CommodityTrader.com is pleased to be introducing two new contributors to this blog and the first is Carley Garner of DeCarley Trading. Senior Market Analyst and Broker, Stocks and Commodities Magazine Columnist and Industry Educator.  

Carley Garner is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, from which she earned dual bachelor's degrees in both Finance and Accounting. Carley jumped into the options and futures industry with both feet in early 2004 and has become one of the most recognized names in the business.

Throughout her fast paced career, Carley has been featured in the likes of Stocks and Commodities, Futures, Active Trader, Option Trader, Your Trading Edge, and Pitnews Magazine. Carley is often interviewed by news services such as Reuters and Dow Jones Newswire, and has been quoted by the Investor's Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal. She has also been known to participate in Radio interviews.

February gold futures have backed down from Monday's high of $916.30 an ounce, which did mark a fresh three-month high. Profit-taking pressure has been featured since Monday's high, but no chart damage has been inflicted and prices are still in a three-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. In an important recent development, gold prices and the value of the U.S. dollar have become disconnected. In recent months, gold prices and the U.S. dollar index had traded in a close inverse relationship. However, the past couple weeks have seen gold prices produce solid daily rallies despite the greenback showing strength on those days. The disconnection of gold and the U.S. dollar can be construed as overall bullish for the precious yellow metal.

For commodity trading, the year 2008 ended with a conundrum: Prices plummeted from records set midyear in the fastest drop in five decades, but, abracadabra! Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Barclays, Deutschebank -- the lion's share of Wall Street's commodity units -- racked up best results ever. And commodities powerhouse Goldman Sachs neared its record, too.

A neat trick... and just how did the prestidigitators of petroleum, magicians of metals, pull it off? And can they pull the rabbit out of the hat again this year?

Of more immediate concern, especially in the trenches, are bonuses for 2008 and this year: Will the soothsayers of soy and sugar get paid for divining the right paths in 2008? Or do their overseer corporate chieftains have a bonus disappearing act of their own up their cuff-linked sleeves? And what about this year?

March corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade have seen choppy and non-trending price action the past two weeks. However, trend-line analysis suggests the next two trading days (Thursday and Friday) could be extra important for price action in corn in the coming few weeks. The daily bar chart for March corn futures shows that an uptrend line can be drawn from the December and January lows. However, a downtrend line can also be drawn from the highs seen last summer, last autumn and the January high. One of these trend lines will likely be penetrated in the next two or three days.

For all those anxious to see the end of the Bush bashing years, you will have to wait several more months. The economy isn't getting any better, however; we are getting used to the fact that we can live without spending. We shoppers have become or evolved into price seekers and not price takers. We will flit around until we are sure we got the cheapest price for whatever it is that we are targeting. This makes life very difficult of the merchants who, would actually like to make a profit on their sales, but the price conscious consumer is making their lives difficult.

February lean hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday gapped lower on the daily bar chart and hit a fresh two-week low. Prices are now back down near strong technical support at the contract low of $58.90. Prices are also in a six-week-old downtrending channel on the daily bar chart. A close below strong chart support at the contract low of $58.90 would produce still more technical damage to suggest a quick price move to the lower boundary of the downtrending channel, which is located at the $57.50 price level in February lean hogs.

For those of you that prepare yourselves, the OPPORTUNITIES will be abundant and limitless; for those that don't it could be a very difficult period. "Volatility is OPPORTUNITY" and it is still set to skyrocket as G7 Public servants, financial and banking sectors and their crony capitalist campaign supporters try to escape INSOLVENCY and transfer it to the public. Ultimately they will fail, but the process may take several more years as they BELIEVE they have the ability to print money and create credit out of thin air endlessly.

March wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday saw prices touch a fresh three-month high of $6.46 1/4 a bushel. However, prices then backed off by the close Wednesday to close solidly lower, near the session low and produce a bearish "outside day" down on the daily bar chart. The market on Thursday morning was poised to post follow-through selling pressure. The wheat bulls have faded late this week and the bulls do not want to see a bearish weekly low close on Friday, which would suggest a near-term market top is in place and that prices could drop back down to challenge major psychological resistance at $5.00.

Soft markets gave back some of yesterday's gains as most all commodities followed the lead down in crude and equities. There remains some optimism stemming from commodity values being viewed as undervalued assets in a new investment environment. Whether funds receive additional monies and decide to place it at work in commodities is the biggest question for 2009. It seems likely that we may expect this question to receive an answer soon.

The Madoff scandal and the housing bubble have something in common.....greed. Both scandals were obvious and both scandals were ignored. As a matter of fact, the dot.nothing bubble was based on much of the same greed and piranha feeding. That bubble burst sending interest rates to the floor which inspired the housing bubble which burst and sent the interest rates even lower. So, which is the next bubble to rise to the surface? Remember, it will look okay at first then, will get way out of the realm of reality.