Rare Earths Coming Out from Under the Radar
In February of 2022, a startup mining company with the stated goal of discovering Tier 1 (large, long life, low cost) deposits of essential metals for a clean energy future listed on the ASX. The company claimed it would focus its exploration efforts on underexplored regions of Western Australia. The company is WA1 Resources (WA1)…
Fed chair surprises waxing uber-hawkish
The Fed continued its extreme tightening this week with another monster 75-basis-point rate hike. While that was universally expected, the Fed chair surprised waxing uber-hawkish at his post-FOMC-meeting press conference. That yet again shocked the US dollar and gold into sharp opposing moves. But the Fed’s ability to keep doing that is ending, since the…
What investors need to know about biodiversity
Biodiversity is the Earth’s balance of plant and animal species, ranging from the largest, like the blue whale, down to the smallest virus. Biodiversity’s ‘ecosystem services’ help support food production, water purity, and raw materials. They also regulate climate patterns, contribute to blocking pollution and inspire medicines. In short, we rely on biodiversity for our…
Euphoric Dollar Vexing Gold
The euphoric US dollar’s epic parabolic surge over this past half-year continues to sorely vex gold. The dollar’s vertical march to extreme secular highs spawned heavy gold-futures selling, slamming gold. The resulting lower gold prices have scared away investors, leaving gold languishing near deep lows despite an inflation super-spike raging. This fundamentally-absurd market anomaly can’t…
A fund manager’s guide to turning down the volume
Investment theory is easy. It’s the execution that’s hard. Warren Buffet famously said, “We need to be fearful when everyone else is greedy, and greedy when everyone else is fearful”1. It sounds really simple but it’s actually much harder to execute. Periods of volatility and financial downturn present us with a great opportunity to buy…
Is a global recession looking likely?
Economics is confusing at the best of times. But, at the moment, it’s downright counter-intuitive. Inflation is at its highest in decades, and we’re feeling the pain of the lower real wages that brings. Meanwhile, unemployment is its lowest in half a century, with virtually anyone who wants a job able to get one. Interest…
Will Tech Stocks Rebound in 2023
Global inflation began its ominous rise early in 2021, initially fueled by massive infusions of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures to combat the rising tide of the COVID 19 Pandemic. In short order, lockdowns and labor shortages in the global manufacturing sector ignited an equally ominous supply shortage. By the dawn of 2022 inflation had…
Investing Megatrends
The optimistic view that inflation in the US is peaking took a hit on 13 October with the release of a bullet-laden September CPI (consumer prices inflation) report. The bullets – a 0.4% increase over August and year over year inflation at 8.2% -support the counter-argument view held by many that the interest rate hikes…
The end of coal-fired power is in sight
If future historians pick a point in time when Australia comprehensively turned its back on coal-fired generation, they may well point to AGL’s decision to bring forward the closure of Loy Yang A, the cheapest (excluding emission costs) power generator in the energy market spanning eastern Australia. AGL announced on September 29 that Loy Yang…
Gold stocks V shaped bounce
Though still battered, the gold stocks are starting to stage a comeback. They just screamed higher out of fundamentally-absurd stock-panic levels in a violent V-bounce! That big surge fueled by gold’s parallel one is already starting to shift sentiment away from excessive bearishness. The gold stocks more than doubled soon after the last time they…
