While gold marched toward new record highs and stole news headlines in the past month, it wasn’t the top performing commodity during August. Coffee was the leading performer in August with a monthly gain of 19.8 percent, while corn rose 13.8 percent. Gold was in third place, up 12 percent. The worst performing commodity for [...]
by Jeff Friedman There are three major factors affecting the markets right now. These crosscurrents are the Federal Reserve’s easing measures to stimulate the U.S. economy, China’ tightening measures to dampen theirs, and the escalating debt crisis in the Eurozone. These events represent a little good, a little bad, and a little ugly going on [...]
by Kristina Zurla Landgraf When the Eurozone debt crisis unraveled this spring, analysts began to speculate whether it could trigger a repeat of the recession that began in 2007. The big fear of a “double dip” recession among investors is whether that means the stock market will slide back to its recessionary lows hit during [...]
Speculators have been easy scapegoats when markets are in distress or bubbles develop. Financier George Soros, Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and others are pressing for limits on speculative trading and a potential ban on speculation in credit default swap (CDS) markets. On February 23, the SEC voted to restrict short sales in a company’s [...]
Bloomberg reports lead and copper prices in London have more than doubled this year, leading gains as of yesterday among 36 commodities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Robusta-coffee futures posted the biggest decline. Commodity – Dec. 29 Price - Year to Date Change Lead LME $2,449 a metric ton + 145% Copper LME $7,275 [...]
The U.S. Department of Agricuture’s crop report was released today, with soybean production forecast at a record high of 3.25 billion bushels, and corn forecast at 13.0 billion bushels. The USDA said that based on conditions as of September 1, soybean yields are expected to average 42.3 bushels per acre, up 0.6 bushel from August and [...]
Futures Forecast for September: Will We See a Stock Market Swoon? By Jeff Friedman September started on out a sour note for the stock market, and the question is whether this marks the start of a deeper correction many traders have been looking for (myself included). Even if the market does experience a pullback this [...]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivers his semi-annual testimony to Congress on Tuesday. MF Global Research Senior Interest Rate and Equity Market Analyst Nick Kalivas offers his outlook in his daily research notes. Thinking about Bernanke’s Testimony The Fed Chairman is likely to make statements which are consistent with the consensus economic view. His comments [...]
June kicked off with a big bang, as stocks and many commodities hit new highs for the year. Is it time for a breather? Lind Plus Senior Market Strategist Jeff Friedman said “today could be a turnaround Tuesday” as bulls take some profits. “The signs are coming for a stronger sell-off,” he added. Technical momentum [...]
Is This Stock Market Rally for Real? by Frank J. Cholly Perception is reality! Or is it “perception becomes reality?” It doesn’t really matter. My point here is that once investor confidence returns, the market bottoms and begins to claw its way back. The Conference Board released its consumer confidence report on April 28, and [...]
