U.S. investment-manager guru says silver a good bet

                       Every few months, star U.S. investment manager Jeffrey Gundlach gives a webcast outlining where in the world he sees the best money-making opportunities.

In his latest webcast, Mr. Gundlach made three simple calls. Buy silver. Pick up 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds. And for stock investors, go to Japan. That Asian market, even though it's surging, could rise more than 20 per cent in U.S. dollar terms this year.

You could do worse than paying attention to Mr. Gundlach, who was once dubbed the King of Bonds for his winning ways in fixed-income markets, although he's been branching out quite a bit from his credit-market specialty.I listen to a lot of forecasts by investment gurus, and some are so dull and equivocating I often fear I'll need a trip to the office defibrillator to jolt myself back to consciousness afterwards.

Not so with Mr. Gundlach, who is always bright. He's founder of his own Los Angeles money management firm, DoubleLine Capital, which he set up after being abruptly fired in 2009 from Trust Company of the West. His main fund at TCW regularly ranked in the top 1 or 2 per cent in the performance sweepstakes and he's continued to outperform at DoubleLine.

Mr. Gundlach is going against the hedge-fund herd on his silver call, which is based on his bullish view on gold. In recent months, gold ETFs have experienced some of their largest outflows in years, and some noted hedge-fund operators, such as George Soros, have cut their positions in the yellow metal. By going on the other side of this trade, Mr. Gundlach is sticking his neck out in a high-profile way.

Crude Oil Climbs On US Data

                                        Crude oil continues to trade positively this morning, as investors weighed the outlook for the market following positive US economic data and a forecast for lower global demand growth. US crude oil is trading at 93.32 gaining 29 points in the Asian session. Brent crude oil prices rose toward $110 per barrel on Thursday, rebounding after four days of losses, on reports of a recovery in the US labor market.

Crude oil were higher yesterday, after data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell unexpectedly last week added to signs of a strengthening economic recovery. Separate reports showed that producer price inflation in the U.S. rose in line with expectations in February, while core prices inched up slightly. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that producer prices rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in February, in line with expectations, after rising 0.2% in January. The core producer price index eased up 0.2% in February, in line with expectations after rising 0.2% in January. The unexpectedly strong data, together with recent upbeat data on nonfarm payrolls and retail sales fuelled optimism over the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand. Oil’s gains were limited as concerns over the