This morning mining stocks have recovered a lot of what they lost yesterday, and as I read various credentialed prosnosticators around the Web this morning, I see two large camps developing - those who are certain of only gloom and doom ahead, and those who see modest improvments in the short run.

Said in another way, I sense very strong opinions from some that US and global economic conditions are forecasting the worst times most alive today have ever seen, or words of caution from middle grounders unwilling to look at the mid- to long-term.

Coincidentally, or not, we are about to enter that time of year which takes metals and mining stocks out of the "summer doldrums", and into the usually robust fall market. This may mean that there is also a seasonality in analyst sentiments too - now being their darkest time.

Before I go on, let me offer that in recent years I seldom refer to Barron's, WSJ, Forbes, etc., so my sense of things may be obscured. Having said that, I will go with the theory that the marjority of analysts are usually wrong, meaning in this case that we very well could be at the beginnings of a boom in all things (including minings and metals), save bonds which are set to crash as interest rates rise.

Can we have a boom with rinsing interest rates? Yes, because interest rates tend to be a lagging indicator, and rising rates should lead lenders into loosing their purse strings (adding fuel to the fire).

VP (with the OT stuff that would get me suspended at IHub)