Once considered an expensive, experimental additive to make gasoline burn cleaner and more efficiently, it has become a staple like soybeans, eggs and pork bellies. So much so, that the New York Board of Trade introduced a futures contract for sugar-derived ethanol Friday and will introduce an options contract today. The Chicago Board of Trade […]
Author Archive | aaron
China’s Plan to Raise Rates, Tame Growth May Hurt World Economy
May 10 (Bloomberg) — China’s economy is twice the size and its imports three times as large as when the central bank last raised interest rates in 1995, fueling concern this year’s curbs on lending will have a larger global impact than nine years ago. Chief executives, including Ericsson AB’s Carl-Henric Svanberg and Nucor Corp.’s […]
Commodities’ surge raises prospect of bull market
By Elizabeth Wine in New York As commodities continue to surge, with the price of oil hitting a fresh 13-year high last week and metals still near long-term peaks, many investors are beginning to believe the asset class is in the early stages of an enduring bull market. That means large blocks of money are […]
The Case for a Genuine Gold Dollar
For nearly a half-century the United States and the rest of the world have experienced an unprecedented continuous and severe inflation. It has dawned on an increasing number of economists that the fact that over the same half-century the world has been on an equally unprecedented fiat paper standard is no mere coincidence. Never have […]
Taking the Emotions Out of Precious Metals
By Chris Temple Following the last major bull market peak for precious metals as well as gold (primarily) related shares in mid-2002, I wrote a commentary similar to what follows. The observations contained in that item, I hoped, would be taken by the precious metals community as they were intended; to help one and all, […]
Oil prices soar, lumber strong, gold up
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Crude oil prices set 13-year highs and gasoline prices set another record Wednesday on worries about potential supply problems this summer due to ongoing violence in Iraq and the Middle East. The dollar stumbled Wednesday, making dollar-denominated metals like gold and copper more attractive to overseas buyers. Lumber prices soared on a […]
Brazil Exports Drop in April on Strike, Commodities
May 3 (Bloomberg) — Brazilian exports fell in April as prices for the country’s commodities such as aluminum and iron dropped and a work slowdown by port inspectors held up shipments from South America’s largest economy. Exports dropped 17 percent from March to $6.59 billion, cutting the trade surplus to $1.96 billion, a government report […]
CBOE April options volume rises 39 pct from 2003
Volume at the Chicago Board Options Exchange rose 39 percent in April compared with year- earlier levels, the largest U.S. options market said on Monday. During April, volume in stock option classes rose 48 percent as more than 20 million contracts traded, while index options were up 26 percent, with over 11 million contracts traded, […]
This Week’s Splash and Crash of Commodity Prices
Bill Cara for the Trader Wizard Commodity prices, like the metals group, are mostly the product of economic supply and demand factors – longer term. But like all capital markets prices, they are materially affected in the short-term by fear and greed emotions. They are also a reaction to interest rates. This week, we have […]
Gold and silver bounce back, soybeans soar
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Prices of gold and silver rose Friday, recouping steep losses two days ago fueled by an expected slump in demand from China, while soybeans posted a second day of gains amid continued concerns over supplies. In other commodity markets, crude oil futures ended the day with marginal gains, supported by concerns over […]