| Commodity ETF Jumps As Wheat Hits Record
The market may have lost its appetite for stocks, but it's hungry for commodities, especially wheat. Wheat soared to a record Friday as the Agriculture Department forecast that supplies will drop 40% from last year to a 60-year low in May. It already has more than doubled in the past year. Corn, soybeans, gold and platinum have also soared to new records. "We're in an inflationary cycle that's heating up, so things such as commodities are becoming more valuable than paper assets," said Adam Harter, director of operations at Financial Enhancement Group, with $200 million in assets. "People in developing economies are seeing incomes rise and are able to buy more and that's putting a pressure on the demand side of the equation." Trading Futures In lock step, PowerShares DB Commodity Index (DBC) broke out to a new high Friday.
Australian stock market closes down on global credit concerns
DESPITE a strong lead from Wall Street and higher commodity prices, the share market closed in negative territory, reversing earlier intraday gains, on cautiousness about global investments markets. At the 4.15pm AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 20 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5960, and the All Ordinaries had shed 21.1 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 6019.8. On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index was down 15 points to 5951 on a volume of 27,555 contracts. ABN Amro Morgans Ipswich manager Tony Russell said nervousness ruled the local market today. "The market is very jittery, we've been swinging from positive to negative.'' Mr Russell said Australian investors were cautious about the earnings results coming from the United States. "We'll see some of the major financial institutions reporting in the US tonight, so the market might be waiting to see what happens there.'' Mr Russell said trading conditions were thin, with many investors still on holiday.
The Ex Ante Factor: Bizarro World
The week of January 21-25, 2008 will go down in the history books of financial markets and potentially society at large. We witnessed the largest financial debacle in history where SocGen lost $7b in index futures pushing stock markets to the brink of collapse (are we trying to one-up each other's debacles?), we received an historic 75bps inter-meeting ease from the Federal Reserve (to fix a bad trade in Europe?), the US government agreed to pass a stimulus package to head off a recession (borrowing $150 billion to save a multi-trillion $ credit bubble?) and to top it off 10YR treasury yields traded down to 3.30% just 30bps from the 2003 lows while the inflation sensitive gold contract traded at an all time high above $920/oz (is this bizarro world?). With all the debate regarding whether or not the US will enter a recession we took a look at the conflicting messages coming from the commodity and bond markets to see if we could come up with a conclusion and trading strategy.
CME bid spurs fears of merger monster
THE commodities boom is intensifying the merger mania among the world's financial exchanges. But the $US11 billion ($12.4 billion) bid by CME Group to acquire Nymex Holdings may fuel worries that consolidation is leaving the survivors with too much power. A purchase of the 135-year-old New York Mercantile Exchange's owner by CME, parent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, would create the largest exchange in the world, with a stock market value of about $US45 billion. And acquiring Nymex's crude oil futures, one of the largest commodity contracts in the world, would fill the last major hole in the 110-year-old Chicago exchange's product line-up, while squeezing remaining rivals in the energy market. The deal also highlights some unsettling consequences of the global scramble for alliances and market share in trading financial securities.
NYMEX to Launch 11 New Balance of Month Petroleum Products Swap ...
NEW YORK, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. today announced that it will introduce 11 new balance of month (BALMO) petroleum products swap futures contacts on NYMEX ClearPort clearing and trading, beginning on December 2 for trade date December 3. The new BALMO contracts will be cash-settled based on the balance of month average Platts price starting from the day of execution through the last trading day of the contract month. These contracts allow users to customize the balance of month period by selecting the start date of the BALMO averaging period. The first listed month will be the December 2007 contract, and the next contract month will be listed 10 business days before the start of the contract month. The new swap futures contracts and their commodity codes are: Singapore 180cst fuel oil BALMO (BS); Singapore 380cst fuel oil BALMO (BT); Singapore jet kerosene BALMO (BX); Singapore gasoil BALMO (VU); Singapore naphtha BALMO (KU); Dubai crude oil BALMO (BI); European 3.5% fuel oil (Northwest Europe) BALMO (KR); European 1% fuel oil (Northwest Europe) BALMO (KX); European naphtha BALMO (KZ); New York Harbor 1.0% fuel oil BALMO (VK); and Gulf Coast 3% fuel oil BALMO (VZ).
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