Natural gas down for fourth day

U.S. Henry Hub, NY spot gas down for fourth day | Reuters

NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) - U.S. spot 

natural gas prices fell across the nation 

for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday 

as high supplies of the fuel coupled with 

slack demand steered prices in key markets 

further toward their 30-month lows.  Gas 

bound for the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub 

NG-W-HH fell another 6 cents, or nearly 

3 percent, on Thursday to an average $2.07 per million British thermal units, its lowest price

since September 2009 when prices fell below $2, according to Reuters data. 

Deal To Tap Oil Stockpile Denied

OIL FUTURES: Crude Settles Slightly Lower; US Denies Deal To Tap Oil Stockpile - www.capital.gr
 
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Oil futures prices were roiled Thursday by a report that the U.S. had reached an agreement to release oil from its emergency reserves -- only to be calmed less than an hour later by a White House denial.  A relatively quiet morning was interrupted by a Reuters news service story that the U.K. expected the U.S. to act soon to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- or SPR, the nation's emergency oil stockpile -- in the face of rising prices. The report came a day after President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron said they would keep open discussions about a possible release of oil reserves, a U.K. official familiar with the talks said.

Treasury Bonds Rebound

Treasury Bonds Rebound From Biggest Selloff Since October - WSJ.com

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The embattled Treasury bond market showed some signs of life Thursday following the biggest two-day selloff since October.In late afternoon trade, the benchmark 10-year note clawed back most of its earlier losses, trading 2/32 lower to yield 2.281%.  The 30-year bond was flat to yield 3.410%. Bond prices move inversely to their yields.  Shorter-dated notes did better, with maturities from two years out to seven years posing moderate price gains. The two-year note was 2/32 higher to yield 0.366%.

Capital One has room to run

Capital One Stock Should Rise as It Raises $1.25 Billion in Cash

We know that traveling Vikings and Jerry Stiller believe that consumers should put Capital One credit cards in their wallets. However, the bank's stock deserves a place in investors' portfolios. After Wednesday's closing bell, Capital One Financial (ticker: COF) announced it would offer $1.25 billion in common stock to partially finance its $2.6 billion acquisition of HSBC Holdings' (HBC) U.S. credit-card operations. Thursday morning the company said it would price the 24.4 million shares at $51.65 each.

iShares Silver Trust is completely tarnished

Betting on Silver Fatigue

The iShares Silver Trust appears to be tarnished after rising about 20% this year alone. Since shares of the exchange-traded fund hit its 2012 high on Feb. 28, the price has edged lower and recent trading activity suggests interest in the metal is waning.

Sustainable Energy News: Cracking the glass ceiling: Its a start . . .

Sustainable Energy News: Cracking the glass ceiling: Its a start . . .

Thursday marked International Women's Day, which means, among many other things, that GovernanceMetrics International (GMI) has published its annual Women on Boards report. The survey, which includes data on more than 4,300 companies in 45 countries, concludes that there has been "incremental improvement in most measures of female board representation" since GMI's 2011 report.  This year's report marks some milestones for the representation of women on corporate boards, which, according to a 2010 report from GMI, "increases the conscientiousness of board oversight, and leads to more accurate value assessments." For the first time, "women hold more than one in ten board seats globally: 10.5% of the directors in our coverage universe are now women, a 0.7 percentage point increase from last year," according to this year's report.

Cocoa Slumps on Rain, Oil Pares Decline

Cocoa Slumps on Rain, Oil Pares Decline: Commodities at Close - Bloomberg

Cocoa fell to a one-month low in New York as rains help boost crops in West Africa, bringing the market closer to a second surplus after forecasts for a shortage earlier this year. Sugar advanced.

IMF backs $36.56B Greek aid

IMF backs $36.56B Greek aid; S&P rates new bonds but holds sovereign rating - The Washington Post

ATHENS, Greece — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved €28 billion ($36.56 billion) in funding for crisis-hit Greece over the next four years, while Standard and Poor’s said that the country’s new bonds were still vulnerable to a default.
An IMF’s executive board granted the immediate release of €1.65 billion ($2.15 billion) of these funds as part of the country’s second bailout, a statement said.

MF Trustee Wants to Distribute More Funds to Commodities Clients

MF Trustee Seeks More Payments to Commodities Clients - WSJ.com

The trustee overseeing the liquidation of MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s MFGLQ 0.00% brokerage Thursday proposed additional payments to commodities clients of the failed broker-dealer, including the first to those with accounts frozen on non-U.S. exchanges.  The trustee asked the bankruptcy judge overseeing MF Global to approve a further distribution of up to $685 million, adding about 10 cents on the dollar to the 72 cents already recovered by U.S. customers who held funds on deposit.

Dollar Near 4-Week High

Dollar Near 4-Week High as Fed Raises Economic Assessment - Bloomberg
 
The dollar strengthened to an 11- month high against the yen after the Federal Reserve raised its outlook for U.S. growth, reducing expectations the central bank will begin a third round of bond purchases.
The yen fell for a second day versus the dollar as the extra yield received for holding Treasury two-year notes compared with Japanese debt increased to the most since July. Norway’s krone dropped to a one-month low as policy makers unexpectedly lowered interest rates. Britain’s pound rallied against most of its major peers as gilt yields rose to the highest in four months.

France Sells EU 8.46 Billion in Debt

France Sells EU 8.46 Billion in Debt as Borrowing Costs Fall - Bloomberg

France sold 8.46 billion euros ($11.05 billion) of notes, with borrowing costs falling in yet another sign the European Central Bank’s increased lending is spurring investor demand for the region’s debt.
The notes sold were at the top end of the 8.5 billion euros targeted by Agence France Tresor, the country’s debt-management body. Earlier today, Spain sold 3 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2015, 2016 and 2018, the Bank of Spain said, less than its maximum target for the auction of 3.5 billion euros.

Jobless Claims in U.S. Decrease

Jobless Claims in U.S. Decrease, Matching Four-Year Low - Bloomberg



Claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to match a four-year low, and U.S. consumer confidence rose to the highest since 2008, signaling an improving labor market may boost household spending. Applications for unemployment insurance payments fell by 14,000 to 351,000 in the period ended March 10, Labor Department figures showed today. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to minus 33.7 from minus 36.7 in the week ended March 11.

Gold Found By Saudi Billionaire’s May Spur Output

Saudi Billionaire’s Gold Find May Spur Output - Businessweek

National Mining Corp., a closely held company owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed al-Amoudi, said it found gold deposits in southern Ethiopia that may produce at least 10 metric tons a year, almost doubling national output.  Exploration conducted over 15 years shows the Okote site in Ethiopia’s Oromia region has more than 550 tons of gold, of which 73 tons may be ready for extraction within 24 months, Chief Executive Officer Melaku Beza in an interview on March 12 in Addis Ababa, the capital. The company plans to invest $150 million in the initial phase of production, he said.

Man commodity algorithm fund allows human element

Man commodity algorithm fund allows human element

(Reuters) - Asset manager Man Group aims to attract new institutional and wealthy retail clients with a commodity fund that uses hedge fund techniques and computer models, but in a traditional long-only format.

Risk on, risk off, help me, help you, help me, help you . . .

Currency Risk Patterns Shifting - TheStreet

NEW YORK (BBH FX Strategy) -- One of the most important developments in the foreign exchange market is the fragmentation of the risk-on/risk-off matrix that was a key feature since the onset of the financial crisis.

MF Global March 12, 2012-Message Regarding Letters of Determination

(MFG) Client Home

 Message Regarding Letters of Determination

Date:

March 12, 2012

At this time, the Trustee has mailed letters of determination to a majority of former MF Global Inc. commodities customers who submitted claims to the Trustee by the January 31, 2012 deadline. Claims continue to be reviewed, and the Trustee will continue to issue determinations to claimants on a rolling basis.

Claimants who have questions about their letters of determinations are encouraged to call the Trustee’s dedicated Determination Call Center Hotline at 888.643.2169 (inside the United States) or 212.837.6038 (outside the United States). By calling the hotline, claimants may speak with a representative of the Trustee to discuss and possibly resolve any difference between the amount that was claimed and the amount that the Trustee allowed.

The Trustee's goal is to resolve questions or disputes regarding determinations informally over the phone whenever possible.

Jefferies to Buy MF Global Warehouse Receipts

Jefferies to Buy MF Global Precious-Metals Assets - WSJ.com
 
Investment bank Jefferies Group Inc.'s commodities arm has agreed to buy the gold, silver and other precious-metals assets from the trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s brokerage business.
James Giddens, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of MF Global's brokerage's commodities business, said in a court filing Monday that an offer from Jefferies Bache Financial Services Inc. is the "best available opportunity" to sell the remaining physical property under his control.  Jefferies is buying the warehouse certificates—not the actual gold and silver bars—of MF Global's former commodities customers. At current market prices, those customers would get about $14.5 million from the sale of the certificates, a value of more than 99% of the aggregate current futures value of the metals underlying the certificates.

Daily Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Daily Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 mo	3 mo	6 mo	1 yr	2 yr	3 yr	5 yr	7 yr	10 yr	20 yr	30 yr
03/01/12	0.07	0.08	0.13	0.18	0.30	0.43	0.89	1.44	2.03	2.80	3.15
03/02/12	0.06	0.07	0.12	0.17	0.28	0.41	0.84	1.38	1.99	2.77	3.11
03/05/12	0.07	0.08	0.14	0.17	0.31	0.43	0.87	1.40	2.00	2.78	3.13
03/06/12	0.06	0.08	0.13	0.17	0.30	0.40	0.83	1.35	1.96	2.73	3.08
03/07/12	0.06	0.08	0.14	0.18	0.30	0.42	0.85	1.37	1.98	2.76	3.12
03/08/12	0.07	0.08	0.14	0.18	0.32	0.44	0.89	1.41	2.03	2.82	3.18
03/09/12	0.06	0.09	0.13	0.18	0.33	0.46	0.90	1.43	2.04	2.83	3.19
03/12/12	0.05	0.09	0.15	0.18	0.33	0.47	0.92	1.43	2.04	2.82	3.17
03/13/12	0.06	0.08	0.15	0.20	0.35	0.51	0.99	1.52	2.14	2.92	3.26
03/14/12	0.08	0.09	0.15	0.21	0.40	0.60	1.13	1.69	2.29	3.08	3.43

Wednesday Mar 14, 2012

* 30-year Treasury constant maturity series was discontinued on February 18, 2002 and reintroduced on February 9, 2006. From February 18, 2002 to February 8, 2006, Treasury published alternatives to a 30-year rate. See Long-Term Average Rate for more information.
Treasury discontinued the 20-year constant maturity series at the end of calendar year 1986 and reinstated that series on October 1, 1993. As a result, there are no 20-year rates available for the time period January 1, 1987 through September 30, 1993.
Treasury Yield Curve Rates. These rates are commonly referred to as "Constant Maturity Treasury" rates, or CMTs. Yields are interpolated by the Treasury from the daily yield curve. This curve, which relates the yield on a security to its time to maturity is based on the closing market bid yields on actively traded Treasury securities in the over-the-counter market. These market yields are calculated from composites of quotations obtained by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The yield values are read from the yield curve at fixed maturities, currently 1, 3 and 6 months and 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30 years. This method provides a yield for a 10 year maturity, for example, even if no outstanding security has exactly 10 years remaining to maturity.
Treasury Yield Curve Methodology. The Treasury yield curve is estimated daily using a cubic spline model. Inputs to the model are primarily bid-side yields for on-the-run Treasury securities. See our Treasury Yield Curve Methodology page for details.
Negative Yields and Nominal Constant Maturity Treasury Series Rates (CMTs). Current financial market conditions, in conjunction with extraordinary low levels of interest rates, have resulted in negative yields for some Treasury securities trading in the secondary market. Negative yields for Treasury securities most often reflect highly technical factors in Treasury markets related to the cash and repurchase agreement markets, and are at times unrelated to the time value of money.
As such, Treasury will restrict the use of negative input yields for securities used in deriving interest rates for the Treasury nominal Constant Maturity Treasury series (CMTs). Any CMT input points with negative yields will be reset to zero percent prior to use as inputs in the CMT derivation. This decision is consistent with Treasury not accepting negative yields in Treasury nominal security auctions.
In addition, given that CMTs are used in many statutorily and regulatory determined loan and credit programs as well as for setting interest rates on non-marketable government securities, establishing a floor of zero more accurately reflects borrowing costs related to various programs.
For more information regarding these statistics contact the Office of Debt Management by email at debt.management@do.treas.gov.
For other Public Debt information contact (202) 504-3550

10-year yield hits 4 1/2-month high

TREASURIES-Bonds extend losses, 10-year yield hits 4 1/2-month high | Reuters

 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries extended their rout on Thursday, with the 10-year yield hitting a fresh 4 1/2 month high, as the Federal Reserve's brighter economic outlook and recent stock market strength drove investors out of U.S. debt.

Cocoa Rally Fading

Cocoa Rally Fading as African Rains Erase Shortage: Commodities - Bloomberg

Rain across parched cocoa plantations in West Africa, which supplies 69 percent of the world’s beans, is leading analysts to pare forecasts for shortages, threatening the biggest rally in a year.

Its gonna be a bumpy landing!

Chinese Economy Already in ‘Hard Landing,’ JPMorgan’s Mowat Says - Bloomberg

China’s economy is already in a so- called “hard landing,” according to Adrian Mowat, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief Asian and emerging-market strategist.