To every commodities trader, there’s a time to plant and a time to reap. This is harvest time, said commodities trader Peter Brandt, who sizes up the climate bluntly: “Markets are getting set up to slam the speculator.”
Brandt has been buying and selling commodities for almost four decades. His Colorado Springs, Colo.-based company, Factor LLC, trades on behalf of and offers research to institutional and speculative clients………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A lot of optimistic projections for China’s commodities demand look something like this: The premise is fairly straightfoward: you take the country’s current level of GDP per capita, and compare its steel (or whatever) consumption per capita to what other nations’ consumption levels were at that point, and how fast they subsequently rose.
The chart on the left adjusts for… well, we’re not sure really, but the chart on the right gives a very clear hint to Rio Tinto investors that they can expect great things to come in terms of Chinese demand for iron ore………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With gloomy trade news almost daily, farmers are likely to revise their farm budgets downwards. Given pastoral agriculture spends around $13 billion on goods and services each year, this has implications for both the provincial and national economy.
“It’s no secret while primary export volumes have increased, commodity prices are in retreat,” says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President and economics and commerce spokesperson………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The shale oil and gas revolution in the United States will irrevocably alter the energy landscape globally in a decade’s time, but for now, betting against these names will reap rewards.
That is the view of Pactum Asset Management’s Simon Wainwright, lead manager on the long/short equity, commodities specific Globersel Pactum Natural Resources fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Opec’s crude-oil output kept rising in April, as Iraq offset Iran’s production decline to a 20-year low, according to a Dow Jones survey.
Crude production from the 12 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries was up by 115,000 bpd from March, at 31.820mn bpd, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of industry sources and analysts. Other Opec producers in the Gulf have been able to offset the Iranian decline. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Iran’s oil output has reached its lowest level in 20 years, independent data showed Wednesday, as the impact of sanctions dramatically deepens. The output decline underscores how pressure on Iran is increasingly hurting the country’s coffers—-with oil and gas normally accounting for more than half of its export revenue.
According to Vienna-based JBC Energy GmbH, Iran’s crude output fell to 3.2 million barrels a day in April, down 150,000 barrels a day in two months. That level hadn’t been hit since the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war in 1990………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When the first OPEC oil shock hit in the 1970s, President Nixon responded by lowering the national speed limit to 55 miles per hour in a bid to conserve energy. But speed limits aren’t the only thing that can change when oil prices go up.
Right now, we’re seeing that rising crude prices can influence much more than just how fast you can drive your car. High oil prices change the speed at which your economy can grow………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bernstein’s energy analysts have looked at the upstream costs for the 50 biggest listed oil producers and found that — surprise, surprise — “the era of cheap oil is over”:
Tracking data from the 50 largest listed oil and gas producing companies globally (ex FSU) indicates that cash, production and unit costs in 2011 grew at a rate significantly faster than the 10 year average………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Byron Wien, the 79 year-old chairman of Blackstone Group LP’s advisory services unit, is forecasting an annual drop in oil prices for the first time in his career as swelling production pushes global inventories higher.
Wien, who joined the world’s biggest private-equity firm in 2009, said the U.S. will extract more crude by fracking rocks and expects the furor over a potential conflict with Iran to dissipate. Brent crude lost 2.8 percent last month after surging 14 percent in the first quarter on concern Iran may disrupt Middle East exports in retaliation for a European oil embargo………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With more oil than customers, Canada’s landlocked West has sought to carve out new markets in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Asia. The next frontier is east.
Pipeline companies Enbridge Inc. and TransCanada Corp. are exploring ways to ship crude to both U.S. and Canadian refineries on the East Coast, the latest projects aimed at reconfiguring energy infrastructure to accommodate North America’s oil-output boom………………………………………..Full Article: Source

No wonder the push back against clean energy is so strong. A staggering amount of money is at stake. I had not realized quite how much impact that switching to clean energy will have on the dirty energy industry, currently the richest industry on the planet.
The IEA 2012 report on global progress on cutting greenhouse gases to prevent the worst effects of climate change includes an estimate of the immediate financial costs of investing in newer cleaner forms of energy in various forms………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indian gold traders stayed away from purchases on Wednesday as prices stayed in the vicinity of their highest level in five months due to a weaker rupee.
The most-active gold for June delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.13 percent higher at 29,167 rupees per 10 grams, after hitting a high of 29,162 rupees, nearing a level last seen in early December………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After rising almost 11% in January, gold Comex futures declined 3 months in a row, ending at $1,664.2 at the end of April. Year-to-date gold futures gained 6.3% compared to MSCI World (Developed Market) Index, 10.8%, CRB Index, 2.2% and Dollar Index, -1.7%.
From this year’s peak reached on 28th February at $1,792.7, gold futures declined 7%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Volatile equity markers, environmental regulations and rising costs for miners create head winds that physical gold doesn’t encounter. One of the big debates of 2011 was whether the performance discrepancy between physical gold prices and gold equities was going to diverge back to normal.
As you may recall, gold equities grossly underperformed gold bullion throughout 2011. For most of the year, gold prices traded anywhere between 15 to 40 percent higher than their equity counterparts………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After rising almost 11% in January, gold Comex futures have declined three months in a row, ending April at $1,664.2. Year-to-date gold futures gained 6.3% compared to 10.8% for the MSCI World (Developed Market) Index, 2.2% for the CRB Index and -17% for the Dollar Index. From this year’s peak reached on Feb. 28 at $1,792.7, gold futures declined 7%.
While spot gold in US dollars has not recovered from its early September peak of $1,921.1, gold bar per 10 grams in India has reached an all-time high at 29,600 INR on April 30………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Not every investor or trader is a forex trader, but it’s fair to say in this era of global central banks running the printing presses hot and heavy, being aware of one’s forex risk is important. This is especially true for U.S. investors that are long many ex-U.S. ETFs, a trade that arguably amounts to an indirect currency trade whether the investor knows it or not.
There are ways to mitigate that currency risk with ETFs though few investors realize that judging by the assets under management numbers for these funds. Oh well, ignorance isn’t always bliss……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Energy has long been a popular destination for all types of investors, ranging from smaller individuals to sophisticated billion dollar hedge funds. It wasn’t that long ago that the strategies for investing in energy were relatively simple and straightforward: buy ExxonMobil (XOM).
But thanks in part to the ETF boom, there are now options aplenty for tapping into global energy markets. Below are 13 different strategies for investing in energy, each offering unique risk / return profiles:……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A day after the commodity derivatives market regulator, the Forward Markets Commi-ssion (FMC), cut penalty on delivery default in three compulsory delivery commodities, their prices on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exch-ange (NCDEX) shot up sharply.
While all chana contracts hit the upper circuit in the first few hours of trading, the near-month May pepper contract witnessed an increase of 1.2 per cent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emerging-market currencies never got a chance Wednesday, as weaker manufacturing data in some emerging-market countries and fewer-than-expected private-sector job additions in the U.S. in April had investors scuttling to dollar safety.
For most currencies, Wednesday’s activity was a reversal of the move on Tuesday. Markets once again were moving on daily news without any broader themes. The next couple of sessions will be dictated by decisions made by the European Central Bank Thursday on whether it will support Spain and other floundering European nations, and the U.S. jobs report due Friday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

ArcelorMittal (MT) and Lafarge SA (LG), the world’s biggest steel and cement makers respectively, used the most United Nations offsets to cover carbon-dioxide emissions last year, according to data on the European Commission website.
Factories and power stations used 254.6 million offsets in the bloc’s cap-and-trade program, the data show. ArcelorMittal handed in about 29.3 million credits, enough to cover 78 percent of its emissions last year, while Lafarge used 11 million, or 64 percent of its pollution. Offsets may be used to cut compliance costs with Europe’s carbon trading system……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Analysts say that any one-off EU clearing of the massive glut of carbon permits now clogging the Emissions Trading System (ETS) is likely to lead to a ‘central bank’ or other policy tool to manage future imbalances.
But the European Commission is cautious about entrenching such a mechanism in the ETS, which is the bloc’s chief weapon to fight climate change………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The recent visit by Minister Combet drew attention to China’s announcement of carbon trading pilots and the potential to create a competitively neutral Asia Pacific trading system involving China, Australia Korea, New Zealand, California and parts of Canada.
China is conducting a series of pilots that will trial a range of penalty and reward mechanisms carefully selected to examine which work best at different stages of economic development. The trials will operate until the end of 2015, after which China is expected to select the best model(s) to roll out nationally – and potentially internationally – from 2016 or later………………………………………..Full Article: Source