Tag: casey research

How Do the Chinese View the Gold Market?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Have you ever wondered what the typical Chinese gold investor thinks about our Western ideas of gold? We read month after month about demand hitting record after record in their country – how do they view our buying habits?

Since 2007, China's demand for gold has risen 27% per year. Its share of global demand doubled in the same time frame, from 10% to 21%. And this occurred while prices were rising.

Americans are buying precious metals, no doubt. You'll see in a news item below that gold and silver ETF holdings just hit record levels. The US Mint believes that 2012 volumes will surpass those of 2011.

But let's put the differences into perspective. This chart shows how much gold various countries are buying relative to their respective GDPs. Continue reading "How Do the Chinese View the Gold Market?" →

How to Play Your Gold Stocks Now

Posted on by The INO.com Team

After a year or more of depressed prices, gold and silver stocks reversed with a vengeance. GDX (the ETF proxy for the Gold Miners Index) was up in just two months (August and September). Those who followed our lead and bought or averaged down this summer have profited handsomely. It's been a fun ride, and I'm convinced we'll see many more surges like this before it's all over.

What was perhaps more important about the surge in gold stocks, though, was the leverage they demonstrated, which is one of the primary reasons we invest in them. Here's a comparison of GDX to GLD from August 1 to November 1.

This chart shows the advantage of building your position on dips. It lowers your cost basis and takes leverage to a higher gear. Continue reading "How to Play Your Gold Stocks Now" →

Is a Carbon Tax a Done Deal for the US?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We know Obamarama is going to tax the rich, but I bet many didn't think he would weasel in the carbon tax as quickly as he is going to now. A Romney win would have been bullish for coal producers in the US – but Romney lost, and now so has coal, at least in the near term. The biggest winner from Obamarama? Natural gas.

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) is now supporting Obama in bringing a carbon tax to the US.

Why would Exxon – and other big energy companies – join forces to bring on the carbon tax?

The answer is simple: profits. Continue reading "Is a Carbon Tax a Done Deal for the US?" →

Is There Wisdom in the Crowd?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Back in the 1960s, a clever but financially disadvantaged fellow placed a small ad in a national magazine that read something like: Money needed. Please send $1 to the address below. Do it today! No specific need was given, and nothing was promised in return, so that fraud could not later be charged.

Yet within a few months, thousands of dollars arrived in his mailbox, a considerable sum in those days. Or so the urban legend goes.

P2P Money

A half-century later, many things have changed, but one thing remains unchanged: People still need money, and they have not ceased to innovate ways in which to get it.

We have written extensively in this space about many of the P2P Internet connections that are transforming the planet... in commerce, in education, in the job market, and with business and social networking. The list of possibilities is truly endless. For yet another example, the world of money has been given a Red-Bull jolt by a fast-growing phenomenon known as "crowdfunding." Continue reading "Is There Wisdom in the Crowd?" →

How Dangerous Is Genetically Modified Food?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Last month, a group of Australian scientists published a warning to the citizens of the country and of the world who collectively gobble up some $34 billion annually of its agricultural exports. The warning concerned the safety of a new type of wheat.

As Australia's number-one export, a $6-billion annual industry, and the most-consumed grain locally, wheat is of the utmost importance to the country. A serious safety risk from wheat – a mad wheat disease of sorts – would have disastrous effects for the country and for its customers.

Which is why the alarm bells are being rung over a new variety of wheat being ushered toward production by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia. In a sense, the crop is little different than the wide variety of modern genetically modified foods. A sequence of the plant's genes has been turned off to change the wheat's natural behavior a bit, to make it more commercially viable (hardier, higher yielding, slower decaying, etc.). Continue reading "How Dangerous Is Genetically Modified Food?" →