hot commodities

[7/31/06] Mauldin presents The Absolutle Return letter which expounds on the relations between commododies and recession and expansion. They found "The best environment for commodities is late expansions where the average return both in absolute and relative terms is very attractive."

However what stood out for me was that seeing that bonds blew away both stocks and commodities in times of recession.

[6/7/06] Morningstar's take on commodities

[6/3/06] WITH THE PRICES OF OIL AND INDUSTRIAL METALS like copper, zinc and nickel screaming higher in recent months, such observers as Warren Buffett and Morgan Stanley's Steve Roach have proclaimed that commodity markets are in a bubble destined to burst soon.

But Jim Rogers, fabled hedge-fund manager of the 'Seventies and now ardent commodity bull, finds such talk ridiculous. Indeed, he has been pounding the drum for investing in commodities in recent years in numerous speeches and media interviews, even writing Hot Commodities, a book propitiously published in late 2004 that predicted a coming price boom in everything from aluminum to zinc.

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[5/6/06] The world's commodity markets are making financial history.

They have staged a powerful rally heralding the emergence of a great global economic boom. Take a gander at the price of copper, which has roughly tripled in the last two years.

Oil, the commodity making the biggest headlines, last week soared above $75 a barrel for the first time. Gold, at more than $650 a troy ounce, looks to be mounting a challenge to the record highs set 25 years ago. Silver rocketed 8 percent on Friday when a new trading vehicle, the Ishares Silver Trust exchange-traded fund, made its debut.

All this has produced whoops of vindication from the commodity faithful, who spent the 1980s and 1990s sitting on the sidelines while paper assets such as stocks and bonds prospered.

It has also brought cries of alarm. However long it lasts, many voices of experience say, the commodity rally is headed toward a collapse like the one that ended the last great upsurge, which occurred in the 1970s.