Posted on 10 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Investors withdrew a record $9.3 billion from commodity exchange-traded products as gold sales pushed the metal into a bear market, BlackRock Inc (BLK) said. The outflow for commodities in April pushed the total for the first four months this year to $17.8 billion, compared with inflows of $6 billion for the same period last year, BlackRock said in a report dated April 30.
The previous record for commodity sales was $5.2 billion in February. Gold outflows were an all-time high of $8.7 billion last month as the metal slid to a two-year low in London on April 16, two sessions after falling into a bear market………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The number of major investment banks able to be successful commodities players will fall to around five by 2016, according to three heads of investment bank commodities operations. One said: “What we’re seeing now is some of the banks retrenching because they don’t actually know how to make money in commodities anymore or compete with the commodities trading houses. Most banks have relatively generic offerings.”
Seb Walker, managing partner at Tricumen, a consultancy that analyses investment bank revenues, said: “The costs of a big-sized commodities business are huge and it is definitely a market where you need to be in it properly or you’re out.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 May 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The world’s little-regulated and often secretive commodity trading houses could face new disclosure rules, and even capital requirements, because of their money lending activities, after a global regulatory watchdog’s review of “shadow banking”.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) - a task force set up by the G20 group of major economies to improve global financial regulation in the wake of the 2008 crisis - has asked national and regional regulators to determine whether commodity traders should come under the scope of new rules………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 22 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), is no stranger to India. She has been engaged in discussions with Indian policymakers and planners for facilitating India’s association with the IEA.
Van der Hoeven, who was in India to attend the fourth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) that concluded on Thursday, spoke in an interview about the need for India to improve its energy data and emergency systems, the relevance of the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations, and potential developments in the global energy markets. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 19 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The collapse in commodities has not gone unnoticed. Words like depression and deflation are again being talked about and it is possible that the commodity collapse in gold, copper and oil is sending an ominous warning about the direction of the global economy. Even more it may force global central bankers to reassess policy and fight what commodities are saying could be a major global economic contraction or at the worst a deflationary downdraft.
Those concerns were raised by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who believes that inflation is dangerously low. While Mr. Bullard says he does not use gold as a barometer of inflation, his comments seem to suggest that he should be……………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
A survey by of 49 publicly traded companies accounting for 60% of world gold output, which was conducted by New Jersey’s John Tumazos Very Independent Research, estimates that one-third of gold mines have pretax costs of $1,250 to $1,750 per ounce.
“The selloff from $1,900 in September 2011 to nearly $1,350 on April 15th places prices squarely within the costs of the highest one-third of mines,” wrote long-time gold analyst John Tumazos…………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
In February, against all basic economic sense, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced a new tax on commodities futures trading as part of his 2013-14 national budget. Should it pass, the tax would apply to all non-agricultural items, including copper and natural gas.
India’s commodity futures market, just an idea in 2003, has become one of the world’s leading exchanges in precious metals and energy, with a total turnover of 181 trillion rupees ($3.35 trillion) in the 2011-12 fiscal year. Mr. Chidambaram’s transaction tax would cripple the hedging and price discovery functions of this market. It would also cause job losses across India’s commodity trading network—all for little budgetary gain…………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 17 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Commodities trading risk at Goldman Sachs Group Inc was steady in the first quarter from the previous three months, but fell from a year ago as prices of raw materials seesawed.
Wall Street’s leading investment bank said its value-at-risk (VaR) in commodities stood at $21 million in the three months to March 31, versus $20 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $26 million in the year-ago first quarter…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 09 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Recently, I explained how high oil prices can bring on financial collapse for oil importers. In this post, I’ll discuss the flip side of the situation: how oil exporters reach financial collapse.
Unfortunately, we have many examples of countries that were oil exporters, but are dealing with collapse situations. Egypt, Syria, and Yemen all have had political disruptions since 2011. These may not be called financial collapse, but they all took place as the country’s oil exports decreased and as the price of imported food rose. Another example is the Former Soviet Union (FSU). It collapsed in 1991, after a period of low oil prices, in what looks very much like a financial collapse………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called for an end to the US$1.9 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies handed out worldwide each year.
A study commissioned by the organisation reveals that 8% of all government revenue globally is spent subsidising unsustainable energy with 40% of the $1.9 trillion total from advanced economies. The group’s Energy Subsidy Reform study found that an overhaul could have beneficial results for a nation’s economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 02 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The IMF jumps into the climate change debate with a headline-grabbing carbon tax proposal; Dr John Abrahams talks to us about climate change realities; the idea of the self-driving car gains traction; Shell announces $1 billion annual spending plan on Chinese shale; and a sneak preview of this week’s premium offerings…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is against government energy subsidies. This certainly shouldn’t come as any surprise for this austerity institution, but its latest report is gaining a decent amount of traction in the media because it’s the first time the IMF has seriously jumped into the climate change theater. It calls for an end to energy subsidies across the board (about $1.9 trillion annually around the world) or for these subsidies to be offset with taxes that could pay for expensive social programs………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 02 April 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The gold industry’s decision to hedge against falling prices of the metal cost major miners billions less than a decade ago, when bullion soared, leaving them trapped in loss-making contracts.
But as the gold boom shows signs of coming to an end, miners and analysts question whether hedging, in a different form, could make sense again for producers tackling challenging deposits, rising costs and demands from their lenders………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 20 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Commodity trade continues to attract sufficient financing amid instability in the Middle East and reduced lending by some European banks, said Jean-Francois Lambert, HSBC Bank Plc’s global head of commodity and structured trade finance.
“The world is in a complicated situation, but what needs to be financed, is financed,” Lambert said in an interview in Geneva yesterday. “There is sufficient liquidity in the market to finance commodities.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 19 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Perturbed by the possible negative implication of the proposed commodity transaction tax (CTT), the Finance Ministry has asked commodity derivatives market regulator the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to do a detailed impact analysis of how CTT once implemented will affect commodity derivatives non-agri segment and submit the report to it.
The ministry had asked the FMC to submit the report by March 15. Since, the FMC chairman Ramesh Abhishek returned from abroad on Sunday, the report will now be submitted in a day or two. FMC chairman is also meeting consumer affairs minister where the issue of CTT could come up for discussion, said a source in the know………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Investment bank Goldman Sachs grabbed the top spot for commodities trading revenue in 2012 in a year when lower market volatility and tighter regulation crimped trading profits. The research report released on Thursday by London-based industry analytics firm Coalition showed Goldman’s commodity revenue beat JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley , which ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in 2012.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays were the two strongest performers in generating commodities revenue year-on-year in 2012, Coalition said. The report highlights how global investment banks fared in a particularly difficult year as clients’ trading activity in commodities shrank on increasing concerns of regulation and capital requirement following the collapse of MF Global………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 14 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Private investors and hedge funds seeking new ways to gain exposure to commodities may provide a lifeline to trading houses desperate for the short-term liquidity that banks used to offer. European banks have cut their lending in commodity trade finance, the $1.5 trillion-a-year business of financing oil shipments or copper deliveries, ahead of Basel III restrictions aimed at reducing systemic risk after the 2008 financial crisis.
Lending cuts coincide with traders’ growing need for funding due to high commodity prices, especially for oil, where a single shipment can cost more than $200 million at current Brent crude prices…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Wall Street commodity revenues crashed last year to their lowest on record, as tighter regulation and limited price swings squeezed the once dominant traders of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley.
All three firms reported double-digit percentage declines in revenues for oil, grains and copper trading in 2012, illustrating how the one-time ‘Wall Street Refiners’ have withered in the face of subdued markets and restrictions on proprietary trading. The decline is most stark at Goldman, where commodity revenues collapsed by more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2012 to just $575 million, according to the bank’s annual report………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Investment banks are notorious for their “boom-bust” approach to business, riding cyclical profit opportunities to the hilt until the opportunity dwindles and they are forced to retrench. If commodities markets continue to normalize and volatility remains muted, we could see another wave of savage job cuts at the investment banks.
With big finance firms still trading at deep discounts to their historic norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal or if finance stocks are a screaming buy today………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Wall Street’s commodity-trading gold mine is all but tapped out. Once a booming source of bank profit, the business has been hit hard by tougher new rules and subdued markets. Revenue from trading the likes of oil, metals and soybeans dropped 16% last year at J.P. Morgan Chase and 20% at Morgan Stanley, according to securities filings.
At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., long considered the firm to beat in commodities, commodity revenue slumped to $575 million from $1.6 billion in 2011 and $4.6 billion in the bumper year of 2009. A survey by research firm Coalition of the largest global investment banks shows commodity revenue fell 24% from a year earlier in 2012, to around $6 billion, tumbling by more than 50% since 2008………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Glencore’s net income fell by a quarter last year due to lower prices for commodities, but it made more money from trading so did not suffer as much as some rivals. That modest drop was important as Glencore is just a month away from its takeover of miner Xstrata – which will make it the world’s fourth-largest diversified mining company.
The company said nothing about what assets it might dispose of after the merger. The market has been keenly awaiting a roadmap for the combined Glencore-Xstrata and had hoped that Glencore would expand on its post-takeover strategy as it announced the latest results………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 March 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The London Bullion Market is the global trading center for physical gold, and the Bank of England holds gold on behalf of other central banks. There are a number of historical reasons the Bank has this privileged role, but the most important are that the Bank is trusted, and it oversees the largest bullion market by far. Therefore a significant portion of the world’s monetary gold should be stored at the Bank of England.
This does not appear to be the case. First, we must try to get an idea of how much unidentified central bank, or monetary gold, is in London at the Bank of England………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 25 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
With gold and silver bullion there have been a number of changes in the modern landscape. The largest change comes via the Internet. In today’s world one can shop anywhere in the country for the best price possible, but is the best price always the best deal.
Hidden fees are sometimes the culprit in a deal. Often an Internet company will state that they have the best price, but then when one buys the true cost comes out. Commissions are often how this is done. Once the sale is established they add a 1 to 3 percent commission making the actual cost to you higher than that of other options. Shipping is another way that some companies make a hidden fee………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Commodities revenue at the 10 largest banks slumped 24% in 2012, the first drop since at least 2008, according to analytics company Coalition. The total fell to $6 billion from $8 billion in 2011, London-based Coalition said in a report on Friday. The lenders’ investment banking revenue rose 10% to $159 billion, the first gain in three years, it estimated.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of raw materials rose 0.3% last year, the smallest annual change since 1985 and its worst performance in four years. The gauge’s 100-day historic volatility last year reached the lowest level since at least 2002, when Bloomberg data started………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Revenue from commodities trading at global investment banks fell by a quarter last year from 2011, making the asset class the worst performer in the fixed-income business of banks, an industry survey showed on Thursday.
Low market volatility and shrinking client activity were reasons for the drop, and the effect was particularly evident in energy and precious metals businesses, according to the survey by the London-based Coalition, a financial services analytics company………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 15 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Central banks added the most gold to reserves in almost a half century last year as prices averaged a record, the World Gold Council said. The banks bought 145 metric tons in the fourth quarter, an eighth successive quarter of net buying, the London-based industry group said today in a report. They added 534.6 tons to reserves last year, 17 percent more than in 2011 and the most since 1964, it estimates.
Nations from Brazil to Russia are adding the metal to reserves at a time when investors are holding a near-record amount through gold-backed exchange-traded products. Bullion gained for a 12th straight year in 2012, the best run in at least nine decades, averaging $1,669 an ounce through the 12 months………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 12 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecast precious metals and livestock will lead a 1.1 percent gain in commodities in 12 months, saying it will wait for physical markets to confirm recovery before raising individual estimates.
The advance in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Enhanced Commodity Index will include a 2 percent gain in energy, with precious metals to climb 5 percent and livestock to advance 4.5 percent, the bank said. Agriculture will be down 3.5 percent and industrial metals will fall 1 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Everyone is currently worried about inflation with the central banks printing like there is no tomorrow. But the actual inflation numbers are much less than people think inflation is in their everyday lives. For example, Let`s look at Cocoa prices, literally at the bottom of their five year range at 2,227 per ton, well below the 3,800 per ton level established in March of 2011.
If we take Rough Rice which closed at $16.34 per cwt. it is well below the highs of $22.65 and $19.02 per cwt. established in April 2008 and September 2011 respectively……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Top U.S. banks face a decline in Commodities, as revenue fell by a third in the fourth quarter as hard regulation restricted activity among less shining markets and inactive demand for hedging, consultancy Tricumen said.
Banks do not break out commodities revenue when recording results, but the British consultancy projected that the number for U.S. banks in the last three months of 2012 moved down 32 percent year on year, at between $800 million and $900 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 07 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
You could lend it out for interest, say, or raise loans of your own by pledging it as collateral. Or even sell it to raise cash when things get tight. And if your business fails entirely, the “owner” will just have to cue up with all of your other creditors, and be thankful with whatever small change is paid out by the courts.
This is pretty much what big banks get away with in gold – or they did. Now Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse are changing their gold-account fees for big, institutional clients. The aim is to discourage other institutions from keeping gold with them like this – so-called “unallocated gold”. It looks a lot like putting cash on deposit. The bank gets to own it, and so it gets to go banking with the value as well. But now the business of selling gold but without selling anything no longer pays………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The credit crunch that has engulfed the commodities trading industry for the past two years has eased with French banks regaining their appetite to lend to the sector after a large retrenchment in 2011 and 2012.
Commodities executives and bankers in the trading hubs of Geneva and London said BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING, Société Générale and others were expanding their lending again, after cutting it to beef up their balance sheets………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 06 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The world economy suffers the most from the US-led western sanctions against Iran, Tehran’s former Governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fereidoun Berkeshli said, stressing Iran’s strong economic foundations and its strength for standing against the western sanctions.
“According to a simulation model that we have used (at Vienna Energy Group), with an increase of every $10 in oil price, the global economic growth reduces by 0.28 percent which amounts to approximately $10.2bln per day,” Berkeshli, who also heads the Vienna Energy Group, told FNA on Tuesday………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 05 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The tight link between commodities and equities is easing as firms become less worried about macro shocks, say analysts. Correlations between commodities and other asset classes are in retreat, argue analysts, as the impact of macroeconomic jitters diminishes and prices become more heavily affected by physical supply and demand.
During the past five years, commodity prices often moved in lockstep with those of other asset classes, especially equities, as investor sentiment shot up and down in response to broader financial woes……………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 01 February 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Rarely is Deutsche Bank’s press conference as colorful. But Thursday morning it was barely possible to make it past the rabble of protestors chanting songs about world food supply and rising food prices. So Deutsche had some explaining to do as to why it’s once again selling financial products based on agricultural commodities.
Its return, after barely a year, announced by Co-Chief Executive Juergen Fitschen earlier this month at Germany’s biggest agricultural fair Gruene Woche, or “Green Week,” comes at a time when the bank is making tremendous efforts to repair its tarnished public image. And its two new co-chiefs, who took the helm in June, unrelentlessly advocate the bank’s need for “cultural change.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 31 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The world’s biggest mining and steel companies have wiped about $50 billion off project valuations in the past year and the purge is poised to continue this earnings season as managers reassess expensive takeovers.
Anglo American Plc (AAL), Vale SA (VALE3) and Rio Tinto Group (RIO) led the writedowns as declining metal prices, rising project costs and slowing demand forced reviews. Glencore International Plc (GLEN) may write down some nickel and copper assets acquired through its takeover of Xstrata Plc (XTA), Liberum Capital Ltd. has said. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) may trim aluminum operation valuations, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 31 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
UBS AG (UBSN) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), Switzerland’s biggest banks, are adjusting precious-metals charges for financial institutions. UBS revised fees for unallocated accounts and offers an alternative physical account that has “a lower fee structure,” it said in an e-mailed statement. Both banks didn’t give specific details.
The Financial Times reported earlier that the banks are trying to encourage holding metal through allocated accounts, where they would act as custodian and wouldn’t need to increase capital reserves. That’s instead of holding metal through unallocated accounts, which show up on balance sheets………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 30 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
For the second time in less than two years, the United States is facing a debt-ceiling calamity. In this installment of The Commodity Investor, we will discuss the debt ceiling and then examine what impact, if any, it will have on commodity markets.
The US, just like any other country in the world, issues debt in order to finance its existing operations and meet its current legal obligations. These legal obligations include paying back holders of its debt (in the form of bonds issued by the treasury department), paying for services such as Social Security and Medicaid, issuing tax refunds, paying government employee salaries and more………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 24 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Industry bodies have raised concern against the government’s anticipated move to levy commodity transaction tax (CTT) in Budget 2013-14, scheduled to be announced on February 28.
In a pre-Budget recommendation, the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) said exchange-traded commodity transactions continued to be exempted from CTT. It argued the imposition of CTT would not only increase transaction costs, add to the cost of risk management and dissuade genuine hedgers, but also shift commodity derivatives trading to unofficial and illegal ‘dabba’ trading. It added globally, imposition /increase in transaction taxes had led to migration of trade………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 18 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Goldman Sachs has reduced its risk taking in commodities to the lowest in eight years, the clearest sign of how Wall Street is facing up to tighter regulation. Goldman is the largest bank in commodities by revenues.
At its latest results presentation, the bank said on Wednesday it could have lost a daily $22m last year on average when measured by the so-called “value-at-risk” ratio, the lowest since 2004, when it was at $20m, and half the $44m of 2008, at the peak of the commodities boom………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 09 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned nearly $1.154 trillion last year. It projected the earnings to remain at a historically high level of around $1.12 trillion in 2013.
The dataset is from their industry leading Global M&A Energy Transactions Database and includes all upstream oil and gas deals with values disclosed. According to Brian Lidsky, Managing Director with Houston-based PLS Inc., “Total deal value in 2012 surged 50 per cent higher versus 2011 to a record of $254 billion, eclipsing the prior record of $212 billion in 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 08 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Strong oil prices combined with higher production to push OPEC’s income to its highest ever level in 2012 and the UAE was expected to have remained the second largest earner within the 12-nation group.
From a record high of around $1,026 billion in 2011, the collective crude export earnings of the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were likely to have climbed to another peak of nearly $1,154 billion in 2012, its highest level since the group was created more than four decades ago………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 07 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
After the New Year party, the hangover begins. And so it was for those in the commodities markets, after Congress last week reached a deal to avoid the US falling off a “fiscal cliff”.
The last-minute agreement to avert the automatic slashing of spending and painful tax rises in the world’s biggest economy removed a major threat to global activity and, as a result, to demand for raw materials. Commodities markets rallied alongside everything else………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 07 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
U.S. common stocks convincingly outperformed Treasury bonds by 14 percentage points in 2012, and are still advancing on balance as the yield on the 10 year Treasury has risen to 1.92%.
Be advised that the best performing group in the U.S. last year the real estate investment trusts that gained over 20% while the broad market indexes were a tad below 20%. Only Chinese equities– in a slump since 2007, acted better, coming from a lower base, after the U.S. REIT performance………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Lead drove base metals high on the benchmark London Metal Exchange, following American lawmakers agreeing on a long-awaited deal to avoid a fiscal crisis. The US leaders approved a plan to prevent huge tax increases and delay spending cuts that together might have pushed the world’s largest economy off the “fiscal cliff” and into a likely recession.
While the lead price hit a 15-month high to settle at $2,385 a tonne, copper followed and achieved a two-week high of $8,085 a tonne today. Other base metals, including aluminium, zinc and tin, moved the same way………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
Rejoice! After months of contentious negotiations, we finally have a deal on the “fiscal cliff.” Not a comprehensive deal, but a cliff-averting deal nonetheless. Is this a good deal or a bad deal? That’s not the question I want to answer. Instead, I want to analyze the legislation and figure out: What’s the impact on the futures markets?
Let’s start with gold. You might have expected gold to sell off on a deal. But instead, the opposite happened, and gold rallied. Why? Well, while the deal will allow some of the tax increases to go into place, it did little to cut spending, and did not mention the debt ceiling………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 03 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The unofficial start to earnings season is only days away and there are a number of players in commodities that will soon be announcing quarterly results. There will be plenty of options for traders looking to make some money but, in some cases, more attractive buying opportunities may arise subsequent to the releases. Here are four commodity plays ahead of earnings.
On Friday, potash producer Mosaic will check in with the results of its fiscal Q2. Analysts are predicting that the company will post revenue of $2.54 billion versus $3 billion in the prior year. The stock finished 2012 strong with a 2.6% gain on Monday………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 02 January 2013 by VRS | Email |Print
The year 2012 was a bumper year for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). The organization, led by Saudi Arabia, will pocket a record of more than $1 trillion in net oil revenues in 2012 as the annual average price for Brent, the benchmark, heads to an all-time high in spite of weak economic growth.
On Monday, Brent crude’s premium to Middle East benchmark Dubai grade rose to the highest level in more than two weeks. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) bought a cargo of Oman crude through the Platts pricing window………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 21 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
The 56 per cent rebound in iron ore prices since the lows of early September has arrived too late to save Labor’s promise to deliver a budget surplus this financial year.
But of more interest here is whether the rapid rebound in prices for the nation’s biggest export earner is going to save us from the seemingly necessary but thoroughly boring approach of the big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to the coming year — one of capital discipline and cost-cutting………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 20 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
The money that flowed into US commodity products and funds in November was the smallest in one-and-a-half years and little improvement is expected before the year end as investors worry about a fiscal crisis, according to fund tracker Lipper.
For a fourth straight month, Lipper’s fund flow data, which was released on Wednesday, showed that gold products and gold funds attracted the most money in commodities — over $1-billion — as investors saw the precious metal as a quickly saleable asset to cover losses elsewhere………………………………………..Full Article: Source
Posted on 20 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
Without key domestic economic drivers to shelter Canada from a continued weak global economy, GDP growth will slip to 1.7% in 2013, says CIBC. “Having earlier tapped fiscal stimulus and a housing boom to shelter the economy from sluggishness abroad, the country’s ability to set its own course is now much more limited,” says Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC.
He adds, “Escaping economic mediocrity will depend on the kindness of strangers, with exports and related capital spending critical to Canada’s fate in 2013-14.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 19 December 2012 by VRS | Email |Print
Investors almost doubled purchases of commodities this year, at a time when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are forecasting higher prices and Citigroup Inc. says the best returns are over. Money invested in commodity funds increased by $21.6 billion this year, up 92 percent from the gain in 2011, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global, which tracks the flows.
Hedge funds’ bets on a rally are 51 percent bigger than a year ago, U.S. government data show. Precious metals will lead returns in 2013, rising as much as 25 percent, as grains advance 18 percent and industrial metals 16 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey of 131 traders, investors and analysts across 15 raw materials………………………………………..Full Article: Source