commodities

By Win Thin Oil prices are lower today despite Saudi comments that it is cutting output because the market is oversupplied. Saudi Oil Minister al-Naimi said that his nation cut output to 8.29 bbl/day in March from 9.13 mln bbl/day in…

Here is Omid Malekan back with a video explaining inflation to the layman. You have seen his videos on Bank Bailouts Explained and Quantitative Easing Explained. The QE explained video was especially popular and went viral on the Internet.…

The easy stance of developed economy central banks is driving money into emerging markets and fostering the accommodative stance of those central banks, fearful of more hot money flows or currency appreciation. Easy money in the face of…

What we would like to see is commodity prices falling or stagnating. And that would certainly be the case if demand destruction is already beginning as the IEA analysis suggests. Moreover, QE is ending in June. So that won't be a factor in…

Marc Faber was on CNBC talking about the intersection of asset markets with monetary policy. His view is that the Fed will be accommodative for the indefinite future, resulting in a move into riskier assets by investors starved for real…

I was on the Max Keiser show talking to Max about precious metals, currency debasement and hyperinflation. Max was pushing the view that the U.S. was on its way to hyperinflation due to its reckless monetary policy. I argued against this…

The private sector (particularly the household sector) is overly indebted. The level of debt households now carry cannot be supported by income at the present levels of consumption. The natural tendency, therefore, is toward more…

Here's a fabulous look into the political economy of oil by Andy Lees. His view is that the era of cheap oil is over. But, more than that, natural resources as a whole are increasingly dear. And a world of dwindling natural resources has…

This morning's note from UBS' Andy Lees addresses something about which I am sceptical regarding the escalating Libyan conflict: global spare oil capacity. I am in the same camp with Jeremy Grantham. Call it peak resources, peak oil,…

The correct way to look at the causes of trade imbalances, in my opinion, is to look at policies that force up or down the savings rate, or the consumption rate (which is more or less the same thing since total savings is simply total…