The Problem With Price Forecasting - Is There a Better Way?
David Threlkeld of metals trading advisor Resolved Inc. got some press this week.
That happens when you predict a catastrophe.
Threlkeld was quoted by Bloomberg repeating an ominous prediction he first made in May 2006. The call? That the copper market is heading for a catastrophic collapse. With the LME price falling to below $1 per pound.
Threlkeld has some credentials. He was one of the first to expose rogue copper trader Yasuo Hamanaka in the mid-1990s. And point out that Sumitomo's hoarding of copper was having an undue effect on prices.
His arguments on the coming copper crisis make some sense. Basically, that most of the world's buying today is from speculators. Investors who will dump the inventory back on the market at the drop of a fedora if sentiment shifts.
Threlkeld's call adds to an ever-present tapestry of forecasts on metals prices by thousands of analysts globally.
People watching commodities markets love to make predictions. On where prices will be a year, two years or ten years from now. Every brokerage house turns out a slate of forecast prices for oil, copper, sugar and every other hard asset.
Full article at: Price Forecasting