Investing and Trading News, with a Contrarian, Sarcastic Twist!
Well…duh. Full story Summary: US retail prices in 2007 rose about 4% – highest gain in 17 years Similar gains expected for 2008 Reduced production of meat and poultry expected in 2009 (our next investment theme, maybe?)
Full stories: Theglobeandmail.com Bloomberg Summary: Potash CEO William Doyle says grain farmers need to harvest record crops every year to meet demand and avoid famine Potash execs are so confident in long term demand that they considered taking the company private in mid-January “We need a record crop in 2008 just to stay even with […]
Legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens told CNBC this morning that he is short oil and natural gas. He believes that oil will have a short term pullback. I was surprised by this – Pickens has been (correctly) calling higher oil prices for quite some time. I’m glad I’m not long oil or nat gas […]
What to make of the ’08 soft commodity rally? Things have happened so fast – even I’m not sure in the short term. I still believe that the long-term case (next 5-10 years) is firmly in place. Rising demand and limited supply will take time to fix – and by that time, most of the […]
Article in today’s Daily Wealth about how the bull market in commodities is hurting the fortunes of food companies. Summary: Gov’t mandates for corn-based ethanol have driven up all grain prices For the forseeable future, consumers will pay more for food The stock prices of food producers have been hammered, as they struggle to deal […]
An interesting interview with superinvestor Jeremy Grantham. Perhaps of interest to readers of this blog: he mentions he is long the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc, and the Singapore dollar.
Full article Summary: The current commodity cycle is unique because energy and food have “converged” in price – they are now interchangeable due to biofuels Without government subsidies, sugar cane would be the only economically viable biofuel (@ $35/barrel equivalent) Land devoted to biofuels projected to continue its climb
Open Positions Date Position Qty Month/Yr Contract Strike Call/Put Entry Price Last Price Profit/Loss 02/14/08 Long 1 MAY 08 Cocoa 2535 2519 ($160.00) 02/14/08 Long 2 MAY 08 Cotton 71.26 70.18 ($1,080.00) 02/14/08 Long 1 MAY 08 Coffee ‘C’ 154.25 152.20 ($768.75) 02/14/08 Long 1 MAY 08 Coffee ‘C’ 155.10 152.20 ($1,087.50) 02/14/08 Long 2 […]
Short 2 minute clip of Jim Rogers on Yahoo Finance. In short, he’s: Wary of precious metals right now (may consolidate if US drops into recession) Buying agriculture “as he speaks”
By JULIE JARGON February 15, 2008; Page A1 ALBION, Neb. — The U.S. economy may be teetering on the brink of recession. But there’s a bountiful harvest down on the farm. Grain prices are surging to historic levels. Spring wheat, a variety often used in bread, hit a record $18.53 per bushel yesterday. Corn is […]
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