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| 02-02-2010 | The Financial Express |
Copper has enjoyed a spectacular run. In 2009, as it emerged out of the stock-panic-induced commodities price crash, it rocketed 153.2% higher! Over the same span, the flagship CCI commodities index only rallied 32.1%. And gold, which has captivated traders in recent months, was only up 24.3% in 2009. Copper even eclipsed 2009’s massive 86.3... More » Copper outperforms gold, oil |
| 22-01-2010 | The Financial Express |
In hindsight, it is shocking how easily almost everyone forgot the laws of supply and demand when it came to the world’s most important commodity. A half century ago, oil was so plentiful that prices fell to their lowest-ever levels (adjusted for inflation). A complacent West was exposed to the unsheathing of the ‘energy weapon’ ... More » Some things have gotta give - IV |
| 21-01-2010 | The Financial Express |
Oil prices have finally broken the $60-74 a barrel range that we have seen since the beginning of June and WTI oil is now trading at approximately $76 a barrel. The Chinese dragon is also blazing a trail under the crude oil market. After sliding to a five-year low of under $33 a barrel in December 2008, oil prices staged a steady climb upward to $... More » Some things have gotta give - III |
| 20-01-2010 | The Financial Express |
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) ordered its banks to power a V-shaped recovery through an explosion of credit—a record CNY 10 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in new loans, or double the 2008 total. Roughly a quarter of the new loans were channelled into the Shanghai red-chip stocks and property markets, designed to inflate their values. Th... More » Some things have gotta give - II |
| 19-01-2010 | The Financial Express |
Last Wednesday, copper stocks on the benchmark London Metal Exchange stood at 517,175 tonne, up almost 52% from the same period last year, while nickel inventories were almost double at 159,000 tonne. Similarly, stocks of zinc, aluminium, lead and tin were all at their multi-month highs, a fact that would remind investors that despite the current... More » Base metal prices to see sharper spikes in 2010 |
| 19-01-2010 | The Financial Express |
Commodity prices have rebounded despite high inventories caused by weak demand during the recession. This price impetus came from a perception that the worst of the global recession was over. Rising demand from an expected global recovery will require extra capacity in many commodity sectors. Commodity prices were surprisingly buoyant in 2009, and... More » Some things have gotta give - I |
| 01-12-2009 | The Financial Express |
If any commodity can be said to be larger than life, it is surely gold. Over the last five years, gold has clearly out-performed equities. Gold made record high at $1,193/ounce on November 25. It has gained 16% this month, the strongest in a decade. Sri Lanka has bought 10 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund for $375m, confirming... More » We still can't get it off the vending machine |
| 18-11-2009 | The Financial Express |
From Seoul to San Francisco, manufacturing sentiment has recovered quickly from the sudden shock of the global recession last year, when world trade stopped dead and unsold stock piled up in warehouses across the world. Around the world, manufacturers are reporting rising output, falling stocks of finished goods and are encouraging new orders as ... More » Factoring in the factory |
| 18-06-2009 | The Economic Times |
Oil at $68 a barrel, as opposed to the high $30s we saw earlier in the year, is good if you are hoping for an economic rebound. It testifies that the world economy is not yet about to fall into a great depression. The rally in oil reflects a range of factors: a weakening dollar, fears of inflation, increased investor risk appetite and the a... More » Rising oil prices a blessing or a curse? |
| 28-02-2009 | The Business Standard |
The stock-market panic is not the only reason for rising investment demand. Gold is exhibiting all the classic signs of being in a structural bull market. In the past year, we've seen gold go up on fears of inflation, then it rose on fears of deflation. The woes of the banking industry certainly appear to be aiding gold. In a bizarre twist, cen... More » Is gold in a structural bull market? |
| 01-02-2009 | The Financial Chronicle |
As oil prices fall further, the list of beleaguered oil and natural gas companies vulnerable to take-over is growing. Ernst & Young’s Energy Centre says this signals the beginning of a new wave of consolidation. It expects oil and gas transaction activity to rebound as early as December 2009. Big companies seem more likely to go for acqu... More » Low oil prices to spur takeovers |
| 26-01-2009 | The Financial Chronicle |
Moody's, the global ratings agency, is forecasting a 70 per cent chance of a U-shaped recession, and a 15 per cent chance of either a V or L-shaped downturn. Moody's also singles out the chemical industry as being one of those most at risk from a lengthy downturn. It highlights two key risks — higher crude oil prices and a major downt... More » Testing times ahead for petrochemicals |
| 18-01-2009 | The Financial Chronicle |
Cocoa prices surged to a 23-year high in 2008 as speculative investors poured monies into the market amid concerns about dwindling supplies from Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer. Prices for cocoa rose 70 per cent in 2008 , bucking the weakness in overall commodities prices. In its monthly report, the International Cocoa Organi-satio... More » Cocoa consumption likely to decline |
| 21-12-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
The sharp erosion in oil prices has come in spite of a signal from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, that he wanted oil prices back at $75 a barrel. According to Olivier Jakob of Swiss oil consultancy Petromatrix, the king's comments marked a significant departure from the previously held line that the price o... More » Crude price crash and the attributes |
| 07-12-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Wide cracks are beginning to appear in the refiners’ profit margins, known in the oil industry as “crack spreads”. Of late, demand for fuel has been hit by weak consumer spending and slump in automobile sales. The US gasoline crack spread — the difference between benchmark crude oil price and wholesale petrol prices — ... More » Refiners’ profit margins under strain |
| 30-11-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
There’s an old saying on Wall Street : The economy is topped with a copper roof. The saying itself does not make much sense, but it's meaning is legend on Wall Street. In 1946, manufacturing activity accounted for nearly half of America's gross national product. A key commodity used in the building of durable goods is copper. It’... More » Copper roof over world economy remains intact |
| 16-11-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Now that Barrack Obama is the President-elect of the US, ethanol proponents will be happy. In one of his early speeches in 2004, the then Senator of Illinois — one of the biggest corn-producing states in the country — called on fellow legislators in Washington to do more to help the struggling ethanol industry, not only for “the f... More » Ethanol: Boom to Bust |
| 09-11-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Writing in the journal Language & Communication, coffee historian Markman Ellis describes the London coffee houses of the 1700s as a place “built upon principles of friendly and discursive sociability”. Ellis describes groups of men hanging out, drinking coffee, reading, and engaging in energetic discussions about the topics of the... More » Global credit crisis hit coffee exporters hard |
| 26-10-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
The Baltic dry bulk index, which has a strong correlation with global trade activities and commodity prices, has corrected by a startling 86.2 per cent from a peak of 11,771 on May 21, 2008. The fall in the index is linked to the ongoing global credit crisis, slide in commodity prices and reduction in volume and activity of coal and iron ore import... More » Shipbuilders under strain as trade volumes decline |
| 19-10-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
IRSG (International Rubber Study Group) studies forecast global rubber production of 13.6 million tonnes (mt) by 2020, when consumption is expected to reach 13.1 mt. Replantation of rubber estates undertaken by various countries is likely to give a push to rubber production. India is expected to produce 918,000 tonnes of rubber in 2009-10, up from ... More » The elasticity of rubber economics |
| 12-10-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Platinum prices have fallen nearly 20 per cent since peaking at $2,290 a troy ounce in March 2008. The metal, a key component in catalytic converters, sank below $1,000 recently to a three-year low. The slowdown in US car sales, 23 per cent lower last month compared with September 2007, has been dramatic and investors have reacted by selling holdin... More » Platinum, palladium may regain lost glory |
| 05-10-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Commodity prices are heading for their biggest quarterly drop in 50 years. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index, a global benchmark of commodities prices, has fallen more than 23.5 per cent since June-end. Along with other commodities, aluminium, the metal used in jetliners, drink cans and foil wrap, has seen a price correction of late. Despite a correc... More » Better times ahead for aluminium |
| 21-09-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Corn, wheat and soyabean prices have fallen heavily over the past six weeks. Corn prices are down 34.6 per cent to $5 a bushel after reaching a record $7.65 a bushel in late June this year, while soyabean prices are down 27.8 per cent to $12 a bushel after reaching an all-time high of $16.63 a bushel in early July 2008. Wheat prices have fallen 10.... More » Agricultural commodities to be in focus |
| 14-09-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
DEMAND-SUPPLY MISMATCH: Since 2002, steel has entered a cycle with substantial demand-supply disequilibrium. Global steel prices galloped to $1,134 a tonne in June 2008 from $691 in June 2007. Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal believes that supply constraints and strong demand would put a firm floor under prices and profits for the steel indus... More » Steel boom set to end: Headwinds around the corner |
| 14-09-2008 | The Hindu Business Line |
Although various commodities have taken a hard knock of late, the fundamentals of coal indicate that high prices will continue to rule for some more time. The demand for coal is expected to be robust until the myriad alternative energy sources currently being developed find wider application. As China and India indu... More » Why coal is still red-hot |
| 31-08-2008 | The Financial Chronicle |
Michael Phelps, his outstanding achievement at the Beijing Olympics notwithstanding, will find the value of his eight gold medals decline. Gold prices, after hitting a record high of $1,030.80 an ounce in March 2008, had fallen back to just under $800, and have partially recovered since. If we look at a half-year timeframe, the drop in gold consump... More » Gold loses sheen, but still a safe bet |
| 13-08-2008 | The Economic Times |
Commodity prices have suffered their largest monthly drop in 28 years in July 2008 led by crude oil prices which have nose-dived more than $20 from an all-time high of $147.27 a barrel. Deutsche Bank’s strategists are predicting that lower oil demand in the US and Europe coupled with an increase in oil production in Saudi Arabia, would caus... More » Is the fall in commodity prices just a pause? |
| 15-06-2008 | The Hindu Business Line |
An evaluation of the oil and gas futures and options markets indicates that supply is sufficient to meet current demand and the oil price increase seems to be overdone with speculative interests in abundance. Physical markets do not seem to be displaying distress in demand. After oil hit its recent record of $135 a barrel, consumers and... More » Oil prices: Correction on cards |
| 01-06-2008 | The Hindu Business Line |
The beauty of stocks and bonds is that their fortunes are inextricably linked to a business. On the other hand, commodities generate no cash and pay no interest or dividends. Commodities, as an asset class, do offer diversification, but at today’s high prices, they do not provide much protection. There is a tremendous hype all ov... More » Is there a bubble within the super commodity cycle? |
