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Strategies & Market Trends : Natural Resource Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roebear who wrote (3118)	11/8/2003 1:34:48 PM
From: edward miller	Respond to of 108920

Thank you for the confirmation of my suspicions. I have not purchased physical gold yet, so I have no personal experience such as yours. It's nice to know the old thinking cap still works 8^D By the way I think your statement must be the best contrarian bottom signal I have ever read: "Many were no longer coin shops in anything but name, having NO precious metal coins for sale. None whatsoever!! They were selling anything from antiques to military surplus, anything to stay in business." Please do keep us posted on your read of the health of this gold bull. Ed

To: Roebear who wrote (3118)	11/8/2003 5:10:19 PM
From: Jim Willie CB	Respond to of 108920

Winter to Be More Volatile, Warmer (Nov. 7, AP) -- Mother Nature will be volatile this winter, and U.S. energy suppliers should brace for dramatic shifts in demand for heating fuel from month to month, and even week to week, forecasters said Friday. The season's volatile weather is expected to include some colder-than-normal spells in the Midwest and Plains. Four out of six weather-watchers surveyed by Reuters predicted this winter would be slightly warmer than last year. But it will be punctuated by wild swings in temperature due to the absence of a strong El Nino or La Nina in the Pacific Ocean. El Nino is an abnormal warming of the waters in the equatorial Pacific. It usually leads to a mild winter in the United States. The last severe El Nino occurred in the winter of 1997-1998, causing drought in Australia and Indonesia and flooding in Ecuador and Peru. La Nina is the exact opposite. It often follows El Nino, which means "Christ Child" in Spanish and got its name from South American anchovies fishermen who first noticed its appearance at Christmastime. "We're going to see outstanding cold spells throughout the U.S., balanced by unseasonable warmth," said AccuWeather senior forecaster Joe Bastardi. "Our forecast emphasizes volatility, including cold snaps in the Northeast, and colder-than-normal weather in the Midwest and Plains," said Matt Rogers, manager of energy weather for EarthSat in Maryland. While the consensus view that this winter will not be as cold as last year is soothing to consumers tired of sky-high fuel prices, cold snaps can cause supply crunches and, as a result, price spikes. Last year, a stretch of abnormally frigid temperatures struck the Northeast and pushed residential heating oil prices up to a record high near $2 a gallon as suppliers scrambled to meet the quick jump in demand. So far this year, mild weather in the Northeast has helped oil suppliers build up stocks of heating oil, while cold in the West has lit a fire under natural gas prices. The U.S. Department of Energy forecast an average price for residential heating oil of $1.315 a gallon through fourth-quarter 2003 and first-quarter 2004, sharply lower than current prices of roughly $1.38. The department also predicted an average price for natural gas of $9.20 per thousand cubic feet. Worries over fuel supply have been heightened by a cut in OPEC output of 900,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 3.5 percent, which went into effect on Nov 1. The oil cartel, which controls 40 percent of world exports, will meet again December 4 to discuss output. Forecasters had differing views of what Mother Nature would bring this winter to the Northeast, the world's largest heating oil user. Their predictions ran the gamut from above-normal to near-normal to below-normal temperatures. Most agreed on wide swings in temperature and precipitation. The U.S. Midwest, a natural-gas consumption hub, was expected to be snowier and colder than normal on average. The southern half of the country was forecast to be warmer than normal. Craig Solberg, forecaster for Freese-Notis, predicted November would average colder than normal in the West and warmer than normal in the East, continuing the current trend. Both AccuWeather and EarthSat forecasters predicted December could be the coldest month of the winter compared to the average.