Louis James, Senior Analyst and Editor for Casey’s International Spectator, has compiled a year-end collection of the Casey Research team’s 2010 outlooks and offers them to Contrarian Profits readers.
Doug Casey and the editors at Casey Research are very skeptical that we are experiencing any sort of economic recovery. In our opinion, too many economic indicators are based on faulty data and optimistic assumptions. Our research suggests that a recovery isn’t sustainable yet. And with that, we lack the foundation needed to support the rapidly rising stock markets.
After posting nice returns earlier in the week, the Canadian markets took a well deserved rest during Friday trading. For the tale of the tape: the TSX Exchange tacked on 0.11%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 0.60%, and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.50% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 415 to 373 margin on a modest 137 million shares traded.
Base metals were higher on Friday. Copper rose 0.26 cents to close at $2.4919/lb. Nickel gained nearly 23 cents to finish at $7.5266/lb. Zinc climbed almost one penny, ending at $0.7530/lb. Aluminum added a cent and a half, closing at $0.7957/lb., while lead moved to $0.7880/lb., up a penny and a half from the previous session.
In the energy market, crude oil for September delivery rose 89 cents from Thursday to close at $68.05/barrel. August reformulated gasoline rose a quarter of a cent to finish at $1.9159/gallon.
In the currency market, the dollar moved lower against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4215 vs. $1.4194 on Thursday.
Gold traded sideways through Hong Kong then shot north at the London open and remained range-bound between $951 and $953 for the rest of the day, finishing at $951.60/oz., up $3.60. For the week, gold is up 1.5%.
The resource-rich Canadian markets continued to gain momentum to the upside during Thursday trading with only the gold sector showing signs of weakness. For the tale of the tape; the TSX Exchange surged 2.33%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 0.79% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 1.28% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 432 to 371 margin on 184 million shares traded.
Base metals were mixed on Thursday. Copper fell 1.25 cents to close at $2.4893/lb. Nickel gained just over 1 cent to finish at $7.2998/lb. Zinc lost almost one penny, ending at $0.7450/lb. Aluminum rose a cent and change, closing at $0.7798/lb., while lead moved to $0.7719/lb., down half a penny from the previous session.
In the energy market, crude oil for September delivery shot up $1.76 from Wednesday to close at $67.16/barrel. August reformulated gasoline rose 7.49 cents to finish at $1.9132/gallon.
