The Gold Report: What is the consensus among Haywood analysts on what 2012 will bring for mine commodities, particularly precious metals?
Joe Mazumdar: Last year, risk aversion was a common market theme. In 2012, some of the same global economic concerns, such as the ongoing Eurozone crisis and the future of the euro, will continue to draw attention. But we also believe there is potential for positive economic indicators, primarily from the U.S., where there have been upticks in manufacturing and GDP growth. Also, unemployment in the U.S. is down to 8.5%, generating some consumer confidence.

The Gold Report: Given the volatile 2011 market and the fact that gold trades at seasonally lower prices in the summer, James, what led you to say you believe we’ve already hit the low for the gold price in 2012?
James Turk: We started this year in an unusual position. Normally, we see seasonal strength in the last quarter. We didn’t get it. We’d been in a correction since the high in silver back in April 2011. The high in gold came during the summer, which was very unusual, but basically both metals have been moving sideways.

First, the bad news – China’s constrained rare earth supplies will be an "irreversible trend" and prices will remain at high levels, according to Zhang Zhong, general manager of Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co.
Zhang should know, as his concern is China’s leading rare earths producer – the Baatou mine produces more than 95 percent of China’s production, while Chinese mines currently account for 97 percent of global supplies.
The increase in global demand for rare earth metals has sent prices soaring in world markets.

Investors the world over are still reeling from last Thursday’s massive plunge in the US equity markets, in which the major indices all gave up more than 4 percent. It was the worst day for the US stock market since December 2008. [And today's markets are down over 4% again.--Ed.]

The King World News blog has a timely excerpt from Richard Russell, who's been writing his newsletter since the 1950s.

I'm linking to it because it strikes a chord in me. We're certainly in the "fog of history" as far as the stock market is concerned. Of course, we're always in the moment, living in real time, but the "fog" seems thicker than usual to me.

Yeah, one day I'll look back and see it all so clearly.