DailyFX Forum - Brad's Desktop

Inflation Scorecard: Prices Bottoming

Posted Yesterday at 04:57 PM by HardAssetsInvestor.com (Brad's Desktop)

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 4.6%

Data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics this week shows U.S. inflation continuing to bottom. Year-over-year, the Consumer Price Index slipped 0.2 percent in October, its shallowest decline since March. Wholesale prices for finished goods, metered by the Producer Price Index, fell 1.9 percent annually, also the smallest decline since March.

Key inflation markers notched in the week ending Thursday include:

* Gold fixes in London averaging $1,130 an ounce; Thursday morning's fix at $1,136 put gold prices up 1.8 percent for the week; COMEX spot settlements averaged $1,135.10, up 3.2 percent.

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Inflation’s Positive AND Negative

Posted 11-18-2009 at 04:47 PM by HardAssetsInvestor.com (Brad's Desktop)

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12-months): 4.7%

Reading the headline numbers from this morning's report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would likely make you think inflation's back. But you may not be positive. Month-over-month, prices measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.3 percent in October, though the index is 0.2 percent lower than its year-ago level.

That's nothing new. Monthly CPI has been positive for seven of the last 10 months, though the yearly numbers have remained negative. But look at the trend in the annual rate. There are degrees of negative.

Inflation's Many Faces

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Where’s Silver Going?

Posted 11-16-2009 at 04:59 PM by HardAssetsInvestor.com (Brad's Desktop)

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 4.7%

Gold's race into new high territory and has left silver lagging far behind, much to the chagrin of investors anxious for some moderation in the gold/silver ratio.

Silver's a good news/bad news story. The good news for the December COMEX contract is that it's moved up to start working the upper half of its volatility band. The contract settled just a penny off its floor-session high at $17.45 on Friday. The contract's RSI and MACD indicators have turned neutral-to-bullish.

NYMEX/COMEX Silver (Dec '09)

There's bad news, however,...

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Oil Market Dithers As Funds Buy

Posted 11-11-2009 at 04:34 PM by HardAssetsInvestor.com (Brad's Desktop)

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 4.5%

The U.S. Energy Department usually releases its weekly petroleum inventory report on Wednesday, but since it's Veterans Day, we won't see those numbers ‘til tomorrow.

Nonetheless, we can take a quick turn around the petroleum sector to see how traders and refiners have lined themselves up ahead of the report's release.

Since the last Energy Department report, crude oil has remained stalled at the $80-per-barrel level. Tuesday's half-percent loss in the NYMEX day session brought the front-month contract down 55 cents, or 0.7 percent, for the week. Product prices also eased this week, as gasoline and heating oil both lost 2 cents a gallon, or 1 percent....

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Brad Zigler began his career as a trader for ContiCommodity, the trading arm of a the world's largest privately held grain dealer. Prior to his current role as managing editor of Hard Assets Investor, Brad was head of marketing, research and education at Barclays Global Investors' iShares exchange-traded funds complex and at Pacific Exchange's (now NYSEArca)options market. Representing the Options Industry Council, Brad has twice addressed Congressional and Senate panels on risk management and derivatives. In addition to editing for the Corporate Communications Broadcast Network, the Journal of Indexes, and CRB Trader, Brad has written for Mutual Funds, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Futures, Registered Rep. and Ticker magazines as well as The Street.com and MarketWatch.com. Brad's also been a financial correspondent for European Press Network, North Bay Business Journal and a PBS/NPR affiliate.

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