Out Fox The $treet

On news of further cuts to capital spending, it appears that Cliffs Natural Resources ( NYSE: CLF     ) is finally giving up on a turnaround in the primary markets of iron ore and metallurgical coal. Such a capitulation from a market leader is an important step toward reaching a bottom for any commodity. Cliffs Natural Resources has had nothing but negative news lately, with a weak first quarter report and plunging iron ore prices falling below $100 a metric ton. Unfortunately, leading iron ore miner Vale ( NYSE: VALE     ) recently reported some concerning trends that capital spending cuts might not overcome in the short term. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read disclaimer page for more details.

After a year of weak stock returns and strong cash flow generation, natural resource mining stocks have joined the high yielding asset class. In the old days, natural resource stocks didn’t focus on paying dividends. Now investors can find a solid selection of high yielding resource stocks that yield in excess of the 2% offered by the 10-year treasury. The following high yielding stocks include two limited partnerships that more » Disclosure: Long FCX. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Tuesday night, China reported October inflation close to expectations at 5.5%. Though the whisper numbers expected something possibly around 5.3% and could cause a minor market sell-off on Wednesday, the news was wildly bullish. Short term the market always trades off estimates. Long term though, the trading is based on the trend. The trend for inflation in China is clearly downward. Inflation in October eased from the 6.1% annual rate in September with food prices declining 0.2% in the month. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long ANR, FCX, CCIH. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

A couple of analysts have come with targets in the $60+ range for Massey Energy (MEE) based on a report that the company is up for sale. Recall that MEE suffered the mine explosion at Upper Big Branch (UBB) that killed 29 miners. Naturally MEE has suffered under tighter regulatory scrutiny and a management team that has been focused on the tragedy. Results have suffered, but back in May we suggested that investors focus on the assets particularly the met coal reserves [ Buy the Other Disaster Stock ]. The WSJ broke news last Wednesday that MEE was seeking a sale. Today we've seen estimates from a couple of analysts that MEE would be worth north of $60 in a buyout. That number seems high, but the stock has been highly depressed due to the accident hence the signal to buy the stock over the summer in the first place. MEE just didn't face the long term issues of a continuous leak so it seemed absurd for the stock should suffer so much. Stock dropped from a high near $55 on April...