via Index Mundi

We had a mania in nickel prices at one time, and the result is that nickel prices have stabilized into higher prices, but there is no possibility that nickel prices will ever obtain the same bubble status.

Nobody is thinking about nickel, because the speculative fervour has departed:

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=nickel&months=240

So let's look at another metal. This time uranium. The uranium junior mining exploration companies which never became a mine have all but disappeared, and yet they commanded high share prices. JNN was bought out by Denison mines. For Denison shares.

People still want the 'nuclear renaissance' to occur, though it was 50 years ago, because the uranium price had been up. Then Fukushima shut down that whole speculation. Permanently.

But people forget that the uranium price was in a mania. Yet people still hope that this same mania, which is now long gone, will recur, and are absolutely certain that it will.

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=uranium&months=240

Another commodity, oil, still garners a great deal of attention. That's because people fully expect a return to the bubble that was in vogue before the financial crisis. But what oil indicates is a disastrous drop in purchasing power.

Should oil prices fall to a stable trading range, then the mania which blew out years ago is certain not to recur. And yet, people are willing to fight wars over oil, certain that there's none left.

A small improvement in already existing battery storage capacity can make oil look anachronistic. Roads are beggining to be built with charging pads that you park over, much like an iPhone charging pad meaning you need only carry a much smaller size battery. Automate driving, and getting behind the wheel in the pursuit of wordly gains will be a thing of the past. And there are hordes of investors buying GOOG. But this is completely outside of the commodities sector.

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=crude-oil&months=240

The one commodity that remains bullish through all this is gold.

-F6