Corn and Soybean South American Production Prospects

Corn and Soybean Export Progress

US - In December 2011, the USDA judged total corn production prospects in Argentina and Brazil at 3.54 billion bushels

That forecast was reduced by 120 million bushels in January and by an additional 160 million bushels earlier this month. All of the reduction has been for the Argentine crop. Similarly, combined soybean production in those two countries was forecast at 4.67 billion bushels in December, but was reduced by 90 million bushels in January and an additional 165 million bushels earlier this month.

US Economic Preview - Home Sales Probably Increased

Home Sales Probably Increased in January: U.S. Economy Preview - Businessweek

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Home sales in the U.S. probably climbed in January to the highest level since May 2010, adding to evidence the housing market is regaining its footing, economists said reports this week will show.

Geithner Beats Rubin; Lags Paulson

Geithner Bond Returns Trail Paulson While Beating Rubin - Businessweek

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Timothy F. Geithner, who took over the Treasury Department in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and oversaw the almost doubling of U.S. public debt, has done better for investors than Robert Rubin while falling short of Henry Paulson.

Sugar futures trip a buy signal

Sugar futures completed an impressive Triangle chart pattern

Sugar futures completed an impressive Triangle chart pattern that has been building on the 240-minute time frame for the last several weeks. The market tripped a buy signal after breaking through top side resistance at 24.70 cents per pound, having since pulled back slightly to retest the breakout level. Autochartist has projected a target based on this price action which is encouraging for a move higher.

Sorrentino Sees Gold Rising Over $2,000 Early This Year

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Sorrentino, a senior fund manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, talks about opportunities in emerging markets, the outlook for gold and his investment strategy. Sorrentino also discusses Greece's debt crisis. He speaks with John Dawson on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg) (Bloomberg)

ECB Bond Swap A Non-Event

Feared Bond Swap Met With Shrug - WSJ.com

A bond swap completed last week aimed at protecting the European Central Bank from a restructuring of Greek government debt was widely seen as unsettling euro-zone sovereign-bond markets. So far, though, it hasn't. Last week, the ECB swapped the estimated €45 billion to €50 billion ($59.2 billion to $65.7 billion) face value of bonds—bought in the open market in 2010 and 2011 in a vain effort to quell bond-market turmoil—for bonds of the same face value. The new bonds—unlike the old—won't be subject to any forced restructuring like those held by private bondholders.

"You can observe a lot by just watching." - Yogi Berra

Watch the yen, Ben - MarketWatch

On January 20th, I published an article here on MarketWatch titled "Don't Short Treasuries; Try the yen Instead" in which I argued that shorting the yen might be a better alternative to shorting U.S. Treasuries. What does one have to do with the other?

Greek debt may remain at 160%

Exclusive: Greek debt may remain at 160 percent in '20: IMF/ECB | Reuters

(Reuters) - Greece will need additional relief if it is to cut its debts to 120 percent of GDP by 2020 and if it doesn't follow through on structural reforms and other measures, its debt could hit 160 percent by 2020, a confidential analysis conducted by the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission shows.

Record Turkish Bank Bonds Spurs Lending

Record Bank Bonds Fueling Lending Ease Slump Risk: Turkey Credit - Businessweek

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish banks are increasing bond sales to a record this year, helping to sustain the growth in lending that’s keeping the economy out of recession. Just two years ago, banks didn’t sell any bonds. So far in 2012, they’ve issued the equivalent of $4 billion, four times the amount a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Akbank TAS, the biggest by market value, said Feb. 17 it plans to raise the equivalent of up to $1.5 billion of foreign bonds, triple its single sale in 2011. Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS, the No. 2 lender, issued 1 billion liras ($600 million) of local bonds last month yielding 11 percent.

Limits to Limit Orders

LIMITS TO LIMIT ORDERS

As a reminder, a limit order is one in which execution is permissible only if it can be done at a price named by the trader, or at a better price. You might hear this order type referred to as an “or better” order. Most traders are probably familiar with order types — specifically, the difference between a limit order and a stop order. Yet many of them use various order types to their detriment rather than their advantage. For instance, they may miss trades because of unfilled limit orders while attempting to save a measly $12.50, or buying a futures contract on a stop at a price that ends up being the high of the move.

Bond market in China needs to modernize

Chinese bond market needs modernizing - The Globe and Mail

China has certainly cheered markets by easing lending curbs after an alarming slide in new financing last month. But its method – cutting banks’ reserve requirements – doesn’t guarantee that the funds freed up will find their way to the thirstiest sectors of the economy. A better policy to help companies struggling to borrow would be to further liberalize the bond market. Beijing has taken encouraging steps, but seems wary of opening new channels of credit for fear of making life too difficult for the banks.

Oil above $105 a barrel

Oil at 9-month high above $105 a barrel - Futures Movers - MarketWatch

A day after Tehran said it halted crude shipments to France and Britain, the head of Iran’s state oil company said if other European nations continued “hostile acts,” it would stop exporting oil to them as well, according to the Associated Press, which cited a semiofficial Iranian news agency. But the European Union could handle a sudden end to imports of Iranian oil because of changes already being made due to the EU’s coming ban on Iranian shipments, an International Energy Agency official said Monday, according to media reports.

Details of Greek debt sustainability report

Details of Greek debt sustainability report

Following are the main points in the 9-page confidential report, which was completed on February 15 and submitted to euro zone finance ministers. It is the basis of discussions among the Eurogroup at a meeting in Brussels on Monday to decide on whether to sign off on a second financing program for Greece.

China Cuts Reserve Ratio

U.S. Stock Futures Rise as China Cuts Reserve Ratio for Lenders - BusinessWeek

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose as China's central bank cut reserve requirements for lenders to support growth and euro-area finance ministers gathered to decide whether to bail out Greece for a second time. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in March added 0.5 percent to 1,366.40 at 11:29 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased 68 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,997. U.S. stock exchanges are closed today for Presidents' Day. Futures trading will resume at 6 p.m. New York time, according to CME Group Inc.'s website.

Corn and soybean prices good for Iowa farmers

Corn, soybeans brought Iowa $20 billion in 2011 | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs

Iowa’s corn and soybean farmers, if united in a single corporation, would have ranked 127th on the 2011 Fortune 500. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed what was widely speculated last year, that high corn and soybean prices brought Iowa its first $20 billion cash yield in history, more than double the $9.5 billion received just five years earlier.

Coffee premium collapes

SOFTS-Robusta front month premium collapses, cocoa firms | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - London's front-month robusta coffee premium over the second month was largely erased on Monday, while cocoa and white sugar firmed in thin volumes, with U.S. softs markets closed for a holiday.

ECB Bond Buying Grinds To A Halt

E.C.B. Government Bond-Buying Program Grinds to a Halt - NYTimes.com

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank said Monday that it had made no purchases of government bonds last week as it put on hold a controversial program aimed at lowering borrowing costs for indebted countries. Its purchases had already dwindled to a negligible €59 million, or $78 million, the week before that.

Caught in a range

Gold advances on Greece optimism, China easing

SINGAPORE: Gold prices climbed more than half a percent on Monday, as investors buoyed by easing moves by China's central bank and hopes for Greece to seal a bailout deal at a meeting with euro zone officials later in the day. 

Five Reasons Europe Looks Less Disastrous

Investors are feeling better about the odds that Greece's debt crisis can be contained

Optimism has not been an emotion experienced by too many Europeans of late. Yet that positive feeling is creeping into the markets. The big stock exchanges in Europe are all off to strong starts this year: The Dax index of German stocks is up 16 percent. Even the Athens stock exchange is up 21 percent. The bond markets, meanwhile, are easing borrowing costs for Spain and Italy, with yields below 6 percent on 10-year bonds. An impressive performance, considering the euro crisis is far from over and a risk still exists that Greece won’t have the money to pay bondholders come March 20.

Decision day for Greece

Decision day for 2nd Greek bailout despite financing

(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although work remains to be done to make the numbers add up.

New disclosure rule threat to small caps

Access to capital markets is being limited for smaller companies

Moves by European regulators to make equity trading more transparent could limit the access of smaller companies to capital markets.

This is where financial regulation gets really nasty

The financial industry and regulation

Nobody, nowadays, would deny that the financial industry needs to be better regulated. But, if you are anything like most of people I talk to, you are probably getting a little annoyed by all the sheer number of new rules your firm is struggling to deal with. In all likelihood you think that there have been too many in too short a space of time.