Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Brash trader rattles MFGlobal's cage
Koutoulas, a 31-year-old Chicago fund manager who has been in the markets for more than half his life, has become a vocal advocate for about 8,000 MF Global brokerage customers who are demanding full return of the money in their accounts. In a short time, Koutoulas, who runs Chicago-based commodities firm Typhon Capital, has made a big impact in MF Global's (MFGLQ.PK) bankruptcy, as the search continues for hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer funds.
Fade the ECB?
The European Central Bank has its monthly meeting and news conference on Thursday. Here's how to get ready. It's already a busy week in the euro zone, what with bond sales and economic data. Now comes a meeting of the European Central Bank - which Andrew Busch, global currency and public policy strategist for BMO Capital, says creates a trading opportunity. "We're looking for a chance perhaps with the ECB meeting to sell the euro [EUR=X 1.2701 -0.0005 (-0.04%) ] on a rally," he told CNBC's Simon Hobbs.
Two days ago the Brent-WTI spread hit a 2 month high. Is there more to come?
The price difference between the most important oil benchmarks widened to a two-month peak as investors started to shift money from West Texas Intermediate futures into Brent futures owing to changes in key commodities indices.
EU's oil embargo meeting set for January 23rd
European Union governments agreed on Tuesday to bring forward a meeting of foreign ministers expected to decide on an oil embargo on Iran by one week to January 23. In its statement confirming the date, the EU said the decision to bring it forward from Jan. 30 was taken to avoid a scheduling clash with a summit of EU leaders set for that day.
Will Iran be able to sell embargoed crude
When Ronald Reagan imposed an embargo on Iranian oil in October 1987, the market braced itself for a big price hike. But while the ban stopped the flow of 500,000 barrels a day to the US, crude prices fell from about $20 a barrel in early October of that year to less than $15 in December. There was a simple explanation: instead of cutting output, Tehran re-directed oil usually sold to America to other markets.
Gold up even though dollar Is surging
Forexpros – Gold futures advanced in late U.S. trade on Wednesday despite the U.S. dollar making another run toward 16 month highs against the euro. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1643.65 a troy ounce during late U.S. trade gaining 0.74%. It earlier hit a high of USD1647.85, the highest since December 13th. Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1612.35 a troy ounce and technical resistance exists at USD1681.55, the high of December 13th. Strength in the U.S. dollar usually works to depress precious metal prices. However, not today as the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained 0.53% to trade at 81.58.
Treasuries Rally
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell, pulling U.S. benchmark indexes down from five-month highs, and the euro weakened amid growing concern that Europe was headed into a recession and France's top credit rating was in jeopardy. Commodities slid, while Spanish and Italian bonds rose before debt sales tomorrow.
Orange juice futures crater
(Reuters) - Orange juice futures dived almost 10 percent on Wednesday, completely reversing the previous day's sharp gains as traders reckoned fears of a U.S. import ban on Brazilian juice were overblown.
Natural Gas Under $2.75
NEW YORK—Natural-gas futures broke below $2.75 a million British thermal units, continuing a massive selloff from earlier in the day that has shaved 6.8% off prices in one trading session.
Top 10 FCM's By Segregated Funds
Top Brokers
By Customer Segregated Funds
(Data in millions as of March 2011)
(Data in millions as of March 2011)
| 1 | NEWEDGE | $ 23,499 |
| 2 | GOLDMAN SACHS | $ 23,027 |
| 3 | JP MORGAN | $ 17,325 |
| 4 | DEUTSCHE BANK | $ 16,365 |
| 5 | MERRILL LYNCH | $ 10,522 |
| 6 | UBS SECURITIES | $ 10,180 |
| 7 | CITIGROUP | $ 10,066 |
| 8 | MF GLOBAL INC | $ 8,078 |
| 9 | CREDIT SUISSE | $ 5,614 |
| 10 | BARCLAYS CAPITAL. | $ 5,512 |
Source: CFTC
Margin Doubles For OJ Futures
NEW YORK—ICE Futures U.S. has nearly doubled the amount investors and traders employing hedges must pay to open and maintain positions in the frozen-orange-juice concentrate market, after prices for the commodity surged to a record high on concerns that a fungicide detected in Brazilian juice imports to the U.S. would hurt domestic supplies.
The Widow Maker spread
They of course call it the widow maker or the unimaginative, perhaps the heating oil/gasoline spread. The spread has been soaring as the heating oil market is reflecting all of the news that can impact supply by the preponderance of news that has driven oil. The news is getting more bullish for heating oil, diesel and fuel oil and more bearish for oil. Whether you are talking about the agreement in principle by the European Union to impose an oil embargo on Iran or the closure of Petro Plus refineries in Europe the spread just continues to soar. Of course the other side of that coin is the fact that gasoline demand is weak. As we told you the EU will move forward on an oil embargo and the US made it harder for Iran to sell oil by new banking sanctions. This will tighten Distillate supply in Europe while gasoline demand is tanking!
Here are the top 10 countries with the largest gold reserves
Which countries actually have the most gold in their reserves?
The Mad Hedge Fund Trader‘
Retirement takes on a different shape for John Thomas, also known as The Mad Hedge Fund Trader, who now uses that moniker for a web site, daily newsletter and premium-priced trade alert service while also trading his own account. In his previous 40-year career Thomas has worked as Tokyo correspondent for The Economist magazine and the Financial Times, built and headed Morgan Stanley’s international equity division, run his own hedge fund to a 1,000% return and focused on his own investments and commodities, including oil and gas development in the Barnett Shale of Texas.
Has Copper Bottomed
Copper prices plunged by over $1.25 per pound, or more than 25%, this past September. The market has since rallied and is straddling the $3.40-per-pound level. Are we looking at just a dead-cat bounce and soon to see prices revisit the south side of $3.00 per pound, or has the market bottomed?
Vultures Circle Euro
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Canny foreign-exchange investors are increasingly tempted to borrow euros to fund bets in higher-yielding currencies, even though it is a lot cheaper to borrow dollars. The combination of low European Central Bank interest rates that are likely to fall further, and growing confidence that the euro is set for a big slide this year, lines the currency up as a good bet to sell in search of juicier bets elsewhere. In the market's parlance, that makes it a funding currency, equivalent to nailing a "for sale" sign on its fence.
Nigerian crude output threatened
PORT HARCOURT/LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian oil workers threatened on Wednesday to shut down output in Africa's top crude producer, deepening a national strike over a more than doubling of petrol prices.
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