeks.

The truth is no one has any clue or special insight into which investment class will make money this year. That’s especially true in a global environment characterised by constant central bank intervention and the resultant currency wars.

As far as investment predictions go, we’ll stick our neck out and say that 2013 will either be a very good year, or a very bad one. We don’t mean to be facetious in saying that. The point is, the global credit bubble will either go on expanding, encouraging speculation and leading to the outperformance of risk assets (a ‘very good’ year) or it will collapse (a ‘very bad’ year). [Read more →]

In the last five years, the uranium sector has had more false starts than a frog race.

And uranium stocks have left a long list of burnt shareholders in their wake.

But now it looks like investors are gearing up to roll the dice one more time.

Beaten up uranium stocks have soared in the last few days.
For example, Australia’s leading uranium stock, Paladin (ASX: PDN), once trading at $10, was down as low as just 76 cents last month. But in the space of a week, Paladin has jumped 37.1%

It’s a similar tale from Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA). After spending the last three years falling 96% from $26 to just $1.10, it has just jumped 20.3% in the space of a week. [Read more →]

South Africa – the post-apartheid version – is a young country as far as Nation States go. Yet today, there are doubts about whether South Africa can survive.

That’s the sentiment I get, anyway, from watching CNN or reading wire service reports. It’s hard NOT to be pessimistic when you read about the 34 people killed at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine in mid-August.

The deaths at Marikana were followed by widespread strikes across the platinum and gold industries.

Thousands have been fired. Production in both industries has been seriously interrupted. There are international doubts about the future of South African mining. Those doubts have weighed on share prices for gold and PGM miners.

And given these question marks about the mining industry, nationalisation, and political stability, you wouldn’t want to invest in South African precious metals stocks in this atmosphere? Or would you? [Read more →]