| Platinum Hits Record High Yet Again; Wheat Also Jumps To All-Time High
Platinum hit record highs for a third straight session on Monday amid output woes in South Africa and inflation from pricier oil. Wheat also peaked for a third day running on heavy speculative buying. Copper prices ended up but off their highs after a large earthquake in Chile, the world's biggest producer of copper and home to a wide array of industrial metal deposits. Leading commodity indexes such as the Reuters-Jefferies CRB, S&P GSCI and Dow Jones-AIG all rose about 1% each. Fundamentals aside, investors were drawn to commodities after Wall Street stocks slid on uninspiring U.S. factory orders for December which came in below expectations but not weak enough to spark a broad market shake-up. A weaker U.S. dollar against the euro also bolstered the case for buying inflation-sensitive commodities, particularly precious metals like gold and platinum.
Aluminium gains, agris spike, crude witnesses profit-taking
MUMBAI: The commodity markets were volatile last week as the surprise Fed move on interest rates caused short-term turbulence. The immediate reaction was a short-term upmove on select base metals as the industrial outlook (at least as a perception) improved and shorts were squeezed. The bullion outlook, too, improved as hedge fund activity was seen driving prices higher. Select agri-commodities spiked higher and the outlook was slightly more upbeat compared with the previous week. MCX volumes fell 2% and open interest tripped by a similar amount on a week-on-week basis. Turnover gainers were copper, mentha oil, potato, zinc and aluminium. Open interest gainers were natural gas, zinc, refined soya oil and chana. Agri-commodities
Chana has established Rs 2,100 level as a critical support and as long as this threshold is not violated downwards, the outlook remains optimistic.
Import difficulties outweigh recession fears
Commodities took off on Monday after their weak performance on Friday. In the oil market the uncertain prospects of economic growth in the US had been pushed to the background for a time, and focus was on import problems in Texas and Louisiana. All passage of tankers to the country's most important oil terminal was halted because of dense fog. The difficulties helped to send oil as high as USD 90.83, and oil closed the day up by 1.2%. Subsequently it was possible for a few tankers to move in, which put pressure on oil. This morning, however, all activity is again reported to be at a standstill. Copper and aluminium both gained almost half a percentage on a day when the Asian coal prices hit a new record. The tight coal market has caused suspension of an appreciable portion of the production of base metals in both China and South Africa.
Oil slips as Opec gathers in Saudi Arabia
Commodities came under pressure on Monday as a wave of risk aversion swept across markets, dragging energy, metals and agricultural prices lower. Oil fell sharply at the start of a crucial week with crude prices in sight of the key $100 level as delegates began to gather for a historic meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. .
Stock Trading 101
You want to pick stocks in a sector with strong fundamentals, where demand for their goods or services is growing faster than they are able to supply it. Demand outstripping supply means higher prices, which translates into higher profits for producers and ultimately higher stock prices. As a student of the markets and speculator, my favorite sectors since 2000 have been in the commodities arena. Commodities infrastructure was rusted and neglected after two decades of bear markets ending in the early 2000s, crimping supplies. While worldwide supplies were low, Asia started demanding enormous amounts of raw materials to industrialize. Now global demand in many commodities is at record highs while miners struggle to keep pace. But finding and bringing new mineral deposits to market takes years or even decades, so prices tend to stay high for many years before supply growth catches up with demand growth.
July 2007
The report shows that the majority of U.S. estuaries assessed are highly influenced by human-related activities and points out that eutrophication is a widespread problem globally. "Observations have confirmed that our nation’s coastal waters are stressed," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "One thing we have learned from this study is that while the accumulation of nutrients in our estuaries has been stable in most of our estuaries, conditions are likely to worsen. The potential for serious degradation in most of our estuaries necessitates that we reinvigorate efforts to address nutrient pollution, and this study helps to confirm that an ecosystem approach is required for improving the health of our estuaries." (Click NOAA image for a larger view of the grapic showing the current status of estuarine eutrophication in the United Statest.
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