Precious metals markets are struggling against the headwind of a rising U.S. dollar this week.
The dollar index broke out to a four-month high on Thursday. Neither a much-awaited fall in bond yields nor dovish remarks from Federal Reserve officials dissuaded currency traders from buying Greenbacks and selling other fiat currencies.
Commodities and precious metals markets also saw some selling.
Despite choppy trading in metals markets so far in 2021, intense demand for coins, bars, and rounds continues to strain supply chains in the bullion market. Some mints and dealers are simply unable to deliver product to their customers in a timely manner.
One of the most important aspects of trading is being able to properly identify major market cycles and trends. The markets will typically move between four separate stages: Bottoming/Basing, Rallying, Topping/Distribution, and Bearish Trending. Each of these phases of market trends is often associated with various degrees of market segment trending as well. For example, one of the most telling phrases of when the stock market is nearing an eventual Topping/Distribution phase is when the housing market gets super-heated. Yet, one of the most difficult aspects of this Excess Phase rally trend is that it can last many months or years, and usually longer than many people expect.
Mainstream media and the large mining companies are finally catching on to what we at AOTH have been saying for the past two years: the copper market is heading for a severe supply shortage due to a perfect storm of under-exploration/ lack of discovery of new deposits, clashing with a huge increase in demand due to electrification and decarbonization.
Dramatic price rise
Copper is trading over $4.00 a pound this year on rapidly tightening physical markets, rebounding economic growth especially in China, the top metals consumer, and the expectation that the era of low inflation in key economies may soon be over.
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Two crossed lines that form an X . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. Construction workers on a job site on February 04, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Business investment is picking up since the bottom of the COVID pandemic crash.
This increased investment should continue for the next year and help the US economy recover.
Policy support, financial conditions, and rising GDP expectations should all support capital expenditures.
Neil Dutta is head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research.
This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
I just talked with one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the country (in terms of returns over the last four years). He will not allow me to use his name. But I can tell you he is a raging bull.
He believes the stimulus that we already had plus what we will get coupled with a major infrastructure bill, plus extraordinarily easy monetary policy, combined with significant new technology innovations adds up to a new bull market.
This is someone with 5X returns over the last four years with a very diverse portfolio. So it could pay to pay attention.