R.I. Update for Tuesday, 26 August 2008

TOP STORIES    Special Got Gold Report - Silver Investors Sucker Punched by Two U.S. Banks By Gene Arensberg, 25 Aug 2008, 06:51 AM Once the evidence now coming to light reaches the mainstream Wall Street press, just about everyone will likely conclude that silver investors worldwide were just sucker punched by two, very well-funded U.S. banks. Canada's Big Oil Heavily Lobbying Ottawa By Tim Naumetz, 25 Aug 2008, 12:00 PM The Canadian corporate giants dominating Alberta oil sands extraction and refining lobbied the federal government intensively this summer, federal records show. Blue Note Makes Cuts By Canadian Press, 25 Aug 2008, 04:27 PM The company is cutting its zinc mine's workforce and reducing spending. Amber Light For Gold, Platinum By Jean Temkin, 25 Aug 2008, 10:34 AM Prices are dictated by supply and demand. Until the middle of last week, the value of platinum had dropped to a 10-month low and gold to a nine-month low. Then came a sudden switch from supply to demand for precious metals. The initial reason for the supply situation — rising metals sales — was a falling oil price. Commons Committee To Probe Role Of Speculators In Oil Prices By Terry Pedwell, 25 Aug 2008, 03:01 AM Limits should be placed on the kind of investors who are able to buy into commodity markets, a Commons committee investigating high energy prices will be told this week. Commission Proposes ?1 Billion to Help Farmers in Developing Countries By Karin Bendz, U.S. Mission to the E.U., 25 Aug 2008, 01:13 PM The European Commission has proposed a special, ?1 billion financing facility to help farmers in developing countries. The programme is designed to support countries hardest hit by rising food prices. Gold Field's Reserves "Strongest" In Industry By Sapa, 25 Aug 2008, 10:21 AM The company's reserve base remains one of the strongest in the world, it said today. The History Of Spaghetti And Trade By Marc Flandreau, 25 Aug 2008, 04:25 AM As WTO negotiations have failed, pragmatists have embraced preferential trade agreements. This article presents new evidence on the Anglo-French treaty of 1860 and argues that, contrary to all conventional wisdom, history's most celebrated bilateral deal did not stimulate trade. That lesson should give pause to modern advocates of preferential trade agreements. Vanadium Industry, 2008 Outlook By CPM Group, 25 Aug 2008, 04:55 PM Just released, the report provides in-depth analysis of: global vanadium mine, slag, and secondary production; demand fundamentals, with an outlook for each application; inventory estimates; and prices. Both vanadium pentoxide and ferro-vanadium prices are forecast through 2018. Added need for vanadium-bearing steels and super alloys, coupled with shifting supply dynamics, also are detailed. America's Growing Skills Problem By James J. Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, 25 Aug 2008, 12:31 PM As America's mines, mills, oilfields, and farms become more 'high tech' they will have difficulty with personnel. More than 20% of American workers cannot understand the instructions written in a medical prescription. A further consequence of the skills problem is a slowdown in growth of productivity of the workforce.
PITPUNDIT BLOG  Japanese steelmakers go ironclad  Both Cheney and Pelosi like natural gas  Is the dragon's appetite for commodties sated?  Coal on the cheap in Indonesia?  A Trafalgar for zinc?  Diesel fuel tax cut contemplated  Oil-to-natural gas premium broadest in 18 years  Dollar decline done?  Cleveland Cliffs-Harbinger at loggerheads  China 'gets (multi-hued) gold': its largest overseas investment  Nova Scotia surplus, energy pressures an uncertainty  Costs hammer mining across the board  Is natural gas getting enough respect?  Harvest is robust  Overreaction in oil, possible takeovers  U.S.-Australia to ease investing  Precision Drilling Trust Buying Grey Wolf For $2 Billion  Small miners afloat on the sea of commodities  Post-Olympics, China's copper demand to return  'Polarizer' to head Pennsylvania DER  Alberta rolling in dough  Ford out for a handout in Oz  Indonesia on the march  Carbon trading--business' lack of self-confidence  U.S. troops out of Iraq: 2011
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