Investment guru Dennis Gartman says the rise prices of base metals like copper, zinc, and lead signals good times ahead for the economy.

“When you put all of the base metals together and see all of them rising together in anticipation of a stronger economy, they have a PhD in economics,” he tells Bloomberg TV.

“They are very good leading economic indicators. It’s very rare all base metals will rise, unless some growth is coming along. And that’s what’s happening now.”

Base metals led the economy on the downside last year, Gartman says.

“Now we are starting to see base metals rise long before the data we eventually will see showing strength globally.”

On the currency front, Gartman says he is long the Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar, and the New Zealand dollar. Meanwhile, he is short the yen.

“I want to own the currencies of the young, commodity-exporting countries and want to be short those of older, commodity-importing countries,” Gartman says. In his view, Japan is the oldest and biggest commodity importer.

“So far, the market is telling me that I’m right,” Gartman points out.

Others see trouble for the yen too.

"If U.S. earnings results show signs that the U.S. is pulling away from the worst of the economic downturn, risk appetite is expected to grow, putting pressure on the yen," Yoshihisa Kanzaki, a currency dealer at Shinkin Central Bank, tells Reuters.