Oil Boom Sparks River Fight - WSJ.com
The oil boom in North Dakota is sparking a high-stakes legal battle over land few people would think to fight for: the muddy banks of the Missouri River.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Greece Faces Bond-Swap Holdouts
ATHENS—The overall participation rate in an unprecedented Greek debt-restructuring deal has exceeded Greece's expectations, a senior finance ministry official said Monday, despite some holders of Greek foreign-law bonds still refusing to take part in the offer. The official said 97% of the bonds involved in Greece's debt restructuring agreement, which cleared the way for its €130 billion ($173 billion) bailout, have been tendered in the swap, exceeding the 95% target the country was aiming for under the plan. "We want to achieve a maximum participation from the remaining €6.4 billion still outstanding," the official said.
S&P 500 Beating Gold Most Since 1999 on Positive Earnings
The best first-quarter gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1998 sent U.S. stocks above gold by the most in more than a decade, a sign of growing investor confidence in corporate profits as analysts raise earnings estimates for the first time this year. The S&P 500 climbed 12 percent, 5.3 percentage points more than gold for the widest gap to start a year since 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P GSCI Total Return Index (SPGSCITR) of 24 commodities gained 5.9 percent over the three months, while Treasuries slipped 1.3 percent, trailing equities by the most since 2009. Corporate bonds increased 2.4 percent and the dollar fell 1.6 percent.
Funds Cut Bullish Bets, Goldman Goes Neutral: Commodities
Investors pared bullish commodity bets on signs of slowing growth in China and as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its recommendation on raw materials. Hedge funds and other money managers reduced combined net- long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 1.8 percent to 1.14 million contracts in the week ended March 27, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Bullish wagers on hogs fell the most, dropping 31 percent to the lowest since June, while those on gold had the biggest gain, rising 15 percent, the largest increase since the end of January.
Tanker Rates Seen Reversing Rally as Oil Glut Expands
The fastest expansion in oil cargoes since 2004 is exceeding demand and filling up storage tanks from Egypt to Japan, creating a glut that threatens to reverse the biggest gain in shipping rates in five years.
Arabica Premium Seen Higher on Robusta Supply Surge
The premium paid for arabica beans favored by Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) over the robusta used by Nestle SA (NESN) may rally from a 20-month low because of a surge in supply from Vietnam, the biggest grower of the less costly coffee. Arabica fell 18 percent in New York this year on prospects for a record Brazilian crop as robusta rose 12 percent in London because of fewer cargoes from Vietnam. The premium dropped to 83.89 cents a pound on March 29, the lowest since July 2010. It will widen to $1.162 by the end of the year, the average of 18 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows.
Sugar Users Wants U.S. to Raise Low-Tariff Quotas
NEW YORK—U.S. sugar users are pressing for more low-tariff imports of the sweetener as an annual window opens for the federal government to relax trade restrictions. The U.S. imports about a quarter of the 11 million tons of sugar it consumes each year, but the government limits how much of that can be brought in duty-free or at low tariffs. The quota is designed to protect domestic producers but can also inflate prices for sugar users. With U.S. supplies down 2.8% from the previous season, the pressure is on the government to allow more duty-free or low-tariff sugar in.
Bond King's Trade Pays Off
After suffering one of his worst performances ever in 2011, over the past three months, Bill Gross, manager of Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Total Return Fund, rode an aggressive bet on mortgage bonds to beat most of the fund's rivals and the index against which bond-fund managers measure themselves.
Panel Rejects Proposal to Allow Election-Related Trading
Wall Street, which buys and sells all types of exotic securities, has found a limit to its financial innovation. It can’t trade derivatives tied to the 2012 election. On Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission rejected a plan for so-called political event contracts, wary that mixing politics and trading would create a dangerous cocktail. The agency ruled, in part, that such trading amounts to gambling — and that it could unduly influence election results.
Biggest Bond Traders See Worst Over for Treasuries
Biggest Bond Traders See Worst Over for Treasuries - Bloomberg
The worst is over for the $10 trillion U.S. Treasury market following the biggest quarterly rout since 2010, say Wall Street’s largest bond trading firms. After rising to as high as 2.4 percent last month from 1.88 percent at the end of 2011, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note will finish 2012 at 2.49 percent, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of the 21 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. That’s the same as a January poll, suggesting the market isn’t ready to declare a bear market in bonds after a 30-year bull run.
The worst is over for the $10 trillion U.S. Treasury market following the biggest quarterly rout since 2010, say Wall Street’s largest bond trading firms. After rising to as high as 2.4 percent last month from 1.88 percent at the end of 2011, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note will finish 2012 at 2.49 percent, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of the 21 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. That’s the same as a January poll, suggesting the market isn’t ready to declare a bear market in bonds after a 30-year bull run.
Forget Gas Prices—Air Fares Are Getting More Painful
A summer vacation involving a flight might come with sticker shock this year. The reason: Domestic U.S. airfares are surging as airlines reap the benefits of industry consolidation and big capacity cuts amid a backdrop of rising fuel prices.
Gas Futures Continue Fall
NEW YORK—Natural-gas futures fell, slumping toward fresh decade lows as investors see no end to rising U.S. gas supplies. Natural gas for May delivery fell four cents, or 1.9%, to recently trade at $2.086 a million British thermal unit on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The benchmark contract had fallen as low as $2.069 a million British thermal unit in earlier trading.
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