Bloomberg,Russell and Dines

1.Moody's, the credit agency, says that due to the cost of the new tax cut deal between Obama and the GOP, US Treasuries may lose their AAA rating within 2 years. The US losing its credit rating would be fantastic shock, yet it may happen. By the way, after they failed so miserably during the housing disaster, the credit agencies may be forced to be honest and do the required work.

2.The gold price continue to hold near its all-time high. And no wonder, with China's government allowing its
mainlanders to invest in foreign exchange-traded gold funds for the first time. Now that the quacks running the world's central banks have dumped most of their gold in favor of public ownership

3.Silver is outperforming gold, as it did in the 1970s. Silver is more speculative than gold and when it gets going will attract much more buying. At $30.27/oz reached on 6 Dec 10, silver was at its highest level since 15 Oct 1980.

4.There is an insatiable demand for energy in China. Seventy percent of its electricity is supplied by coal-fired power plants. There's a coal bubble forming. China currently burns half of the six billion tons of coal used every year on earth. The United States now ships coal to China all the way from West Virginia. And it's not just the high-end coal — or coke for making steel; the U.S. companies are shipping regular thermal coal halfway around the world.

5.On the uranium front, as recent strength in uranium-mining shares has been validated by higher prices for uranium metal.The weekly spot price has risen from $40 in Apr 09 to $61.75 currently.

COMMENT: The demand for energy seems endless, whether gas, coal, electricity, wind, solar and to a lesser extent, oil.

6.The first U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF) investing in companies that produce rare-earth elements and other strategic metals has been trading since November on the NYSE Arca Stock Exchange. Managed by Van Eck Global, the Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF trades under the symbol REMX. The ETF tracks an index comprising of 24 mining companies including Iluka Resources Ltd., the world’s biggest zircon producer, China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-based manufacturer and wholesaler of rare-earth products; and Titanium Metals Corp.

7.If you think you have it tough, read history books - Bill Maher

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