Brad's Desktop

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 1.4%

Going into Wednesday's U.S. Energy Department's inventory report, you'd think oil traders were anticipating a further buildup in the nation's oil supply.

There's lots going on in the Oil Patch. First of all, there's that seemingly relentless increase in inventories. Commercial stocks have risen for 10 straight weeks. Supplies at the Cushing, Okla., terminus—the delivery point for the NYMEX basis grade West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude—are their highest since February.

While we're on the subject of WTI, let's look at its North Sea counterpart, Brent crude. Brent is the benchmark for the dominant oil contract traded on the Intercontinental Exchange ...

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 1.1%

There's an old adage that says it's darkest just before the dawn. That nostrum could be extended to the commodities markets.

Take grains, for example. Bulls have been battered this year. Corn's off more than 16 percent. Wheat's down 13 percent and soybeans have slumped 9 percent.

The last USDA grains stocks report didn't raise bulls' spirits. If planting progresses normally over the next couple of months, a carryout of more than 2 billion bushels is likely. If that's not pre-dawn darkness, I don't know what is. A lot of bearish news is built into corn's price now.

A huge carryout—more than 500 million bushels—is also projected for ...

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12-months): 1.0%

The price of gold notched new highs this week, but not in U.S. dollars. The metal's greenback-denominated record—set on Dec. 4 at a daily interbank average of $1,218—still stands, but buyers using euros, Japanese yen and Swiss francs paid record-high prices yesterday.

For the week ending Thursday, other benchmarks included:

• London morning gold fixes rose 3.3 percent to an average price of $1,127; COMEX gold settlements, averaging $1,139, climbed 3.5 percent; daily volume on the New York bourse was down 7.2 percent to an average 129,400 contracts, while open interest was trimmed 0.6 percent to an average 501,000 contracts; gold warehouse

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Colin McCabe is hiding from me. He must be. I asked him to get in touch with me (see "Time's Running Out For Gold Monster") about his forecast of "monster gains" for Guinness Exploration, Inc. (OTCBB: GNXP).

You see, back on Feb. 16, I received McCabe's Elite Stock Report, festooned with 14-point headers yelling "My latest junior gold pick will hand my subscribers monster gains inside the next 60 days."

McCabe's the Report's supposed editor. Well, he must be the editor. After all, there's a sketch of his visage - evocative of either an old-style Wall Street Journal woodcut or a police sketch, I can't tell which - in the masthead.

McCabe, on page 11 of his 12-pager, said ...