Zecco.com - Jim Smith's Blog

Uranium

crazyjimsmith — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 15:49:00 GMT

The last time that I wrote about Cameco (CCJ) was on the 26th of October 2006 and that was immediately after the flooding of their Cigar Lake mine. Back then I suggested that Cameco was a contrarian opportunity and the stock fell to $34.12 on news of the disaster, and in mid November Cameco fell to a low of $31...(read more)

Raytheon

crazyjimsmith — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 11:44:00 GMT

A while back I posted about Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) and how under the current environment enviornment I thought that it was good value. Back then the stock was at $49.05 and the stock has risen by almost 10% since then to be currently at $53.55. In my opinion the long term fundamental outlook for this company has not changed and even if President Bush does decide to pull US forces out of Iraq the geopolitics of China spending large amounts of money on military and military research and development will only drive further military spending by China’s neighbours who will need to keep up...(read more)

Oil Prices Rising?

crazyjimsmith — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 06:58:00 GMT

For a long time now oil has been range bound at the US$60 per barrel level. OPEC has already announced cuts and has said that more cuts are on the way, however traders have remained sceptical. Growing US stockpiles and a slowing US economy have also prevented oil from rallying...(read more)

Google Breaks 500

crazyjimsmith — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:57:00 GMT

When I first wrote about Google , the company had just posted their 3rd Quarter results and Google hit $459.97. I liked what I saw and posted my thoughts. Today Google broke past $500 and at the time of writing, Google is trading at $508.86, up 2.8% for the day...(read more)

Miners Continue To Consolidate

crazyjimsmith — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 02:56:00 GMT

The consolidation in the mining sector continues with news of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) making a US$26 billion cash and stock bid for copper giant Phelps Dodge (NYSE: PD) . Phelps Dodge stock closed at US$120.47 which represents 26% increase to yesterdays close...(read more)

Oil Slides To US$56

crazyjimsmith — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:21:00 GMT

The beginning of this article says it all. The price of oil sank by more than $2 a barrel Thursday, settling at its lowest level in a year as traders focused on the bearish aspects of conflicting market trends. OPEC is cutting output, but the U.S. economy is slowing; winter is near, but the country has an abundance of home heating fuels...(read more)

US CPI Down

crazyjimsmith — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:58:00 GMT

Here's the latest CPI data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. CONSUMER PRICE INDEX: OCTOBER 2006 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.5 percent in October, before seasonal adjustment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U...(read more)

Declining PPI Sets Up Rate Cuts

crazyjimsmith — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 02:42:00 GMT

Just how much the US economy has slowed can be shown by today’s release of the Producer Price Index from the Bureau Of Labor Statistics . PPI numbers reached a peak growth rate of .9%(adjusted) back in April and those strong numbers were one of the factors that prompted the Federal Reserve to maintain its policy of interest rate rises...(read more)

Oil Range Bound

crazyjimsmith — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:12:00 GMT

Oil prices remain stuck in a trading range between US$62 and US$57.80. The recently announced production cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day by OPEC have done little to help prices higher. Here's an AFP article where Iran's envoy suggests that further cuts are on the way...(read more)

Teck Cominco Set For Zinc Highs

crazyjimsmith — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:48:00 GMT

Here's part of a Bloomberg story on zinc prices hitting new highs and forecast to go higher: ``Zinc looks as though it's running out,'' said Adam Rowley, London-based analyst in an interview yesterday in Mumbai. ``When a commodity runs the price can go anywhere as we have seen in copper and nickel...(read more)

Supply Constraints Return For Oil

crazyjimsmith — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 02:36:00 GMT

Those OPEC cuts in October didn’t give oil prices the boost that I was expecting. Traders weren’t convinced about OPEC members having the stomach or resolve to carry out the promised cuts. Oil had a solid jump on NYMEX to be above US$59 today and the main reason was a possible rebel attack on production facilities in Nigeria...(read more)

Uranium Is Hot

crazyjimsmith — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 07:15:00 GMT

According to UXC the spot price of uranium is at US$60 per pound. With uranium supplied from weapons depletion programs drying up and the recent setback at Cameco's Cigar Lake, ongoing supply constraints are set to continue, while demand grows. That's the basic scenario that is behind uranium...(read more)

Oil Below US$60

crazyjimsmith — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:23:00 GMT

If you have invested in oil or biofuel stocks then you probably won't be too happy about the oil price falling back below US$60. Events having an adverse effect on the oil price include a lower than expected US GDP of 1.6%, traders still being unconvinced about OPEC's ability to carry out its promised production cuts , and healthy US stockpiles ...(read more)

Redhat Drops Its Hat

crazyjimsmith — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 07:53:00 GMT

Redhat got spanked today on news of Oracle’s announcement to offer half-price technical support in an attempt to lure away the smaller company's customers. Here's the official announcement from Oracle and here is the official rebuttal from Redhat. The market didn't like the news with Redhat stock dropping 24% to close at $14...(read more)

Raytheon (NYSE:RTN)

crazyjimsmith — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 06:35:00 GMT

I don't think it is too late to jump onto some defence stocks yet. Raytheon is a stock that has reported some solid numbers for its third quarter . Here are the highlights from the website. Highlights Earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations of $0...(read more)