• The Maniac Trader takes the stage – your ringside seats here,
• Where in the world is “New South Shanghai?”
• Live From Vancouver 2008 audio kits now available and plenty more…

*** Rude Midweek Investment Alert ***

Before we delve into your regular reading below, I wanted to give you a quick heads-up on a phenomenal buying opportunity first.

You probably already know that the best and brightest minds in contrarian thinking are meeting here in Vancouver this week to discuss investment trends in this time of risk and scarcity. Everyone from the legendary Jim Rogers – co-founder of the market-stomping Quantum Fund and bestselling author of Investment Biker – to Doug Casey, Bill Bonner, Rick Rule and a host of other leading thinkers are here.

What you may not know is that the symposium is still available to you…on special CD and MP3 media packages. Yesterday we ran a couple of speeches from Symposium and announced a special offer for these media packages.

Unsurprisingly, they are selling like hotcakes.

A set of CDs (about a dozen or so, I think) will set you back less than $100 and for $149 you can grab all the Symposium action on MP3 – including the tips, trends and insights from all those above – for $149. Click Here To Order.

The price jumps immediately after the conference wraps-up so, if you can, be sure to take advantage of this unique offer.

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Joel Bowman, reporting from Vancouver, Canada…

For a sneak preview of what’s going on here at the 2008 Agora Financial Investment Symposium: A View From the Peak, here’s a link to one of my favorite speakers, Kevin Kerr of the Resource Trader Alert.

I last caught up with Kevin in Abu Dhabi in the UAE where he was presenting his “Maniac Trader” strategies for playing the explosive resource market to a group of international mega-fund managers. The attendees at that particular conference ponied-up $10,000 a ticket to hear Kevin’s insights but, as an Executive Series reader, you can grab a guest pass to what he likes to call the “secret millionaire’s market” right here. Kevin Kerr’s Guest Pass Offer

Watch Kevin Kerr’s Presentation Here

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Once inside, you’ll have a chance to legally “withdraw” $810 or more per week — and you’ll be able to deposit the money directly into your retirement account! Grab Your Pass Here

——————————————–

Did You Notice…New South Shanghai?

Most Australians would be offended by the term “New South Shanghai,” but the first time Dan Denning floated the concept to me I was more excited than anything else.

The idea is simple, but highly lucrative. As China continues it’s voracious industrialization and urbanization, it is inhaling resources at a rate never seen before. Already the world’s largest consumer of steel, China recently became a net exporter and it’s appetite for everything from uranium, iron
ore, coking coal, copper, nickel ect. is mind-boggling.

“Great!” you might say. “But where is it mining all the raw materials to power this growth?”

“Shanghai’s skyline begins in the Pilbara,” Dan told the audience here this week. The Pilbara is a resource-rich area in north Western Australia; a state about six or seven times the size of Texas.

With it’s massive natural resource endowments and a distinct geographical advantage over its South American competitors, savvy investors will be looking to capitalize on the wealth Down Under.

After relocating to Australia a couple of years back, Dan’s been scouring the vast land for relatively unknown mining plays in your editor’s old backyard. I spoke to Dan last night here in Vancouver and asked if he could provide a link to his latest Australian Resource & Mining Report for our Rude audience.

Just this morning he sent through a link to what he calls the “Pilbara Profit Secret” that could propel seven unknown small caps to stratospheric highs. Check it out here.

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[Rude Endnote: Jim Rogers and Doug Casey are about to hit the stage here, so we’ll leave it there for today. If possible, we’ll try to sneak another video link into tomorrow’s issue so you can grab a peek at what’s going on up here. In the meantime, be sure to check out that CD offer before the price jumps as soon as this symposium is over.

Until tomorrow…

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

aussiejoel@the-rude-awakening.com

• Gas pump grief: American’s linger between denial and anger,
• Stocks are down, real estate is down, commodities are up,
• Brazil gets an upgrade on Mother Earth’s riches and more…

Eric Fry, reporting from Reno, Nevada…

Stocks are falling.

June of 2008 was the worst June for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1930, when the Dow plummeted 18%. In the June just completed the Dow fell “only” 9.3%.

…And real estate is falling.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices is falling faster than at any time in its 20-year history.

…But most commodity prices are flirting with new all-time highs.

Maybe these price trends will soon reverse themselves. Or maybe, as Kevin Kerr explains in the column below, commodity price will continue soaring for many years to come.

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——————————————–

The Slow Death of the American Lifestyle
By Kevin Kerr

The world keeps turning and the world’s natural resources keep getting used up. Despite this elementary fact, the “experts” continue to debate whether or not resources are running low. But the evidence is pretty clear, at least to this trader.

In the past year, we have seen prices explode in the oil and agriculture markets. And this could be just the beginning of the rally, not the end, as some would have you believe. Personally, I think we are about halfway to the new top for many commodities. That means $200 oil (easily) and gold at $1,500-2,000. The agriculture markets have even further to go.

Key commodities are becoming more and more scarce. So we can expect to see more suffering in the poorest countries first. Then the economic impact will work its way up the food chain (no pun intended).

The facts are fairly grim if we look at them closely. But very few Americans understand the ramifications.

In her famous book On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross describes the stages of grief:

• Denial: “It can’t be happening”
• Anger: “Why me? It’s not fair”
• Bargaining: “Just let me live to see my children graduate”
• Depression: “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”
• Acceptance: “It’s going to be OK.”

The American public is going through the stages of grief right now. Rising prices are just a market-based signal that we are losing our economic and resource abundance. As the American Dream fades away, it’s like a death in the family.

Right now, I think we are between the stages of denial and anger. Ask yourself these questions: What do you think when you pull up to the fuel pump and have to pay $4 for a gallon of regular gas, or nearly $5 for a gallon of diesel? Or how about when you go to the supermarket and have to pay $4 for a gallon of “store brand” milk, or the same price for a loaf of “store brand” bread? Are your emotions between disbelief and anger? Are you saying to yourself, “Hey, what the heck is going on?” (I’m cleaning it up a bit because this is a family-friendly publication.)

No commodity has hit Americans in the wallet harder than energy. Over the last couple of years, the prices of oil and gasoline have more than doubled. But even with these dramatic price increases, Americans continue to drive their cars. We have seen a very small decrease in gasoline usage – only about 1% or so.

We still like to drive our big SUVs. We still drive alone to work. Most people rarely take public transportation (if there is any). And we love to run our air conditioners full blast while watching the documentaries on global warming and dying polar bears on our 62-inch plasma TVs.

We complain. But we are still in denial. “This can’t really be happening,” we tell ourselves. “The price or gasoline will surely be dropping back below $3.00 a gallon.”

Yes, we like to grumble when we fill up those big SUVs, mostly because it’s easier to complain than make the tough changes that are needed. We feel entitled to keep living as we do. Hey, after all, we’ve earned it. Right?Rather than make difficult choices, we are in that denial stage and buy the line from the government and media that all is well.

The facts and the fiction often get mixed up when discussing the issue of “Peak Everything.” Take the surging price of crude oil. Some people (including a lot of politicians) want to blame the traders and speculators. A lot of people blame OPEC. The list of culprits goes on ad infinitum.

The fact remains that it’s not just one reason or another that we are in this energy disaster; it’s actually all of these reasons and others. It’s a culmination of many years of poor energy policy, shortsighted planning (if you can even call it planning) and an overdose of arrogance that only
superpowers can have.

It’s like a football team saying, “We’re No. 1 always will be.” So the team stops training hard. Players quit working out and coming to practice. The coaches just relax and forget about recruiting or developing new talent. Nobody designs new plays or bothers to scout the opponents to see what they are up to. And then the team expects to go out into the world and bring home the trophy every year. “Hey, we deserve it. Right?”

Or go back to the analogy of the Titanic. The ship was state of the art. It was not “supposed” to be able to sink. But now as the water rushes in and the ship is dropping lower and lower into the sea, the cold water is hitting us all in the face. Now our lawmakers are scrambling to plug the holes, and it’s not working. The smart people (or maybe they were just lucky) are already in the lifeboats.

Only time will tell if the U.S. can actually move into the acceptance stage. But in the meantime, commodities will continue to dwindle.

And as this happens, there will be incredible opportunities to profit as investors. These opportunities will abound, as they always do when stupid decisions are being made.

[Joel's Note: We were actually fortunate enough to hear Kevin deliver the “demand is real…very real” presentation to a group of mega-fund managers here in the United Arab Emirates a few weeks back. Kevin was invited to speak at the event, for which attendees paid $10k per seat. The audience listened and dutifully took notes while Kevin spoke about how to make money investing in commodities. And, as you have seen over the last few days in particular, there is plenty to be made in the explosive resource…if you know how to play it. As a special offer to Executive Series members, Kevin has agreed to offer a “guest pass” for a behind the scenes look at his unique approach to commodity trading. If you’re interested in learning the art of profiting in the commodities arena, you can take him up on his offer right here.

Kevin Kerr’s Resource Trader Alert – Guest Pass Offer

——————————————–

Did You Notice? Brazil Joins the Big Leagues
By Christopher Hancock

Standard & Poor’s recently slapped the coveted international seal of approval \on Brazil’s credit. Now, with its score rising from BB+ to BBB-, Brazil’s cost of capital will fall significantly – putting the booming nation on track to soar even higher.

Consider the investment-grade credit rating the global version of an American Express Black Card. With it, there is no limit. Just ask the American government.

The Bovespa, the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, climbed 6.3%, to 67,868.46, on the news. We’re not surprised to see the Bovespa react so strongly. We’ve seen this happen before.

When ratings agency Moody’s raised Mexico’s rating to investment grade in 2000, it sent the Mexican Bolsa IPC Index into a multiyear uptrend.

Want two more recent examples? Take the upgrades of Russia and South Korea. As with Mexico, the Russian and South Korean markets were rewarded handsomely.

The world’s ravenous appetite for raw materials is the great driver behind Brazil’s strong forex reserves – the principal factor behind Brazil’s ratings upgrade. And this trend won’t end anytime soon.

The Economist highlights a report funded by Rio Tinto. In it, Ross Garnaut and Ligang Song of the Australian National University conclude: “The increase in China’s demand for metals during the next two decades may be comparable to the total demand from the industrialized world today.”

Plus, now-unavoidable infrastructure replacement in the West should only add more pressure on limited supplies of copper, nickel, iron and zinc. As long as the world keeps demanding the bounties of the Earth, Brazil should continue to prosper.

————————————-

[Rude Endnote: An interesting tidbit flirted with our attention as we flipped
through the Weekend FT. The paper noted that 42% (not a typo) of the world’s population is now living under double-digit inflation!

“Six out of the 10 most populous countries have inflation running at more than 10% as rising food and fuel make up the largest share of the population’s spending,” the tidbit read.

Of course, you can rarely trust government numbers…especially when it comes to things like CPI. Here in the UAE, for example, “official” inflation is hovering around 9.7% but, talk to anyone on the street and they’ll tell you the situation is far worse. Food at the grocery store is going through the
roof and, although the Emirates is on the other end of the energy stick (being a major exporter of oil) the expats residing here are really feeling the pinch. The dirham’s peg to the U.S. dollar doesn’t make matters any easier either.

With that in mind, we’d like to hear how things are going in your neck of the woods. Are home prices falling in your neighborhood? Is your grocery bill eating away at your savings? What do you plan to do about it?

Send your boots-on-ground report to us here and keep an eye out for your fellow readers’ comments in the days and weeks ahead.

Until tomorrow…

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

aussiejoel@the-rude-awakening.com

• Oil powers up $4, the dollar crumbles and other “good” news,
• Ominous headlines and the jubilation on the Street,
• Corn Crop 101 from Kevin Kerr and one last housing bust pair trade…

Eric Fry, reporting from Laguna Beach, California…

America’s financial news continues to disappoint, but its stock market continues to dazzle…if not also amaze, bewilder and perplex. As one miserable news story after another crossed the wires yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared to its largest one-day gain in almost two months – up 214 points.

Why the sudden jubilation on Wall Street?

It’s anyone’s guess, but don’t look to the financial headlines for answers. The top headlines of the day included gems like, “Oil Rises More Than $4 After Dollar Falls Against Euro” and “MBIA, Ambac, $1 Trillion of Debt, Lose S&P AAA Rating.”

But the stock market ignored these troubling tales – focusing instead on the exhilarating news that consumers continued to spend more of the money they don’t have. Same-store sales at Wal-Mart and Costco increased more than expected in May.

As yesterday’s trading session drew to a close, Fitch downgraded the credit ratings of two other mortgage insurers, MGIC and PMI. To justify its downgrade, Fitch explained:

“On further review of the U.S mortgage market and its impact on the financial and insured portfolio performance of the MI industry, Fitch has grown considerably more pessimistic on the outlook for the sector. This relates greatly to Fitch’s view that 2007 will likely prove to be one of the worst underwriting years in the modern history of the U.S. mortgage industry, and recognition that 2007 was a year of rapid growth for a number of key mortgage insurers. Fitch notes that 2007 vintage mortgages are turning delinquent at a significantly faster pace than the 2006 or 2005 vintage years; an early indication in support of Fitch’s growing concerns with exposures underwritten in that year…

“Adding to the strain seems to be an increasing willingness for borrowers to ‘walk away’ from mortgage debt when estimated home values are below their current mortgage balances…The deterioration in the U.S. mortgage market has led to continued sharp increases in delinquencies for all the MI companies, particularly for loans originated in the 2005-2007 vintage years.”

Hmmm…If this kind of news can’t generate another 200-point rally tomorrow, we don’t know what can.

The stock market is notoriously capricious, of course. So its recent bizarre behavior should surprise no one. Like a Greek god, the stock market delights in foiling the ambitions of mortals. And yet, it also bestows good fortune upon OTHER mortals. In both cases, the market does what it wants, not what anyone necessarily expects.

So it’s during times like these that pair trades can make some sense, or can at least lose money more slowly than many conventional investments.

In yesterday’s edition of the Rude Awakening, we featured a handful of pair trades that you, the Rude Awakening faithful suggested. Today, we’re back with more. But this one comes from your editor…just to be sporting.

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All About Silking and Tassling
By Eric Fry

Sell Visa (NYSE: V), Buy agricultural commodities.

This pair trade seeks to capitalize upon two important facts:

1) Debt-financed consumption is not an essential bodily function.
2) Eating is.

Therefore, if the U.S. economy were to slow down a bit, Visa purchases might also slow down. U.S. grain consumption would not. But this pair trade is not just a “macro story.”

On the micro level, Visa is a very expensive stock. In fact, it would be a very expensive stock, even if economic conditions were robust, which they are not. The stock has nearly doubled since its IPO on March 18. So at the current quote of $87.24 a share, Visa sells for a lofty 43 times estimated
2008 earnings – or nearly three times the estimated earnings of the S&P 500!

Visa’s luxurious valuation, along with its skyrocketing share price, bears no resemblance whatsoever to any of the stock market sectors that reflect the American consumer’s ability to consume. For example, the nearby chart tracks the recent price trend of Visa compared to homebuilding stocks and bank stocks. The Visa share price has clearly decoupled from the trend of the other two sectors. Admittedly, the time frame under review is quite short. Nevertheless, this particular picture is worth at least 500 words.

Homebuilding stocks are tumbling because home prices are falling. Banking stocks are tumbling because credit is contracting. Both of these trends are very bad news for a company like Visa that relies heavily on consumer spending.

However, the many fans of Visa stock would argue that Visa is merely a “transaction processor.” It does not originate or carry loans. That’s true and that’s certainly a virtue. But a transaction processor still needs transactions to process. Which brings us back to the stock’s valuation. How high a valuation does a “transaction processor” deserve? Something less than 43 times earnings would seem reasonable…much less. Remember, three months ago, 25 times earnings seemed like the “right” price to pay for Visa.

We have no idea if Visa will return to the mid-20 PE ratio from which it vaulted, but we would not be surprised to see buyers become a bit less enthusiastic at current prices. Lastly, we would note that cash-hungry financial firms like Bank of America and Citigroup own millions of Visa shares. Therefore, these cash-hungry firms might be eager to sell some of their billions of dollars worth of Visa stock. Despite all of these various concerns, however, Visa stock continues to flirt with new highs.

Many agricultural commodities are also flirting with new highs. But the similarities end there. Agricultural commodities are very unlike Visa. They do not merely facilitate commerce, they facilitate human existence. Everybody on the planet is hungry and they all want to eat. This fact does not make commodities a buy, but it does highlight the imbedded long-term demand component that underpins grain prices.

Demand is only one half of the bullish case for ag commodities, however, and maybe not even the best half. Grain supplies are thin…very thin. Worldwide supplies of all cereal grains combined have dropped to 25-year lows. Wheat stockpiles are especially lean. Global stockpiles of wheat have plunged to 30-year lows, while U.S. stockpiles have plummeted to 60-year lows.

Not surprisingly, grain prices have been rallying sharply for the last year or so. But recently, grain prices have been slipping a bit. In fact, since the day of the Visa IPO, agricultural commodities, as a group, have FALLEN. Therein lies an opportunity…perhaps.

Grain supplies do not increase as easily as credit cards. Grains only spring from the ground when farmers plant and fertilize them, and when weather conditions permit. Lately, the weather conditions have not been permitting as much corn-growing as they usually do. In fact, our resident agricultural commodity expert, Kevin Kerr, reported yesterday:

“More bad news. I am hearing about 10% losses here and there in each major state for corn. Add it up and it is very significant. Let me explain why.

“Here’s my version of Corn Crop 101,” Kevin wrote. “It’s still wet and ugly all over the Midwest…It’s June 4th…Bad news if this rain keeps up and then the searing July heat sets in…You can forget about this crop if the corn isn’t tasseling and silking before then.

“So how far along is the corn, not very far at all. A very rough estimate can be made by counting the leaves developed or by measuring plant height, which I did last year. However, the first solid indicator of crop progress is the average silking date.

“Begin looking for silks soon after the tassels appear. Under normal conditions, 20% to 25% of the plants in a field will silk each day. When approximately 75% of the plants show silks, we record that date as the silking date. In a typical year, the average silking date for Iowa for example, falls between July 20 – 25…Not this year, not a chance…

“So that means late harvests and a greater risk of damage from frost…Frost is a factor because harvest will be later this year and an early hard freeze can be the final nail in an already fairly well sealed coffin for corn yield.

“In case I lost you at tasseling, it’s when you start seeing the stringy stuff coming out of the corn husk. Late silking is associated with lower yields and wet grain…Since farmers planted (and are still planting) late, the problems are magnified when a killing frost comes early. I think the story is growing even worse for soybeans.”

Kevin probably provided more information than most of us care to know about tassling and silking. But such are the detailed, first-hand observations that enable Kevin to provide so many successful trades to the subscribers of his trading service, Resource Trader Alert.

For us non-traders, Kevin’s observations add one more important ingredient to the bull case for ag commodities: There’s no room for error on the supply side.

Therefore, we repeat: Sell Visa, buy ag commodities. (There are many ways to “buy ag commodities,” but buying a one of the many ETFs and ETNs that own agricultural commodity futures is probably the easiest way. “JJA” on the NYSE is one example. For more details click here.

But please don’t get carried away with this pair trade. Visa is still a great company, even if its stock is overpriced. And ag commodities are still vulnerable to gut-wrenching selloffs, even in the midst of a powerful bull market.

All we’re really saying is that we’d rather invest in grain than plastic, especially during the economic slowdown that might soon begin.

[Joel's Note: Another difference between the Visa story and that of ags, we might be so bold as to suggest, is the gaping spread between the excess of intangibles and an alarming shortage of tangibles. In other words, we have plenty of credit cards in circulation and, with them, companies making profit as “transaction processors.” At the same time, the world is in the throes of
a drastic food shortage. In many places, people are literally scraping at the bottom of the rice bowl just to grab a grain.

Kevin and I spoke quite a lot about this difference when he visited the UAE recently. He was here to speak at a mega-fund investment conference in Abu Dhabi and I took the opportunity to ask him why he chose resource trading as his specialty.

“The fact that you can touch and feel them makes a big difference to me,” he said. “It’s why I go out west every year to visit the farmers, to see the crop progression and get the lay of the land. It’s measurable and, provided you know what you’re doing, you can make relatively accurate predictions.”

Actually, the success of Kevin’s predictions was precisely the reason he was in the UAE in the first place…to educate an elite group of mega-fund managers on how to play the resource market. These guys run tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars and coughed-up ten grand a head
just to hear Kevin’s presentation.

However, as a Rude reader, Kevin’s offering you a special “Guest Pass”program. If you’re interested, here’s a link.

Be sure to keep an eye out for your 5-Minute Forecast, en route to your inbox shortly. The guys have been monitoring one Wall Street fat cat that is about to announce some very embarrassing earnings shortly…could be a great short for your own housing bust pair trade.

Until tomorrow…

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

aussiejoel@the-rude-awakening.com

• The real drive behind soaring commodities and how you can grab a piece,
• Planting reports from the world’s food basin – what you need to know,
• From Minneapolis to the Middle East with Kevin Kerr, your “guest pass” to a secret “millionaire’s Market” and plenty more…

Joel Bowman, from Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf, reports…

“Global wheat stockpiles are at 26-year lows and U.S. wheat stocks are at 59-year lows,” Kevin Kerr of the Resource Trader Alert told your editor as we cruised down Sheikh Zayed Road here in Dubai this morning.

“We’re looking at some real shortages here with a demand that is nowhere close to waning,” he continued. “Similarly, soybean stockpiles are at multi-decade lows and, as you know here in this part of the world, global rice stockpiles are at their lowest levels since back in the 80s.”

While Kevin admits that some of the drive in soft commodities, or “ags,” is due to speculative money, he sees real demand pushing prices higher in the future. And where there is real demand, Kevin informed us, there is real opportunity.

“But it’s not as easy trading these markets as it used to be,” Kevin continued as we whizzed by the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building. “Prices have ramped up and people are finding it harder and harder to know where to place their bets without losing their shirts in the process.

“Personally, I like to use options to play the commodities so that I can limit my downside. This year we’ve had some stunning plays in the Resource Trader Alert, but I wouldn’t recommend those getting started rush in without knowing exactly what they’re doing. Volatile markets can be brutal, but they can also deliver spectacular returns if you know what you’re doing.”

We were returning to Dubai after a conference up in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi at which Kevin addressed a bunch of mega-fund managers. These guys run tens of millions of dollars and wanted Kevin’s inside track on how to put some of their money to work in the markets he’s traded for over two decades.

We asked Kevin to lend us a few more thoughts on the opportunities ahead for this year’s profit season. His comments are below. Enjoy…

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Once inside, you’ll have a chance to legally “withdraw” $810 or more per week — and you’ll be able to deposit the money directly into your retirement account!

Grab Your Guest Pass Here.

——————————————–

The Food Crisis, A First-Hand Report
By Kevin Kerr

I am racking up the frequent flyer miles this year. My travels in 2008 have taken me to exotic locales like Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, as well as somewhat less exotic locales like the American Midwest. But guess what, the Midwest is the place that’s making the headlines in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. The soaring price of agricultural commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans is one of the biggest news stories on the planet right now.

But ag commodities aren’t just a huge news story, they are also one of the most exciting trading opportunities of 2008 and beyond.

Whether my travels take me to the Middle East or the Midwest of the U.S., the stories are very similar. Most people are concerned about the rising costs of agricultural commodities. And they should be. The commodity boom is real. It is not a bubble, no matter how many folks wish that it were.

In fact, now you have all of these dollar bulls coming out and saying that the worst is over for the dollar and that the commodity bubble will soon burst. They say that the commodities markets are simply speculator-driven. I disagree. Do you remember as a child wishing for something, wishing so hard, yet it didn’t come true? Wishing for something to happen does not mean it will be so. (I never did get that red bike.)

The dollar will probably bounce a little higher, but the same problems that drove the dollar into the basement will persist, and even worsen. The Fed can’t just snap its fingers and wipe away a credit crisis with some stimulus checks. Too many folks are subscribing to the idea that the consumer will somehow come to the rescue and spend our way out of recession. That’s pure fantasy.

The hope that the commodity bubble will burst is also a fantasy. The fact of the matter is that we are in a new paradigm for commodities and the old-school thinking about how commodities used to be traded has to be changed. And this is true of most commodities — none more so than the agricultural ones. Sure, speculation is a part of this puzzle, but to say it’s all speculators and hedge funds that are causing the run-up is a sad mistake.

As I sit here writing this column, I am watching CNN out of the corner of my eye, and on the air is Jonathan Stevens, a baker from a Massachusetts company called Hungry Ghost Bread. He is starting to grow his own wheat and encouraging his customers to do the same. Not a bad idea. For a 50-pound bag of organic flour, he used to pay $25, but now pays around $60. So in back of the store, the bakers are now growing their own wheat. Now, while farming in your backyard may not seem very practical, it’s becoming part of a new reality: If you want to be sure you have the food you need – absolutely sure – you’ll want to grow it where you live.

Most of the world’s inhabitants already understand this essential reality. America’s are just starting to re-discover it. In fact, we’ve even made up a new word to describe this ancient necessity of growing food where you live. The word is “locavore” and it means someone who eats food grown locally. Wow! Very trendy!

Demand for ag commodities is real and it is worldwide. Meanwhile, supplies are stretched thin. So any “supply shock” has the potential to cause prices to soar even higher. A new supply shock might be developing right under our noses. The planting season here in the U.S. is getting off to a very bad start, as the weather has been awful. Torrential rains have flooded many fields, making planting impossible. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
reports that only 10% of the corn crop west of the Mississippi has been planted, compared to a five-year average of 35% for this time of year.

Plantings for soybeans, spring-wheat and rice are also trailing behind their five-year averages.

Therefore, this year’s corn crop could be extremely disappointing. Some of the other crops might also disappoint. In my trading service, Resource Trader Alert, we are betting on much higher prices in soybeans and corn, and we are using option spreads to take advantage of this.

My annual meetings with Midwest farmers are always helpful. But my recent meetings with farmers in Minnesota were particularly helpful. Not only did I gain some insights about this year’s crops, I also learned a great deal about the soaring prices of fertilizers and other farming “inputs.” The long and short of it is that input costs are rising about as fast as commodity prices. So many farmers are getting squeezed.

And these rising input costs are here to stay, which probably means that rising grain prices are also here to stay. Yes, prices will fluctuate dramatically. But the bull market in agricultural commodities is very, very real.

Why deny it? Why not trade it?

[Joel's Note: Attendees at the conference Kevin spoke at yesterday paid $10,000 per ticket to learn how he does what he does. Now, these are guys who run tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars, so that’s not going to break their bank, but it’s not something everyone can afford.

In addition to his media appearances and conference globetrotting, Kevin has been a regular guest editor here at the Rude Awakening over the years. As a special offer to our readers, Kevin has opened up a “guest pass” offer to what he calls the secret “Millionaire’s Market.”

If you’re interested in grabbing a slice of this year’s profit harvest, we suggest you give Kevin’s offer some thought. Click Here To Learn More.

We’ll be back with another dose of your usual Rude insights tomorrow.

Until then…

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

• The conspicuous underachiever of the commodity boom,
• Water intensive crops cop a bashing – cashing in on cotton,
• Your predictions for the coming year and plenty more…

Joel Bowman, reporting from the Middle East Desert…

It is not uncommon for a surplus of one attribute to distract from the
deficiency of another. Deep pockets often outshine shallow scruples; a
surplus of beauty draws attention from a dearth of intellect; and flashy
sports cars don’t usually boast much room in their trunks.

Similarly, the vast endowment of oil in the Middle East often tends to
overshadow the drastic undersupply of other natural resources here in the
region.

Take Saudi Arabia for example. Despite being the world’s largest oil producer
and exporter, the kingdom is drastically malnourished when it comes to its
supply of water…and all things that derive from this increasingly scarce,
life-giving commodity.

On Tuesday, the Saudi government’s financial and agricultural ministries
announced they would begin to phase out the kingdom’s wheat production with
the intention of relying solely on foreign imports by the year 2016. The
reason is simple: water depletion.

Back in the 1970s, the last time oil was cracking records left, right and
center, Saudi instituted a massive subsidy program for domestic wheat
production. The government lavished farmers with as much as 3,500 riyals
($933.5) for every tone and domestic production actually reached surplus by
the 1990s. But the gravy train couldn’t last forever.

The deputy chairman of the National Committee of Agriculture, Samir Qabbani,
figures preserving what little water the kingdom has left is well worth the
cost of importing wheat for the 25 million or so people who live there.

“It is possible to save 1,300-1,500 cubic meters of water for every tone of
wheat produced,” Qabbani reasoned after the government’s announcement on
Tuesday.

Even with global prices for soft commodities tipping new records, the move
towards “imports only” makes sense for Saudi. Wheat crops don’t respond well
to irrigation from oil and, thanks to $100 per barrel crude prices, the
kingdom has no shortage of cash to purchase its bread-making products from
abroad.

Saudi produces around 2.5 million tones of wheat per year, enough to remain
totally self-sufficient. But its market is relatively small compared to those
of, say, Canada and Australia (which are suffering through production
problems of their own) and the withdrawal of its crop is unlikely to make any
significant dent in global pricings.

“We are dealing with a world situation where the strain on supplies is
predominant and when we have an unexpected increase in imports,” says
Abdoulreza Abbassian, a Food and Agricultural Organisation grain analyst and
secretary of the intergovernmental group on grains. “[It] will provide some
support to prices, but it will not be anything exceptional.”

Perhaps the abandonment of Saudi’s wheat program does not mean much in and of
itself, but the overarching trend is difficult to ignore. Water, or the lack
of it, will continue to play a pivotal roll in the price and supply of
commodities coming to market. The more water-intensive the crop, the more
acutely its price will be effected by the intractable depletion of the
world’s fresh water supplies.

In the column below, the Resource Trader Alert’s Kevin Kerr takes a look at
one notoriously thirsty crop and outlines his bullish outlook for the year to
come. Read on below…

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100% Cotton
By Kevin Kerr

As 2008 dawns, investors are desperately trying to figure out how to make a
buck…while not losing two bucks in the process. The stock market hasn’t been
a very hospitable place. And neither has the bond market. But the commodity
markets have been treating investors very well…and we think they will
continue to do so. The cotton market, in particular, piques our interest.

In the runaway commodity markets of 2007, cotton was a conspicuous
underachiever. But 2008 just might be its year. As the nearby chart shows,
the agricultural commodities have been the hottest of all the red-hot
commodities. Gold and oil may be grabbing headlines, but corn and soybeans
are scoring the biggest price gains.

In my trading service, Resource Trader Alert, we have been capitalizing on
the robust ag markets. Over the last few weeks, we closed out very successful
trades on corn, soybeans and sugar. But the cotton trade we recommended has
not been a winner. And maybe it won’t be. Just yesterday, the cotton price
tumbled 3% to 67 cents a pound, due to news that cotton exports had dropped
below expectations. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that the supply
of cotton this year might also drop below expectations.

Here’s why: Corn prices have skyrocketed on the back of huge ethanol demand.
Soybeans and wheat have also been climbing higher. As the prices of corn,
soybeans and wheat have soared, farmers have committed increased acreage to
these to crops – “stealing” land from crops like cotton and rice, wherever
possible.

Therefore, as the size of the cotton crop shrinks, the likelihood of higher
prices increases.

According to the National Cotton Council’s early season planting intentions
survey in 2007, U.S. growers intended to plant 13.2 million acres of cotton
in 2007. This was a significant decrease of almost 14% from 2006, and 2008
planting intentions have dropped by another 15%, to only 9.19 million acres.
Meanwhile, demand for cotton is showing no signs of slowing around the globe,
especially not in China.

China has been wasting no time securing the vital natural resources it needs
to keep its economy going – and cotton is high on the list. Chinese merchants
and manufacturers are very serious about the cotton business; all you have to
do is look at cotton futures trading on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange
(ZCE).

The exchange is no joke and is the center of cotton trading in Asia. Daily
volume in Zhengzhou cotton futures, which will complete their first year of
trading on June 1, is now running about 50,000 contracts. Open interest at
the ZCE has been running between 60,000-80,000 contracts per day since last
November – that’s just an incredible number.

To put it in perspective, 70,000 contracts per day is gigantic. It’s amazing
to think that the New York Cotton Exchange reached this level only after a
century of trading. Literally, it took 120 years and a record U.S. cotton
crop to accomplish it. The ZCE did it in less than a year. The power of China
is amazing.

If the picture is so bullish for cotton, then why has it been selling off so
much lately? Good question! One big reason is demand has not been as high as
expected, which has limited the upside trade in cotton, at least for now.
Cotton futures have had a bit of a boost in the last few months that will
likely continue into 2008 because of speculative fund buying in cotton. The
price for cotton is still relatively very cheap. Analysis of the farming
regions in the U.S. indicates that all areas will have some reduction of
cotton. The South will be affected the most.

Another factor to keep in mind is Mother Nature. Weather is always a major
factor for any agricultural commodity, and it will be pivotal in determining
final crop size, no matter what.

When we apply each state’s cotton yield in 2006 to its 2007 projected
harvested acres, it generates a crop size of 20.5 million bales. At first
glance, that’s not all that bullish, since it’s down only 1.2 million bales
from the previous year’s number. But if we examine the numbers a little
closer and look at history, we see crops are often subject to yield
deviations – in other words, coming in less than expected.

When we look back over the past decade, a pattern of deviations is obvious.
It suggests that under ideal conditions, 22 million bales would not be out of
the question, while weather problems could also push the crop to the 18
million bale range.

So we think the most likely supply surprises in the cotton market will be to
the downside, which means that price surprises will be to the upside.
So keep your eyes on cotton as this new year moves along. But cotton is not
the only ag commodity worth watching. Jim Rogers, the renowned commodity
investor is partial to coffee and sugar, as well as cotton. He recently
identified these commodities as promising investments for the next few
months.

“If you’re worried about a recession,” Rogers said recently, “you might think
about buying agricultural commodities. I suspect agriculture is going to do
well no matter what happens to the world economy.”

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Rude Endnote: Once again, we’d like to tap the inimitable intellect of the
Rude readership for your predictions on commodity trends in 2008. Are you a
gold, oil and grain bull? Or do you see prices pulling back from their
respective records as the Winter season draws to a close? Will the US dollar
continue its downward spiral, focusing more attention on gold? Or is the
precious metal overbought and due for a correction? Don’t be afraid to be
Rude and include some reasoning to back up your claims either.

Punters can send their predictions to the address below. Keep a lookout in
upcoming Rudes for some guesses, predictions and estimates.

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

• Infrastructure: The real estate of the future,
• Big words, big bucks and big opportunities,
• Grabbing profits from the new kid on the block and more…

Joel Bowman, reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates…

Here in the Middle East, even the Westerners fast during the holy month of Ramadan. One reason is that the celebration of Iftar, the meal that breaks the fast every day, is too enjoyable to miss. Another reason is that anyone caught eating or drinking in public during Ramadan is swiftly thrown in jail.

Around seven o’clock every evening here in Dubai the blazing sun begins to recede over the desert horizon. People head for giant air-conditioned tents; adorned in such a fashion they would make most 5-star hotels envious. Persian rugs are scattered over the floor and guests relax on beanbags and cushions on the ground. The sweet scent of shisha permeates the atmosphere and men and women in traditional Arabic dress carry silver trays of fresh guava juice and olives to the tables.

People chat about their days. Business is good, everyone is happy and the music and food last well into the evening.

Dubai is certainly not lacking for things to amaze and astound the tourists. But it’s not what’s already in Dubai that investors will find most impressive…it’s what’s still to come that will really arrest their attention…

Take a cursory glean over any map of Dubai and you’ll notice a great deal of “(U/C),” or, “Under Construction” labels. Among the many soon-to-be-converted city sandpits are:

• Discovery Gardens
• The Lost City
• Jumeirah Golf Estate, Lake Towers and Village
• Dubailand
• Burj Dubai
• Business Bay, Phases I and II
• Culture Village
• International City
• The Palm Deira, The Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai WaterFront,
  The World and
• The Dubai Opera House

There is so much hype surrounding Dubai that one may be tempted to dismiss it as old news. To do so would mean losing out on a great opportunity. In the age of skyrocketing oil prices, it is unlikely that the region’s petrodollar reserves will dry up anytime soon. Sovereign wealth funds and private corporations have liquidity galore…and they are spending up big.

Big development means big bucks…and wherever there are big bucks, there are big opportunities. Back in the United States, Chris Mayer has been looking north and south of the border for plays in the growing infrastructure sector. What he finds will surely impress…

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The “Next Real Estate”
By Chris Mayer

Infrastructure…It’s a big word and a big opportunity.

Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM: NYSE), calls it “the backbone of the global economy.” It includes things such as transmission lines, dams, roads, bridges, etc. Often neglected, rarely appreciated, except when they fail; these things are vital.

As investments, infrastructure assets offer long-term and sustainable cash flows, like trees that never fail to bear fruit. Infrastructure assets possess a number of very attractive attributes: They usually (but not always) require minimal ongoing capital expenditure. They possess high barriers to entry, limiting potential competition. They often appreciate in value over time and provide a nice hedge against inflation. Infrastructure assets also last a long time, up to 100 years on some assets. So return on investment tends to increase over time.

Yet for all of these virtues, the big institutional money has only just started getting into this area. Today, institutional investors on average commit only 1% of their capital to infrastructure investments, versus about 6% to traditional real estate. Flatt, a talented investor with vision (and a great track record), says the opportunity in infrastructure is similar to that of real estate a couple of decades ago. In fact, he asserts that infrastructure is the “next real estate.” In other words, values for the assets will boom, at the same time that investment interest also booms.

For example, Flatt notes that the market value of publicly traded real estate securities was only about $20 billion in 1990. Today, real estate stocks worldwide boast a market capitalization above $700 billion.

Flatt believes the market for infrastructure stocks will expand in similarly dramatic fashion. At a Grant’s investment conference last May, Flatt told attendees, “We think there’s $35 trillion of new infrastructure to be funded in the next 25 years.” Of that, some $11 trillion is for the developed world, mainly America and Europe. The rest is in rapidly growing emerging markets such as India and China.

BAM has already been an outstanding performer since I recommended the stock in the pages of my investment letter, Capital & Crisis, in February 2005. But I believe a lot of good news lies ahead still. Sometime in October, BAM shareholders will receive new shares of a company called Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) – an entity dedicated to the operation of infrastructure assets. BAM shareholders will receive one unit in this new company for every 25 shares they own. BAM will retain a 40% interest in BIP and will manage the company under a long-term contract.Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will possess two main assets:

1) Transmission lines – Over 5,000 miles of transmission lines in Chile, serving 98% of the country’s population. Also, another 1,300 miles of transmission lines in Brazil
and 340 miles in Canada. The Canadian lines are an important part of that country’s grid, because they connect generators in northern Ontario to electricity demand in southern Ontario

2) Timber – Approximately 634,000 acres of timberland located principally on Vancouver Island, mostly high-value Douglas fir, hemlock and cedar. BIP will also hold another 588,000 acres of similar timberland in Oregon and Washington. Though timber may not normally be thought of as an infrastructure asset, it has all the financial characteristics of an infrastructure asset.

For those keeping score at home, about 62% of BIP’s assets will be transmission lines, while 38% will be timberlands. It’s also a bit of a South America play, with about 48% of book value in South America and 52% in North America. The hydroelectric assets (i.e., the dams) stay with BAM. Going forward, BIP will be the vehicle Flatt will use for any new investment in infrastructure assets – such as highways, pipelines, ports, rail lines, airports, water utilities or other utilities.

Brookfield estimates that it would price BIP at 14 times its annual cash flow of $70 million – or about $25 per unit (there are 40 million units, all told). The partnership should provide about a 5% annual yield based on its expected payout of 65-75% of cash flow.

The idea behind this spinoff is to better showcase the company’s infrastructure assets and get a higher value for them in the stock market, rather than burying them in BAM’s vast empire. Overall, though, the spinoff should have little impact on BAM directly.

As for BAM, I peg its net asset value somewhere between $35-43 per share, compared to a current share price of $38.00. The effect of the BIP spinoff should knock around $1 off BAM’s share price.

More than one quarter of BAM’s NAV comes from its power assets. The company is the largest independent provider of hydropower in North America. One third of BAM’s NAV comes from its rapidly growing investment management business.

The company manages over $70 billion in assets. Bruce Flatt and his team have been growing the company’s NAV every year. So I’d urge existing shareholders to hang onto their shares, or consider buying more below $35 per share.

As for the new kid in town, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, I like it as a long-term income play. That 5% yield will be nice with plenty of opportunities to grow…as infrastructure becomes the next real estate.

[Joel's Note: Chris has been on an absolute rampage lately. Stocks from his water report are up across the board and his infrastructure plays are headed in the same direction. One of the keys to Chris’ success is being early on the trend. That way, when everyone else jumps on board, he’s in the driver’s seat. As he mentioned above, the big money is just starting to pour into this exciting sector. To find out how to become a member of Chris’ elite circle of investors, check out his special report: Capital & Crisis

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Rude Endnote: Speaking of Iftar, the sun is setting here in the Middle East and your fasting editor is off to the big tent for a bite. Addison and Ian will be along with your midday wrap-up shortly.

Cheers,

Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening

• Feeding this hungry world: Corn, beans and wheat smash new highs,
• The trader’s philosophy, from the proverbial horse’s mouth,
• Taking a nibble on the soaring agricultural markets and more…

Eric Fry, reporting from Laguna Beach, California…

A few months back, in the February 23, 2007 edition of the Rude Awakening, your California editor remarked:

“Kevin Kerr, the mind behind the Resource Trader Alert, is a good friend of mine. But to his credit, he is also a brilliant commodity futures trader and a darn nice guy. So what does a brilliant – and really nice – commodity trader do when he receives a harsh email from one of his subscribers complaining about some losing trades?”

The answer – as the rest of the February 23rd edition illustrated – is that he simply reiterates the philosophy that underlies his success. And he does it with a smile on his face…really.

It’s true that Kevin’s hot hand caught a cold late last year. Five out of six recommended trades went belly-up…or almost. (But the one winner gained 162%). Since early February, however, Kevin has regained his hot hand. His last eight trades have produced four winners and four losers (so far), for an average gain of 40%. In other words, the winners were much bigger than the losers.Kevin’s mastery of the commodity markets means that his successes tend to outweigh his defeats…NOT that he will never suffer defeats.

Despite Kevin’s defeats this year, the trades he has recommended in 2007 have managed to produce a positive result. And very often, the positive results that Kevin produces are considerable, as the table below illustrates.

Despite Kevin’s impressive track record however, his subscribers never hesitate to remind him when he fires a stray bullet. Just the other day, Kevin received an email from a dissatisfied customer who complained about losing trades on coffee and sugar, to which Kevin responded:”Ya know, I have heard a lot of this all year long about my losing trades and I have more or less kept my mouth shut, until now. Now I’m now ready to respond. So here goes.

Yes, we have a Silver spread for 2008 (December 2008 mind you) that is 90% underwater right now. But we’ve still got more than a year to go on this one. The OJ calls for November are a 100% loss, although we might still recover some equity before expiration. And the March sugar position is down about 47%. On the other hand, we have an open gold call spread now worth over 100%, a wheat call option up more than 140%, and a soybean spread now that’s up about 125% so far, not to mention a soybean oil trade that I just closed out for a near-double. So I would say things are not as stellar as 2006 or 2005, but certainly nothing to scoff at. Bottom line, if you tack on the huge gains from wheat and gold, as well as soybeans, clearly this has been a fine year.

“Quite frankly, trading is not a buffet – taking what you please and leaving the rest. It doesn’t work that way. It’s no different in a managed futures program than it is in a trading service like Resource Trader Alert. Our results reflect ALL the trades we recommend, not just the ones that subscribers pick and choose. If you do different things, you will get different results, period. In such a turbulent trading year as 2007 showing a positive gain at all is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Ok, I’ve vented and hopefully made my point.”

Kevin is still a very nice a guy…and still a very outstanding futures trader. In the column below, he offers a glimpse of the current commodity trends that are catching his attention.

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The Edible Portfolio
By Kevin Kerr

There have been few markets in my almost 20 years of trading that have been as exciting as the grain markets have been over the past two years. In my opinion, the best is yet to come.

In the commodities world, energy, metals, and stock indexes have been the most active futures contracts – and the most talked about – for years. But like so many things in the commodities industry, that’s changing too.

Sure, oil and gold commentary still rolls off the lips of the various business news channel anchors. But nowadays, in the same breath, you may hear them talking about corn, wheat, or even soybeans. Why the sudden change?

The big push by individual speculators, hedge funds, and others into the agriculture sector in such a short time has been unprecedented. A great deal of this move is a direct result of the ethanol boom and the record corn prices it has helped to generate.

It’s pretty ironic that the modern commodities markets owe their success to the original grain markets that started it all. Back only a couple of decades ago, there was no such thing as an energy futures market or a stock market index. In fact, the grain markets were the first organized futures contracts when many of the exchanges started trading. As the markets developed, grains took a bit of a backseat and the financial and energy commodities seemed to take the lead.

Now with the emergence of the electronic trading market and the ethanol boom, grain futures are soaring. The global demand for agricultural and soft commodities is so significant that these markets are not only important, they are vital for price discovery once again.

The simple facts of the matter are that the global population is exploding and exponential increases in demand from countries like China and India are straining a system that is already overloaded by demand and has been taxed by weather problems globally.

The wheat crop has been hit especially hard this year as droughts, floods, disease, and even frost have taken their toll. Wheat has risen to $9 a bushel, and $10 is entirely possible later this year. Meanwhile, the soybean complex is also soaring, as pent-up demand, especially from China, is keeping this market very well supported.

It’s important to realize that not only do we have exponentially higher demand for soybeans from a growing world population, but we also have the increased feed demands of a growing cattle population in answer to more demand for beef. Soybeans are also a victim/beneficiary of the biofuel boom.

Combine all of these factors and throw in a little disease and bad weather and you have a recipe for a very hungry world, indeed…and much higher prices.

This has been an incredible year for agricultural commodities, and many “experts” have been telling me for the last year that I was crazy to buy these commodities at such high levels.

Of course, they started telling me that when corn was at $2.20 a bushel and wheat at $5.50. Today, corn is trading solidly over $3.50 and wheat is trading close to $9. The bad news for wheat supplies just keeps rolling in. In the latest round of bad news, Australia slashed its harvest forecast 31 % because of dry weather. Wheat is surging as importers line up to buy whatever wheat they can. Global inventories are heading for a 26-year low.

Soybeans have outperformed expectations, too, as global demand has put a solid floor underneath prices.

Is all the bad news priced into the grain markets at this point, and have we finally seen the top for the grain rally? Think again. The biggest disaster for the grains may just be getting started.

According to my sources at farms in Minnesota and Iowa, diseases may be setting in, and this could be devastating to the wheat, bean, and corn crops.

Corn could be hit hard after a long summer, and hot and dry conditions and hail affected corn yields in Minnesota. The weather conditions favor the development of a disease called ear rot. Reports of ear rot have been coming in from several different areas, and the quality of grain that comes off these affected fields will almost certainly be reduced.

Meanwhile, things over in the bean patch are not faring much better. According to reports, early defoliation and death in patches of soybeans has occurred recently in fields across Minnesota.

According to Agriculture Online, “Although numerous soybean fields have started to mature and have suddenly turned yellow in the past week or so, it is obvious in many areas that the yellowing and plant death have been accelerated well beyond what would be typical.”

Sure, bean and grain prices are very high already — in fact, some of the prices we have been seeing for the agricultural commodities in the last few years are nothing short of astounding. It’s important to recognize, though, that demand has also been astounding. Demand is almost certain to outstrip supply, especially in wheat and soybeans. So even though we are seeing record prices, they may climb further as we head into winter. Therefore, some exposure to the agriculture sector in your portfolio seems like a prudent idea.

Clearly, the agricultural bull market is far from over, but that’s not to say that we won’t see some extreme volatility. Overall, though, the indications are pretty clear that staple commodities like grains are going to be more in demand and less in supply as time goes on.

So my forecast for the grain markets is as follows: Higher, but volatile.

The really nice thing about commodities trading is that it’s just as easy to bet on falling prices as on rising prices. So when the time does come, as it does in every market, we will be just as eager to go short and try to profit on the downside. For now, though, the trend is our friend and the trend is up.

Eric’s note: Kevin knows he will be wrong sometimes, but he also knows that he will often be right…as long as he grants sufficient time to his trades to allow them to work. It’s a very delicate balancing act, but one that he seems to manage quite well.

Kevin’s gold trades this year are a classic example: Back in February 15th, he instructed his subscribers to take a partial loss on gold call options for April, effectively “rolling” that position into the December call options he had recommended a few days earlier. The April options, therefore, produced a loss of about 58%. But those December gold options have gained about 110% so far, more than offsetting the earlier loss.

Obviously, Kevin’s trades don’t always work so well…But good things often happen to patient investors.

If you are interested in joining Kevin’s Resource Trader Alert for yourself, check out the following report for some further insights into his trading strategies:

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Rude Endnote: On the subject of reader mail, while we always appreciate your insights and comments, feel free to leave the personal insults out. Guys like Kevin are offering their services for people wanting to take a step in the direction of financial freedom. And they do a darned good job at it. If you don’t believe me, take a look at their track records…they speak for themselves.

If you really want to be Rude, please restrict your insults to me, aussiejoel.

Cheers,
Joel Bowman
Rude Awakening