Rare earth elements (REEs) have been the mystery metals of the mining world for years. Now, suddenly, everyone’s heard about them.

Sometimes you have to just stand back and admire the extremes a real bubble can produce. What you have now, as Bill explained last night at the Doomer’s Ball, is the last greatest bubble of them all, the bubble in U.S. bonds. It’s reaching staggering levels.

The base metals were mostly lower on Monday. Copper held onto Friday’s close until the late pre-dawn hours, but then was off sharply, bottoming near $1.75 at mid-morning before rallying to a finish at $1.828/lb., down 6½ cents from Friday.

The base metals were nearly all in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper prolonged its rally, with buying coming in on dips through the day, and finishing at its intraday high of $1.9204/lb., up more than 7 2/3 cents. Nickel soared in the afternoon hours, before easing a bit late to close at $5.2435/lb., up 23 1/3 cents.

The base metals were all in the red once again on Tuesday. Copper fell in the pre-dawn hours and, though it rallied through the New York session, never got back to even, finishing at $3.3221/lb., down 10¼ cents from Friday. Nickel fell during non-domestic trading Monday, then continued downward yesterday before moving up from the late pre-dawn hours through the New York day, finally closing at $8.793/lb., down a bit less than 37 cents.

It was another terrible day for the base metals Monday as copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and lead were all down during the day’s trading. After remaining flat in early trading, copper prices plunged in the pre-dawn hours, falling almost 13 cents, to $3.5065/lb.

Zinc rose slightly in early trading, but soon succumbed to the downward pressure of the day to close at $0.7959/lb., down over 3 cents. Nickel fell badly throughout trading Monday, ultimately ending just off its intraday low, at $8.0603/lb., down 15½ cents. Aluminum also trended down all day, dipping below $1.27/lb. just before noon.

While prices recovered slightly, aluminum still finished the day down 3 cents, at $1.2796/lb. Lead was not immune to the base metals’ woes on the…

The base metals were mostly in the black on Friday. Copper started up in the pre-dawn hours and kept pushing higher during most of the trading day, finishing barely off its intraday high at $3.8965/lb., up 5 cents.

The base metals were mixed on Thursday. Copper sank during the pre-dawn hours but took off during the first hour of New York trading, before easing later in the day and finishing at $3.8466/lb., up 2¼ cents.

The base metals were mixed on Friday. Copper was flat until the late morning, then shot upward, peaking around noon before flattening out after that to finish at $3.6656/lb., up 5 cents.

The base metals were mixed again on Wednesday. Copper sagged through the pre-dawn hours, but recaptured the lost ground during the New York session, finishing at $3.6395/lb., up a penny and a half.