| DMCC names new Executive Director of Gold and Precious Metals
MacDonald takes over from Colin Griffith, who has held this position for the last four years. This move comes as DMCC works to consolidate the strides the division has made under Griffith and build upon those successes. In his new role at DMCC, spearheading the Gold & Precious Metals division, MacDonald will focus on further enhancing Dubai's role as a global centre for the gold and precious metals trade, through broadening local market horizons in refining, manufacturing and trading skills. He will also oversee business development, strengthen stakeholder relationships and develop new products while promoting best practices in the local and regional markets. MacDonald will also explore and develop DMCC-branded commodities-based investment vehicles to grow DMCC's current footprint in the precious metals sector.
Citigroup, GM Slide; Xerox Rises
As Citigroup and General Motors helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest close since mid-August, investors turned to EchoStar Communications amid the prospect of the satellite-TV provider's being purchased. "Goldman predicting additional steep subprime write-downs for big U.S. brokerages, including Citigroup, and Chinese officials telling their domestic banks to freeze lending through year end raised deep concerns about the sustainability of global growth," said Robbert van Batenburg, head of trading research at Louis Capital Markets. "As a result, there was broad selling, with financials bearing much of the brunt. But commodities and industrials that had been holding ... .
DGCX secures Singapore approval
Dubai: The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) yesterday announced that it had secured approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), making DGCX a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) in Asia's key trading hub. With the approval, DGCX - the Middle East's first commodities derivatives market - could now offer Singapore-based market participants direct access to its growing portfolio of commodity and currency contracts. Commenting on the approval, Ahmad Bin Sulayem, chairman of DGCX, said, "Not only will this approval create opportunities for market participants based in Singapore, but is a clear demonstration of our commitment to meet customer demand for wider marker access". .
Go with the grain when shares fall
My second pick is connected to the soft commodities boom. One of its downsides is that the high price of food across the world is bumping up inflation numbers already being hit by rising wage demands and energy costs. You can protect yourself against inflation to a degree by buying gold, but also by getting into the government bond market and in particular index-linked gilts, the return on which is linked to the Retail Prices Index. You used to be able to buy these pretty simply via the Post Office, but money-laundering regulations have now made doing so a tedious, administration-heavy task. Luckily the exchange-traded fund business has once again come to the rescue with the iShares £ Index Linked Gilt ETF (INGX) which tracks the returns from the index-linked market.
Wall Street advances sharply
Gold futures hit a record, briefly venturing above $913 an ounce as the dollar tumbled against other major currencies. The euro reached a new high above $1.49.Other commodities were higher, too. Crude oil rose $1.51 to settle at $94.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Peter Dunay, investment strategist at Leeb Capital Management, believes the run in commodities prices will continue as Wall Street eyes what the Federal Reserve will do at its Jan. 29-30 meeting. Chairman Ben Bernanke has convinced investors the central bank will cut rates, and the expectation of cheaper money also bolstered sentiment Monday``We're expecting inflation to be a problem, and believe the commodity demand is going to continue,'' Dunay said. ``We think the Fed is going to throw as much money as they can to keep us out of recession, or keep the recession mild, so commodities will be higher.''Stocks sold off sharply last week after a chorus of Wall Street economists predicted the U.S.
American Stock Exchange Lists GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index ...
NEW YORK, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) announced today that it has launched trading in the GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (AMEX: GCC) , managed by GreenHaven Commodity Services, LLC. GCC aims to track the performance of the Continuous Commodity Total Return Index, an equal weighted basket of 17 commodities (corn, wheat, soybeans, live cattle, lean hogs, gold, platinum, silver, copper, cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton, orange juice, crude oil, heating oil and natural gas). Reuters America, LLC owns and calculates the Index. "The American Stock Exchange is pleased to welcome and support GreenHaven as they enter the ETF marketplace," said Scott Ebner, Senior Vice President of the Amex's ETF marketplace. "GCC reflects a growing investor interest in commodity linked products." Ashmead Pringle, President of GreenHaven Commodity Services, LLC, stated, "Increasingly, many investors have concluded that commodities are an asset class that should be represented in a balanced portfolio.
Uncle Sam Crying "Uncle!"
A large part of the problem is that the Central Bank is helpless in the face of bond speculation. The Fed is no Sorcerer. It is the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It can pump unlimited amounts of "liquidity" into the system, but cannot make it flow uphill. As we shall see, new dollars flow to the bond market causing a lot of mischief there, instead of flowing to the commodity market as hoped by the Fed. Up to now leading commodities have outperformed gold. That could change. A select few commodities might continue in the bull-mode for a time, although gold could easily beat them. Most other commodities might go into a bear-mode similar to that of the commodity markets of the 1930's. If that's what was in store, then most investors would be totally lost. They would be navigating without a compass.
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.
Asian stocks up on rate cut hopes; commodities hot
SINGAPORE: Stocks rallied on Thursday as solid earnings and expectations of further US interest rate cuts outweighed worries about inflation even as oil hit a record high above $101 a barrel. Gold also hit a record above $945 an ounce, and silver touched a 27-year high, as funds poured into a wide range of commodities, betting they will outperform in an environment where growth is slowing and prices are rising.
Data on Wednesday showed a faster-than-expected rise in US consumer prices last month and further weakness in the housing market there.
"The US is entirely focused on the economic data that is coming out and we're getting revised forecasts for their economic growth in the downward trend," said Savanth Sebastian, equities economist at CommSec in Sydney.
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