Shihoko Goto is a Washington DC-based journalist who has spent the past decade writing about the international political economy, with a focus on financial markets. She has written for a number of publications over the years including United Press International, the National Journal Group, Dow Jones News Service, and the Wall Street Journal. Shihoko holds a BA in Modern History from the University of Oxford and and an MA in Political Science from Tokyo's Waseda University. Having been raised in Brussels, she is fluent in French as well as Japanese, and wishes she had more opportunities to improve her German.
Energy prices are up while base metals are lower following the much-anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. How and when the Fed will act remains in question, but the odds of action appear to have increased.
Copper traders are taking a wait-and-see approach ahead of Friday’s speech from the Federal Reserve chairman. The red metal did, however, get some lift from China’s continued commitment to buy European government bonds as a means to stabilize the Eurozone.
Australia’s central bank expects the mining industry to wind down from its high in about a year’s time, and companies such as BHP Billiton have already postponed major copper project investments. But with supplies expected to tighten further, rival Rio Tinto is prepared to continue forging ahead with developing one of the world’s biggest copper mines. Who’s right?
Usually valued at 12 to 16 times more than silver, gold is now worth about 50 times more than the white metal. That points to an increase for silver in the near future.
Hopes are growing stronger that stimulus measures from the United States and China will jump start growth. Still, the knowledge that Australia’s mining industry will falter in a year’s time is worrying commodities investors.
Cheaper, safer and more efficient, magnesium-air fuel cell technology may compete with its hydrogen counterpart as the energy source of the green economy.
Though tax hikes and violent labor disputes have plagued Zambia’s mining industry of late, investor interest, particularly from China, has not been deterred.
Expectations of Chinese stimulus and renewed hopes that the ECB will buy bonds are keeping base metal demand strong. But oil is faltering on profit-taking even as supply remains tight.
