Short-Term Key: Neutral Long-Term Key: -11 (Neutral)

 

The financial news seems like a mad roller coaster ride at the moment. Expert opinion seems to flip-flop on a daily basis from optimistic to pessimistic and back again. All the data seems contradictory.

 

In fact, the only consensus threatening to emerge (but still lurking in the shadows) is that resource supplies are growing tight. It's the one factor that seems to make sense of everything else.

 

For example, last night Bloomberg ran this headline: “Copper Shortage Looms in 2011 for Macquarie as Freeport Sees Supply Limits.” The article quotes not just analysts but major copper mining outfits like Codelco and Freeport who claim that too few high-grade copper discoveries have been made in recent years, so they are forced to mine deposits that are either lower grade or deeper and more expensive.