Alan Young

Holiday Shopping Tips for Gold Stocks

Great analysis, thank you!

I find it astonishing that all these stocks have a beta (vs. S&P) of <1. What's with the stereotype that commodity and mining stocks are volatile?

Exploring Gold Miner Stocks: Mid-Year 2009 Analysis

Based on P/E, none of these are bargains. You have to think the price of gold will escalate substantially to get decent earnings.

Strategy for Volatile Times: Accumulate

For small-scale investors, accumulation adds significantly to transaction costs, so it's not the solution for everyone.

On the NG/oil divergence: IMO this reflects the fact that NG is traded locally (within each continent, generally) while Oil is traded all over the globe. There is more energy demand in Asia than in the US (relative to historic norms), so oil is up but the US NG market doesn't follow.

Commodities Are 'Red Hot' but Are They 'Green'?

GMiki's question is a good one--that perplexes me, too.
There is one commodity you can buy with assurance that it's "green": GRN. It's one of the Barclay's iPath single-commodity ETNs, which give you a nice choice of what to invest in.
However, these ETNs have a drawback which invites more scrutiny. The sponsor, Barclay's Bank, doesn't take possession of the actual commodities, but just trades paper futures. Should a liquidity problem arise, either with the futures market or with the bank, it would be tough luck for the note holder. Of course, we know that could never happen, right? Hmmm...