Natural Resource-Related Stocks Show Promise: Frank Barbera
Source: JT Long of The Gold Report   (5/21/12)
From gold and silver to energy and oil services, Frank Barbera, editor of The Gold Stock Technician Newsletter, sees a bright future for commodities and their equities. In this exclusive Gold Report interview, Barbera cites large blue-chip and midtier mining companies, especially those now paying dividends, as favorites and suggests that investors looking to protect retirement savings invest in bond funds outside the U.S. More >

China's Domestic Natural Gas Production Throttles Back
Source: Yen Ling Song, Platts  (5/21/12)
"A combination of less domestic demand and rising imports means that China is cutting back on its own production of natural gas. But there's more to the relationships that lead to this reduction." More >

Gold: The World's Friend for 5,000 Years
Source: Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors  (5/21/12)
"Beware of the herd mentality that accompanies tech stocks. Groupon has lost more money than all precious metals funds' losses combined. Yet investors have 'defriended' gold recently in favor of the dollar." More >

What Is Volume Telling Us About Gold Stocks?
Source: Jeff Clark, Casey Research  (5/21/12)
"If buyers become the dominant player in the market, which could easily occur once gold heads north again, stock prices could push dramatically higher." More >

How Strong Is Global Gold Demand?
Source: Eric McWhinnie, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (5/21/12)
"According to the latest 'Gold Demand Trends' report by the World Gold Council, the world continues to have a strong appetite for the precious metal, despite higher prices in the first quarter of 2012 when compared to a year earlier." More >

World's First Stem-Cell Drug Approved
Source: Medical News Today  (5/21/12)
"The decision is historic as it's both the first stem-cell drug going into formal use, as well as the first treatment for graft-versus-host disease, a devastating breakdown occurring after a bone marrow transplant that kills around 80% of children affected." More >

An Extraordinary Time to Be in the Driver's Seat: Aaron Kennon
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report   (5/18/12)
Aaron Kennon, co-founder and CEO of Clear Harbor Asset Management, shares some of his company's trade secrets in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. Educating yourself is critical before investing, and Kennon suggests questions to ask, what specialized knowledge your adviser should know and why small-cap and junior resource equities are offering surprisingly thrilling returns. More >

The Recovery Is an Illusion: John Williams
Source: JT Long of The Gold Report  (5/18/12)
John Williams, author of the ShadowStats.com newsletter, shines light on his interpretations of the GDP, CPI, unemployment and other government statistics in this exclusive Gold Report interview from the recent Recovery Reality Check conference. Highlights include what the money supply measures tell him and why QE3 will be a hard sell. More >

Counterattack by Bulls Sets Up Gold for Weekly Gain
Source: Ben Traynor, BullionVault  (5/18/12)
"Heading into the weekend, gold prices looked set for a slight weekly gain by Friday lunchtime in London, having risen 4% from Wednesday's low." More >

Dramatic Turnaround for Silver?
Source: Hubert Moolman  (5/18/12)
"Patterns indicate a dramatic turnaround in the price of silver is coming—it might have started already." More >

Big Majority of Survey Participants See Higher Gold Prices Next Week
Source: Kitco   (5/18/12)
"A solid majority of survey participants expect prices to rally next week, especially since June gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange held the low set on Wednesday of $1,526.70/oz. Many said the selloff was overdone so the rebound was in due course." More >

Gold Rises 1%, Eyes Weekly Gain as Euro Recovers
Source: Reuters, Jan Harvey  (5/18/12)
"Gold bucked the trend in the wider markets, with European shares falling 0.6% and oil prices slipping to their lowest this year." More >

Bottom Is In, But Is It September 2008 or October 2008?
Source: Jordan Roy-Byrne, The Daily Gold  (5/18/12)
"Judging from the technicals and recent sentiment data, it is clear that the gold stocks are currently more oversold and much closer to a major bottom relative to the failed recovery in the summer of 2008." More >

Investing in Alternative Energy Stocks: Five Solar Power Winners
Source: Patrick Vail, Money Morning   (5/18/12)
"It has been a tough year for solar power. Solyndra famously imploded, the price of polysilicon dropped 60% and a glut of natural gas has made it the 'new' alternative energy source. But make no mistake about it: Solar power stocks are going to be long-term winners." More >

Gold Stock Capitulation
Source: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence  (5/18/12)
"Capitulation, the wholesale abandonment of a sector by traders pushed to their emotional limits, is one of the greatest buy signals. And the intense technical weakness and extreme sentimental distress in gold stocks sure looks like one." More >

Two Culprits in the Oil Demand-Pricing Disconnect
Source: Kent Moors, Oil & Energy Investor  (5/18/12)
"As we wait for a 'floor' in the price of oil, the pundits continue to talk about declining oil demand in the U.S. and Europe. But the figures are beginning to tell us something very different—at least on one side of the pond." More >

2012 Chinese Rare Earth Export Quotas Updated
Source: Gareth Hatch, Resource Investor  (5/18/12)
"On Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced an update to the 2012 allocations of rare-earth export quotas that were first issued in December 2011. This follows a number of other recent announcements from China." More >

MLP Thoughts: Last Week, Dubbed
Source: Hinds Howard, MLP HINDSight  (5/18/12)
"This week's MLP price action felt like a crappy copy of last week. Similar, but worse." More >

Five Companies in the Casey Portfolio Worth Watching: Alex Daley
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (5/17/12)
Biotech and medtech expose investors to rapid growth in healthcare innovation. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Chief Investment Strategist Alex Daley of Casey's Extraordinary Technology matches science to unmet needs to bring big ideas and big returns to investors. More >

Lithium Demand Will Rise Significantly: Mansur Khan
Source: George S. Mack of The Energy Report  (5/17/12)

Lithium is lightest of all metallic elements, with low density and high electrochemical potential. These are essential characteristics that make the element especially suitable for use in various power-storage applications, including electric vehicles (EVs). In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Equity Research Analyst Mansur Khan of Dundee Capital Markets talks about his favorite junior lithium stocks that he expects to be major beneficiaries of dramatic growth in lithium-ion battery demand over the coming decade. More >

Water Key to Fracking
Source: Nick Hodge, Wealth Daily  (5/17/12)
"Just as with the gold rush, it's going to be the providers of picks and shovels who grow richest, not the prospectors. Clean water is the picks and shovels for the fracking industry." More >

National Strategic and Critical Minerals Act Wins US House Committee Approval
Source: Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb  (5/17/12)
"The U.S. Department of Energy identified the 7–10 year period to obtain mining permits in the U.S. as compared to the average 1–2 years in Australia as one of the principal barriers to new U.S. mining ventures." More >

Precious Metals Market Manipulation?
Source: Doug Casey, Casey Research  (5/17/12)
"I'm not at all disinclined to believe tales of manipulation of markets by the state; I expect it, and as a speculator I relish it. But I like to see evidence for everything. And extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." More >

How Gold Demand Remains Resilient
Source: Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors  (5/17/12)
"Demand for gold was relatively resilient in the first quarter of 2012, with global demand falling 5% on a year-over-year basis, says the World Gold Council." More >

Major Long-Term Bottoms Forming in Gold and Commodities
Source: Toby Connor, Gold Scents  (5/17/12)
"I think the 30-point rally in gold Thursday is signaling that gold has put in its yearly cycle bottom." More >