commodity

Amid rising gasoline prices and falling corn prices, ethanol may be poised for a comeback of sorts, even if only a temporary one.

Energy efficiency is one of the themes most discussed by those who are interested in issues regarding energy and the environment. The key question is how effective these proposed solutions will be. Will these technological solutions labeled as ‘energy efficiency’ (i.e.

Oil and politics have always gone together for a simple reason; since oil became an indispensable commodity without which the world as we know it today would not function, countries that produce oil have learned how to use it as a weapon. And who says weapons, says politics.

Commodity and stock prices are expected to continue to see support from investors demanded higher yields although short-term overbought conditions may limit upside action. Traders are citing the stronger global economy and low interest rates in the U.S as two reasons for the renewed interest in higher yielding assets.

The stronger Dollar is putting pressure this morning on both equity and commodity markets as traders dump risky assets for the safe-haven Dollar. Equity markets were down in Asia and Europe. This weaker trend is expected to spillover to the U.S. stock markets.

Commodities have been on the move higher led by oil. (NYSE: DBC), PowerShares Commodity Index Tracking ETF has made it back to resistance at the $24.10. As you can see below on the chart this is the third trip to this level since June.

The title says "How", but the article also has a significant amount of "Why". I'm using ETFs to efficiently diversify & hedge my portfolio. The author also points out something that I've found to be true: when you use ETFs to diversify, it gives you freedom to research & invest in a few stellar individual stocks.

Commodity markets surged as traders sold the U.S. Dollar and used the proceeds to invest in higher risk assets. Commodity and equity futures were up across the board as selling pressure hit the Dollar from the opening today. Today’s rallies came as a surprise as many traders had anticipated a quiet trading session ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC meeting.

Forgive me for my diatribe, but if I hear one more person lauding about gold breaking $1,000, I think I might just throw this computer out the window.

A bigger decline than expected in weekly inventories sent December Crude Oil sharply higher on Wednesday. The rally was triggered when crude stocks fell by 8.4 million barrels to 343.6 million barrels. This news caught traders by surprise as many were trading the short side of the market following a sharply lower Chinese stock market overnight.

Commodity prices soared on Monday following a slew of global manufacturing reports which indicated that demand for raw materials and food will likely increase. Manufacturing reports in China, the Euro Zone, the U.K, and U.S. came out better than expected indicating that the global recession may have ended. Construction spending in the U.S. also showed signs of an economic recovery.

Whenever a market does something unexpected or dramatic – at least, what I consider to be unexpected or dramatic – I like to look at my VantagePoint charts to see what clues they might have offered to help me make a trading decision.

To the inexperienced, the decisions process in trend following & commodity trading should be complicated. Since I have been involved in commodity trading since 1994, I have seen what stands the chance of succeeding over the long term and what does not. Besides being a Commodity trading advisor with a commodity pool I work as an AP ( associated person at a brokerage firm).

One of the biggest differences in commodity trading is that many successful commodity trading advisors use trend following mechanical systems. Of course there are other commodity trading advisors that use pattern recognition …counter trend as well as basic fundamental analysis to base their decisions.

Trend following commodity futures trading as well as stock traders were villified last year as speculators. Even George Soros came out with the statement that the rampant rise of crude oil was due to speculators. Trend following commodity trading advisors are speculators but they do not manipulate trends. On of the main principles of trend following is that there is a trend to follow.