Biotech M&A at Four-Year High as Pharma Faces Expiring Patents
Source: Reuters, Soyoung Kim and Paritosh Bansal  (8/2/12)
"Big pharma's preference for commercial-stage assets, rather than clinical trial-stage drugs carrying regulatory approval risk, means that companies tend to pursue multibillion-dollar transactions rather than going for smaller deals." More >

Renewable Energy Plagued by a Host of New Problems
Source: Kent Moors, Oil & Energy Investor  (8/1/12)
"The primary ally of alternative sourcing—the acceleration in the price of hydrocarbons—has been absent. So if you're wondering why I spend so much time these days talking about oil and gas, the answer is simple. It's the price." More >

Make Money in Gold with Prospect-Generator and Royalty Companies: Adrian Day
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report   (8/1/12)
Adrian Day, principal of Adrian Day Asset Management, which manages portfolios for high-net-worth clients, believes that it is time for the gold pendulum to swing away from the excessive pessimism in the market and finds that now is an exceptional time to buy gold equities. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Day explains why gold is ready to rebound and why prospect-generator and royalty companies are king. More >

What Moves Gold Stocks?: Jocelyn August
Source: George S. Mack of The Gold Report   (8/1/12)
Gold and precious metals stocks are certainly affected by the price of the underlying commodity, but the most important catalysts that move prices revolve around resource assessments and production schedules. Sagient Research Senior Analyst Jocelyn August watches her companies like a hawk and records detailed data on how stocks move when certain events are made public. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, August shares her thoughts about a select group of stocks and what events might move these shares over the next quarter. More >

Gold Tied to Central Bank Moves
Source: Ben Traynor, BullionVault  (8/1/12)
"'Investors [are] continuing to favor the U.S. dollar over bullion as the key safe-haven trade,' says a note from ANZ Bank." More >

Global Conditions Are Conspiring for a Swift Upswing in Uranium Prices
Source: Elliott Gue, ETF Daily News  (8/1/12)
"China's insatiable appetite for electricity will continue to drive the nuclear renaissance. Twenty-six nuclear power reactors are under construction on the Mainland, with an additional 51 facilities at some stage of advanced planning." More >

The US Energy Supply Mix Debate Continues
Source: Jason Fordney, Platts  (8/1/12)
"Low natural gas prices thanks to hydraulic fracturing and a drop in demand for electricity are having big effects on the use of coal for power generation." More >

Mitsubishi Opens Lithium-Ion Batteries Separator Plant for Electric Vehicles in Japan
Source: Reve  (8/1/12)
"To meet rising demand for lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, laptops and other devices, Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. is opening a second facility in Japan making polyolefin-based films for lithium-ion batteries." More >

China's Energy Frontier Expands to Disputed Waters
Source: Reuters, Randy Fabi and Chen Aizhu  (8/1/12)
"First came the diplomatic offensive, then the flexing of military muscle. Now, China is moving ahead with its first major tender of oil and gas blocks in disputed parts of its waters." More >

The Quiet Outperformance of Recent Biotech IPOs
Source: Forbes, Bruce Booth  (8/1/12)
"New biotech IPOs have quietly been putting points on the board with their post-IPO performance. It's now fair to say they have resoundingly outperformed their tech cousins in the public markets." More >

New Hope for Alzheimer's Disease
Source: Gail Dutton, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News  (8/1/12)
"Optimism has been fostered by the more than 150 firms working in Alzheimer's pace and the countless approaches being explored." More >

There's a Pink Gold Rush for Potash: Fadi Benjamin
Source: Peter Byrne of The Energy Report  (7/31/12)
After a tough five years, the price of agricultural potash is rebounding. Demand for fertilizer is on the rise in China, Brazil and the United States, and mining firms are rushing to find new sources of the pink potassium salts. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Fadi Benjamin, mining analyst with Northern Securities Co., shares his top picks in the junior space and talks about the pros and cons facing entrants in an industry dominated by a handful of seniors. More >

Rare Earths and Graphite—The Critical Factors for Success: Gareth Hatch
Source: JT Long of The Critical Metals Report  (7/31/12)
Comparisons are useful in evaluating a company, but in the rare earth market, it's not as simple as a spreadsheet. With so many variables in the mix, no two projects are exactly alike, and each has its relative strengths and weaknesses. But out of hundreds of juniors digging for rare earths and graphite, how can investors evaluate who is likely to be among the handful to finally sell their minerals to end users? In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Technology Metals Research Founding Principal Gareth Hatch examines the supply chain to identify advanced companies with good odds for success. He also shares some telling metrics that help show how companies measure up to their peers. More >

Have You Overlooked This Piece of the US Economic Puzzle?
Source: David Galland, Casey Research  (7/31/12)
"In some ways, gaining an understanding of the U.S. economy and its current trajectory is as simple as recognizing a few fundamental facts." More >

World's Gold Deposits Are Drying Up
Source: Mining.com, Michael Allan McCrae  (7/31/12)
"Of the 439 mines or deposits over 1 Moz, only 189 are in production and have an owner with over $1.8B market capitalization. The remainder are owned by juniors, private companies or government-sponsored enterprises." More >

Gold and Silver Await the Starting Gun
Source: Bob Kirtley, SK Options Trading  (7/31/12)
"This week is another political week in that we have meetings across the board involving the ECB and the Federal Reserve followed by the job numbers on Friday. All of these have an effect on the investment community in that investment funds tend to stay on the sidelines until the direction of the markets becomes clear." More >

Most-Accurate Gold Forecasters Split over Gold's Next Step
Source: Bloomberg, Debarati Roy  (7/31/12)
"The only three analysts to correctly predict gold's biggest quarterly slump in four years are now split, reflecting investors' diverging views on the probability of central banks doing more to shore up growth." More >

Junior Miners Still Giving the Street Something to Talk About: Philip Ker
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report   (7/30/12)
Which junior miners are giving the Street something to talk about? Some shining examples of promising companies with good balance sheets do exist despite what seems like a market dominated by bad news. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Philip Ker, an analyst with Vancouver-based Union Securities, shares the good news his latest site visits have revealed about projects in Nevada and Mexico. More >

Some Smaller Gold and Silver Miners Pay Decent Dividends, Too
Source: Kip Keen, Mineweb  (7/30/12)
"There aren't many precious metal producers issuing dividends, but there is a good handful, and they are serious about sharing profits." More >

Oil Prices: Three Factors to Watch this Week
Source: Diane Alter, Money Morning  (7/30/12)
"There are a few catalysts that could propel energy higher this week, thanks to the quest to save the Eurozone, the FOMC meeting and Iran's moves to choke the Strait of Hormuz." More >

Gold Investors Waiting for Signal
Source: Ben Traynor, BullionVault  (7/30/12)
"Prices for gold bullion fell below $1,620/oz during Monday morning's London session, slightly below last week's close, while stocks gained and U.S. Treasuries fell, with markets focused on key monetary policy decisions due later in the week." More >

Gold ETFs Turn Higher on ECB Pledge as Central Banks Meet
Source: ETF Trends  (7/30/12)
"Silver ETP holdings have been on a modest upward trend since early July, indicating some investors view the recent silver price range as a good entry point." More >

As the US Corn Crop Withers, Ethanol Markets Soar and then Slip
Source: John Kingston, Platts  (7/30/12)
"These are the times that ethanol opponents warned against. This past week has been the one where ethanol burst into the news, and where markets gyrated sharply." More >

India's Blackout Underscores Need for Energy Investment
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, Bruce Einhorn and Kartikay Mehrotra  (7/30/12)
"In India, it's a fact of life: The power goes out. A lot. With the country's power plants and electricity grid unable to keep up with demand in the world's second-largest country, blackouts are everyday occurrences." More >

For Uranium, an Exit From the Doghouse?
Source: InvestorPlace, Aaron Levitt  (7/30/12)
"Things may be looking up for the sector. Rising nuclear plant construction across emerging markets is improving the supply-demand situation. Perhaps more importantly, Japan’s sleeping reactors are starting to wake." More >