Is the new fad for securitising commodities creating dangerous parallels with the subprime crisis? It’s an observation we made the other day. But it turns out we’re not the only ones to share this view.
The logic is simple. If by leveraging housing stock — using the stock as collateral — the process of mortgage securitisation encouraged subprime lending to people who (arguably) couldn’t afford them, could leveraging commodities in the same way be encouraging equally uncouth lending practices?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Despite the setback caused by the 2008 financial crisis, the commodities bull market rolls on. A short four years later, many commodities are trading at or near all-time highs.
And thanks to huge swaths of the developing world moving up the ranks, the current bull market in commodities promises to be one for the history books– both in time and size. After all, the wants and needs of 7 billion people are an irresistible and monumental force………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global oil prices are still high despite declines in the past few days, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said Tuesday. However, his Kuwaiti counterpart Hani Hussein said in comments published Tuesday that $100 a barrel is a “fair” price for oil justified by market forces, but that geopolitical events were pushing the price higher.
Naimi, speaking to reporters on a visit to Tokyo, was asked if he thinks oil prices are high. He replied, “They are high.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Over the past four decades, Iraq’s oil production has traced the path of a roller coaster, propelled upward by geysers of crude and dragged downward by the weight of war and sanctions. In the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraqi output has failed to achieve the heights it reached under Saddam Hussein — until now.
In April, Iraq exported more crude than it has in any month since it invaded Kuwait in 1990. This success, according to analysts and policymakers, could jolt the global economy and help offset the loss of oil supplies from Iran………………………………………..Full Article: Source

An oil price of $100 a barrel is fair, and Kuwait is producing around 3.1 million barrels of crude a day, the country’s oil minister said in comments published on Tuesday.
“The fundamentals of supply and demand indicate that $100 a barrel is a fair price,” Hani Hussein told newspaper al-Rai in an interview, adding that international political tensions could send the price higher………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC is regaining its clout by successfully weighing in to talk down oil prices. Suggestions Tuesday by the Saudi oil minister, Ali Naimi, that prices were still too high and that OPEC might discuss a higher production ceiling at its next meeting in June helped prices slide further.
Naimi’s price comments echoed the head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, who last Thursday spoke against high prices for oil futures………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Speculators returned to building their bullish exposure to most precious and base metals futures and options contracts as prices rose toward the end of April, according to U.S. government data released Friday.
Speculators added to bullish positions in gold, copper, platinum and palladium in both the legacy and disaggregated weekly commitment of traders reports released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the week ended May 1. In silver, however, speculators continued to whittle away slightly at their net-long position………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China looks as though it could be well on the way to overtaking India as the world’s largest gold consumer this year as the import data through Hong Kong - seen as a proxy for China’s total imports, which may be far higher - have continued to surge, growing six-fold from the same quarter a year ago.
According to figures published yesterday, Q1 imports through Hong Kong totalled 135.5 tonnes from 19.7 tonnes a year earlier - and month on month imports increased by 59% for March in comparison with February………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Peru’s gold sales totalled $US2.57 billion ($A2.53 billion) in the first quarter of this year, making the commodity the country’s top export, the National Mining, Petroleum and Energy Society, or SNMPE, says.
Gold accounted for 23 per cent of Peru’s total exports of $US11.38 billion ($A11.19 billion) during the January-March 2012 period, SNMPE gold committee chairman Jose Morales Dasso said in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

At a time when hedge funds are reducing bullish silver bets by the most in two years, analysts predict a rally as manufacturing expands from China to the U.S., boosting demand for the precious metal most used in industry.
Money managers cut wagers by 68 percent in two months as futures tumbled 21 percent, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia’s mining boom will continue to roll on but decline slightly in coming years as commodity prices fall due to an increase in supply, the Federal Government says.
There’s no cause for concern for miners for the time being, with businesses expected to invest a record A$120 billion ($154 billion) in the resources sector in 2012-13, the Government’s Budget papers said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In recent years, gold has become arguably the most popular commodity from an investing perspective, and with good reason. Gold and the funds that track it have provided some massive returns for traders and investors all around the globe.
But that popularity got especially heated in 2010 and the first half of 2011, as gold featured a meteoric rise to eclipse the $1,900 /oz. level with the financial world buzzing about what appeared to be the best investment at the time……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The growth of the ETF universe has spawned a number of ways to tap into a variety of asset classes that were previously out-of-reach for mainstream investors.
Thanks to the numerous (and growing) number of advantages that ETFs offer over traditional mutual funds, it’s no wonder that the exchange-traded product structure has become the preferred vehicle for many traders; ETFs are useful in implementing any number of investment strategies, ranging from short-term trades to building retirement portfolios………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The euro zone crisis has been going on now for two years and the worst is not over yet. This has sent traders looking for vehicles to profit from the crisis as well as hedging their portfolio. One vehicle that traders turned to has been ETFs.
ETFs are a great way to gain exposure to markets with a stock market account without having a futures/commodities or forex account………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Reserve Bank Tuesday said foreign institutional investors (FIIs) can invest up to the permitted limit of 23 percent in commodity stock exchanges without prior approval of the government.
However, prior clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is required for foreign direct investment (FDI) in such exchanges………………………………………..Full Article: Source

STX Services BV, Europe’s leading voice and electronic broker in environmental based commodities, announced today that it has launched an electronic auction platform for the sale and purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (Guarantees of Origin (GoO)) relating to EU power consumption.
This unique auction, in which multiple buyers and sellers may participate concurrently, achieves a perfect simulation of an open market place. The design of the auction has been inspired by other well established markets, including metals and fixed income, in which auctions play an important role………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in Beijing last week kowtowing to the largest foreign owner of our national debt, the prospect of the dollar’s demise as a reserve currency has once again reared its ugly head.
Will people pleeease stop incessantly nattering about the possibility of China dropping the dollar as a reserve currency? What else are they going to use? Monopoly money? Taiwanese dollars? Collectable postage stamps?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The euro is incompatible with democracy. It is a notion that probably does not seem all that surprising after the events of the past six months. First, we saw unelected leaders being imposed on Greece and Italy.
Now, in the elections of the past weekend, voters were finally given an opportunity to react, and they have wholeheartedly voted against the austerity measures designed to safeguard the single currency………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emerging Asian currencies were mixed on Tuesday on worries about Europe after elections triggered a growth-versus-austerity debate, while the euro’s bounce off a three-month low helped prop up the South Korean won and the Taiwan dollar.
The Taiwan dollar outperformed regional peers on some foreign fund inflows, but overall trading in Asia was subdued, dealers said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

On May 2, the South Korean National Assembly passed a law introducing a national carbon trading scheme by 2015. This is a truly significant moment not only in terms of Korea’s national efforts to tackle climate change, but also because it underlines the emergence of a nascent Asian Pacific carbon trading emissions hub with the potential to be a tipping point in the global fight against climate change.
So why is Korea’s move so important when the country is responsible for fewer than 2 percent of global emissions?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Microsoft is to set an internal carbon price to help drive greener business decisions across its sprawling global operations, in a pioneering policy yet to be adopted by many companies of its size.
The software group, which operates in more than 100 nations, is also looking at buying wind farms or other clean power sources as part of a commitment to become carbon neutral in the coming financial year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global corn prices may drop in 2013-14 as the US farmers has planted the largest corn crop in the last 75 years. According to reports, the corn production is expected to soar nearly 130% in 2012-13.
Farmers increased the planting on the back of higher farm returns due to increased demand from China………………………………………..Full Article: Source