| Oil sets record at $100.01 a barrel
The petroleum world produced a record Tuesday, which was bad news for consumers. Frenzied trading sent crude oil surging above $100 a barrel to $100.01 — the highest closing price ever for oil on the New York commodities market, making it likely that gas prices soon will jump, too. In addition, prices for gold, copper and other commodities soared as investment funds sought places to park their money in the face of inflation concerns and a weaker dollar. Also Tuesday, the Energy Department confirmed what anyone who filled up recently already knows — that pump prices are on the rise, bringing the U.S. average back above the $3-a-gallon mark. The nationwide average cost of self-serve regular jumped 8.2 cents over the past week to $3.04 a gallon Monday, released a day late because of the Presidents Day holiday.
DMCC names new Executive Director of Gold and Precious Metals
MacDonald takes over from Colin Griffith, who has held this position for the last four years. This move comes as DMCC works to consolidate the strides the division has made under Griffith and build upon those successes. In his new role at DMCC, spearheading the Gold & Precious Metals division, MacDonald will focus on further enhancing Dubai's role as a global centre for the gold and precious metals trade, through broadening local market horizons in refining, manufacturing and trading skills. He will also oversee business development, strengthen stakeholder relationships and develop new products while promoting best practices in the local and regional markets. MacDonald will also explore and develop DMCC-branded commodities-based investment vehicles to grow DMCC's current footprint in the precious metals sector.
London robusta coffee hits 9-year high
London robusta coffee futures hit a nine-and-a-half-year high and cocoa reached a four-year peak on Friday on a wave of enthusiasm among investment funds for all sorts of commodities. Reallocation of investments for the New Year has already seen several basic resource prices, including gold and oil, hit record highs this month and soft commodities such as coffee and cocoa have been tipped as a good bet for the year ahead. "Funds are increasing their holding in both commodities at the moment. It is not an overnight thing, I think it has been building for some time," soft commodities trader Jeff Cooper of Ambrian Commodities said. .
Barclays Launches Eight Commodity Sub-Sector iPath(R) Exchange Traded ...
NEW YORK, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Barclays Bank PLC announced today the launch of eight new iPath(R) Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) on the NYSE Arca stock exchange. The iPath ETNs are the first Exchange Traded Notes designed to offer exposure to sub-indexes of the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index(SM). They are linked to agriculture, copper, energy, grains, industrial metals, livestock, natural gas, and nickel. "The new iPath sub-sector ETNs provide investors with access to harder-to- reach markets," said Philippe El-Asmar, Head of Investor Solutions, Americas at Barclays Capital. "Investments in iPath Exchange Traded Notes surpassed $3.6 billion in just under 16 months from inception, and we believe these new ETNs will continue to attract attention particularly with daily creations and redemptions available since October 1, 2007." "The new iPath ETNs demonstrate Barclays continued commitment to providing investors with innovative investment solutions to the commodity markets," added Benoit de Vitry, Head of Commodities, Emerging Markets Rates and Quantitative Analytics at Barclays Capital.
Hedge funds scent a market turnaround amid turbulence
London: If hedge funds are, as is often claimed, the investment vanguard, their latest moves appear to be telling financial markets it is time to take a break from the trading patterns that have dominated since mid-2007. Investment banks have been poring over the latest data on hedge fund positioning from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and concluded that a number of speculative bets have been changed. Societe Generale, for example, says long positions on 10-year government bonds have been closed. That is to say, hedge funds are not expecting demand for such bonds to increase and drive yields lower. .
Feds looking into alleged metro Ponzi scheme
Federal agents are investigating several people suspected of running a fraudulent investment scheme that helped pay for stock market day trading and gambling trips to Las Vegas. The alleged scheme used a number of Twin Cities business entities and is believed to have tapped more than 200 investors nationwide for at least $10.9 million, according to a sworn statement filed this month in Minneapolis federal court to obtain three search warrants. U.S. Postal Inspector Rob Strande, who filed the statement, said the losses have not been determined, but that they could be substantial. Strande said in the affidavit that the suspects solicited investors by promising returns of 20 to 2,200 percent over the course of one to 18 months. Potential investors were told that their money would go to unspecified ventures -- including gold, diamonds and oil commodities -- he said.
Std Bank, ICBC in $1bn resources fund
They did not ruling out a possibility of third party participating and investing in the fund. There is a huge demand for resources such as precious metals, oil and gas in China and this is also driving the commodities markets. Ridley said ICBC was interested in taking part in the resources sector and Standard Bank could provide access to over 250 professionals in commodities and resource financing worldwide. Standard Bank would also contribute to the fund by creating deal flow and fund investment opportunities. We will also leverage global franchise in resources industry, he said. ICBC could assist the fund by facilitating access to investment opportunities in China and contributing funding sources. We will complement each other, said Ridley.
Quarterly earnings surge again at Cargill
Profit for the second quarter was nearly $1 billion at Cargill, the Minnetonka-based agricultural giant, as capital investments helped the company move more commodities over longer distances, the company reported Monday. The earnings of $954 million for the quarter ended Nov. 30 were a 44 percent gain over the same quarter last year. "We are very pleased with today's results," Greg Page, the Cargill chairman and chief executive who took over the company last June, said in a prepared statement. "Today we are moving bigger volumes of commodities, through more facilities, at higher utilization rates and over longer distances. As we've grown, we've also strengthened our ability to measure and assess risk. That's been crucial, given the speed and magnitude of price movements in today's agricultural and energy markets." Earnings for the first six months of the company's fiscal year stand at $1.87 billion, a 61 percent increase from the previous year's first half.
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