Investopedia: Can Alexco Pick Up The Pace?

The universe of mining stocks has certainly changed over the past decade. The popularity of pure bullion ETFs, such as the SPDR Gold Shares (ARCA:GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (ARCA:SLV), has given investors the option of bypassing the agonies and ecstasies of individual companies in achieving exposure to precious metals. That said, well-run mining companies can still offer alpha to investors. The question, however, is whether Alexco Resource Corp (AMEX:AXU) deserves to be called "well-run" and whether it can achieve its production and cost efficiency goals.

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Commodity HQ: Stocks To Buy For Hyperinflation

With the Federal Reserve firing up the presses for a third round of quantitative easing, it’s only a matter of time before more talk of imminent hyperinflation pops up. While calm discussions on the prospects of hyperinflation are rare (and there’s often a tinge of hysteria or paranoia around the topic), the reality is that the U.S. does have some disturbing trends working against it in terms of demographics, debt/deficits, and a policy of easy money that debases the fiat currency.



What’s more, thumbing through the history books shows that periods of extreme inflation or hyperinflation (definitions vary) are not all that uncommon around the world. Post-World War I Germany is probably the most oft-cited example, but a range of countries including Greece, Russia, Argentina, China, Brazil, and Zimbabwe (most recently) have seen stretches of inflation severe enough to call it hyperinflation.

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http://commodityhq.com/2012/how-to-prepare-yourself-for-hyperinflation/

Commodity HQ: GDX vs. SIL vs. CU - How They've Performed So Far In 2012

It has been an interesting year for investors and traders focused on the metals. While ongoing economic uncertainty and recent additional monetary stimulus from the Fed has kept gold in the news, silver has quietly had a strong run as well. Amidst that uncertainty, industrial metals like copper have not done nearly so well.



What has that background meant for the leading metal miner ETFs?

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http://commodityhq.com/2012/gdx-vs-sil-vs-cu-how-theyve-performed-so-far-in-2012/

Commodity HQ: 5 Best-Performing Commodities Of 2012

Through the end of September, 2012 has by and large been another solid year for commodities. Measuring commodity performance can be a little tricky though, as many commodity ETFs and ETNs hold various contracts throughout the year and roll those contracts according to their investment mandate. What that means is that ETF/ETN performance can vary from the underlying commodities [for more commodity ETF news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].


While many regular investors do find that commodity futures offer certain advantages as investment options, a large number look to get their exposure through ETFs and ETNs, and it is the performance of these vehicles that we will use as proxies for this article.

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Commodity HQ: 5 Commodity ETFs With Active Options

Options are, and please pardon the obvious pun, an invaluable option when it comes to crafting trading and investment strategies. At the simplest level, options offer a relatively simple and straightforward form of leverage for investors who want more to pursue more aggressive strategies. Options can also be very useful in hedging risk, creating income from securities that do not otherwise pay dividends, and executing strategies that exploit mispricings tied to volatility, timing and other factors.



While there are a host of stocks with active (liquid) options contracts, and likewise many liquid index options, that’s not always the case with options on ETFs. It’s also very important to note that while index options are European-style, ETF options are American-style options. All of that said, here are some of the commodity-related ETFs with the most active options [for more commodity ETF news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

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http://commodityhq.com/2012/5-commodity-etfs-with-active-options/

Investopedia: Odyssey Leads Investors On Treasure Hunt

Sell-side analysts desperate to add a little flair to dry research reports will try to spice things up by talking about "hidden treasure," "deep dives," or "plumbing the depths". Well, there is a company that actually does all of that. Odyssey Marine Exploration (Nasdaq:OMEX) is primarily in the business of finding and salvaging wrecked ships and it may be one of the strangest companies that trades on U.S. exchanges.

What They Do
Odyssey Marine operates several simultaneous and overlapping businesses. The core of what the company does is the use of advanced underwater technologies to find, characterize and salvage shipwrecks - often ships from the Age of Sail that sank with ample amounts of gold or silver on board. That is not all that the company does, though. Odyssey Marine also assists in more conventional salvage and recovery operations, conducts deepwater mineral exploration projects, and operates a museum exhibit that highlights some of the artifacts that the company has recovered from shipwrecks.


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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Odyssey-Leads-Investors-On-Treasure-Hunt-OMEX-GLD-SLV-NEM-ABX-RTP-BHP0927.aspx

2010 - The Year Silver Caught Up

Gold has a special hold on the minds of some investors; so much so that sometimes other precious metals are left behind in the rush to buy the yellow metal. While silver spent much of the recession rally lagging gold, 2010 was a little different and silver dramatically outperformed gold. Just how well has silver done? Within Morningstar's industry lists, only one industry has done better than silver, and the one-year appreciation is better than 90%. 

ETF Bullion
As has been true in gold, investors have flocked to the convenience of a bullion-supported ETF. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) now boasts over $10 billion in assets and holds 350 million ounces of silver in trust - enough to meet the industrial demands of the world for about a year. As it tracks the price of silver (minus a management fee and some ephemeral premium/discount from day to day trading), it is no surprise to see this ETF up more than 60% for 2010, trouncing the better-than 25% performance of SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) as of late December. (For related reading, check out Commodities: Silver.)

Market Digs the Miners
As miners are clearly leveraged to the underlying prices of the metals they mine, it is no great surprise to see that the miners did even better than the metal in 2009. Not only is this relatively typical within the industry (again, since miners are leveraged to the metal), but it may be even more so in silver as there are relatively few investable silver companies listed on U.S. exchanges. Even at the end of 2010, a phenomenally strong year for the sector, there are just eight stocks labeled as silver miners with market capitalizations in excess of $250 million.

Among the larger players, Silvercorp (NYSE:SVM), MAG Silver (NYSE:MVG) and Endeavor Silver (NYSE:EXK) led the charge. Even the worst-performing stock in the group, Silver Standard (Nasdaq:SSRI) handily beat the market for the year.


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