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With individual investors, silver may be the poor man’s gold, but to
industrial users, it’s one of the more expensive metals they have to
buy. Therefore, the recent dip below $30 an ounce was welcome relief.
Iron ore prices have been relatively
high recently, but analysts are predicting a decline in iron ore prices, which
would lower the costs of making steel.
Construction spending in January totaled $883 billion at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate, down 2.1% from December but up 7.1% from January
2012, the Census Bureau reported today.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) gave the New York Stock Exchange’s electronic platform, NYSE Arca,
approval to list and trade shares in Blackrock’s iShares Copper Trust, the
second investment product for physical copper.
Unless Congress enacts a repeal or delay by March 1,
sequestration—spending cuts totaling $85 billion between then and
September 30, and $1 trillion over 10 years—will begin then.
Polymers have generally been trending upward from three
months ago on increased demand. For example, PVC recently priced at 94 cents
per pound on orders of 250 metric tons or greater.
Building construction costs rose 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012 and
1.5% over the past year, according to the Means Historical Cost Index
that the RS Means division of Reed Construction Data.
New construction starts in December climbed 23% at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate, McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC) reported this week, based on data it collected.
One might be foolish indeed to attempt to predict the price of gold six
months into the future. Countless investors and scores of analysts
attempt to do so every day with results that as often disappoint as
satisfy.
Contractors are cautious about the overall construction market in 2013
but many expect their own firms to add workers, according to a survey
of 1300 firms that AGC released on Monday.
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