Commodities (59)

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According to Ashraf Laidi:  The following sobering analysis on the S&P500 reinforces our expectations that recent record highs in US equity indices will not be revisited before at least six weeks.

A decline of at least 10% is expected to follow.

-        Last week’s 3.6% decline in the S&P500 single-handedly erased all of the prior seven weeks’ consecutive gains.SPX-Oct-207-vs-Now-Dec-15-530x179.jpg?width=530

The last time the S&P500 erased at least three weeks’ of consecutive gains was the week after the October 2007 record. Stocks fell more than 50% thereafter and took six years to regain that high.

-        And for an unprecedented finding, last week’s S&P5 500 decline took place after SEVEN weekly consecutive gains, which had NEVER been seen before in the index.

Seven consecutive weekly gains have occurred in the past (Aug-Jul 1989, Aug-Sep 1993, Apr-May 1997, Feb-Mar 1998, Dec 2003-Jan 2004, Apr-May 2007, Mar-Apr 2009, Dec 2010-Jan 2011, Jan-Feb 2013), but never in any of those cases has the streak-breaking week fallen by more

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Will Oil's Fall Damage The Rally?

1291003?profile=RESIZE_320x320I have to throw a flag in from the sidelines calling foul on the learned men on CNBCs Fast Money table Friday (video below) as traders remain bullish on the big screen.  In fact, they do not believe crude's fall will impact our rally.  Really?  Josh Brown stated there was 1291063?profile=RESIZE_320x320no correlation b/w the price of oil and the S&P500 and did their level best to downplay the selling in crude oil.  Alright, overlay a comparison chart (left) and you won't see black gold having an enormous impact on the market with a few exceptions BUT, the energy complex represents an average of 6.9% of U.S. GDP. 

If it's a bear market, this changes the scenery.  Come on Josh; there's much more that you're not saying and we know it.  Stay with me here.  So typically if we saw a ten percent correction in crude, another sector in the S&P would merely step up to the plate and help lead such as tech or financials.

This time, however, we see regional banks such a Cullen-Frost (who lend to oil names down here in Texas fo

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Admin

Reverting To The Mean

1291027?profile=RESIZE_320x320You'll hear "reverting to the mean" or "mean reversion" bandied about occasionally however not on a daily basis......unless you're watching gold's long sell off since it's explosion to the upside.  According to Investopedia, mean reversion is:

A theory suggesting that prices and returns eventually move back towards the mean or average. This mean or average can be the historical average of the price or return or another relevant average such as the growth in the economy or the average return of an industry.

Case in point is my theory that commodities are/have been doing just that.  Click on this long term chart of the CRB Index for a better view.

After decades trading in a wide range, commodities took off as the dotcom bubble broke in 2000.  Money had to go somewhere, didn't it?

But with a weak economy worldwide and no shortage of supply in grains or crude oil, just how low commodities will go is anyone's call at this juncture.

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Admin

1291018?profile=RESIZE_320x320China's state-controlled energy giant Sinopec wants to sell some long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deals as a slowing economy makes them unprofitable, sources say, signalling the end of a five-year boom fueled by rising Chinese demand.

Kos here:  Note LNG and GLNG are two names in this space.  LNG shown left - click chart to enlarge..

Asia's thirst for energy has helped drive a "dash for gas" in producer countries from Australia to Canada, with LNG emerging as the fastest growing fuel source since the beginning of the century on the back of soaring Chinese imports. But just as long-planned projects start to come on stream China's economy is stuttering, which is likely to crimp demand and pull down domestic gas prices to levels that make imports unprofitable.

"We talk about China choking on LNG. There's just too much coming onto the market," said Gavin Thompson, Head of Asia Gas Research at Wood Mackenzie. Analysts say falling crude prices, which have dropped around 40 per

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Admin

Energy Contagion - The Big Unknown

20141208_energy2_0.jpg?width=400Indeed, I've read much concern over this area as oil collapsed so it does merit a warning.  From ZeroHedge:

The S&P 500 Energy sector stocks are down over 12% year-to-date, tumbling over 3% today to fresh 20-month lows. The spread (or risk) of high-yield energy credits surged again today, breaking above 850bps for the first time... The overall high-yield credit market is being dragged wider by this contagion as hedgers try to contain the collapse that is possible. For now, the S&P 500 remains entirely ignorant of the fact that over a third of its CapEx was expected to come from this crushed sector...

According to DB

US private investment spending is usually ~15% of US GDP or $2.8trn now. This investment consists of $1.6trn spent annually on equipment and software, $700bn on non-residential construction and a bit over $500bn on residential. Equipment and software is 35% technology and communications, 25-30% is industrial equipment for energy, utilities and agriculture, 15% is transpor

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Admin

Breakeven Price On Oil

It's been bandied about a great deal lately so I thought I would post these graphics from CNBC to make things simpler to understand.  Clearly some drilling projects require higher prices to remain profitable while others, maybe not so much.  To explain a little on the price spreads, it all comes down to "when" each project was established where older ones may be require updating technology speaking and higher maintenance costs where newer ones are utilizing higher-tech equipment and can operate at a lower price on oil to break even.   Cost is also affected by how deep they have to drill to reach oil and how many barrels per day it puts out versus how much you invested in the well.  Clearly Saudi Arabia has the advantage but as they do, they drain their cash reserves (as does everyone else).

1291090?profile=RESIZE_1024x10241291127?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

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Admin

Energy On Sale But Few Are Buying

1291010?profile=RESIZE_480x480After Friday's spectacular 10% sell off in black gold, I went back to my earlier post on shorting crude oil and felt pretty darn good as I made myself a turkey sandwich for lunch.  Some would say it was a capitulation bottom but I just didn't see the volume which would come with such a move.   Yes there was heavy selling but it was funds getting OUT of energy names and forced selling - not buying a dip.  Sure, it can snap back and a near term bottom is most likely in but I will not be trading that.  The top is in in my opinion.  I will view any move higher (without an event risk occurring) as an opportunity to re-short at a higher level.

I still believe the entire sector is extremely over crowded with over 100 oil companies just in the U.S. alone.  While deflation in any sector is difficult to swallow, I may not be too far from the truth.  According to the WSJ:

Energy stocks are on sale following a five-month plunge in crude oil, but so far few investors are heeding the temptation

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Admin

Swiss Referendum. A Wrench In The Works For Whom

blogimage12-300x197.png?width=300As polls continue to swing around ahead of the Swiss gold referendum on 30th November, we expect increased volatility in the FX and gold market.  After the implementation of the EURCHF floor, gold’s share of the SNB balance sheet has fallen to 7.5% from around 30% in 2007 (top chart).  The SNB has already pointed out the untenable nature of the peg should the referendum pass, but the impact on the gold market would also be significant.  Taking the current balance sheet of 522bn CHF and spot gold prices, the requirement to hold at least 20% of assets in gold would necessitate buying 1,800 tonnes of gold over 5 years.  Total global production in 2013 was 2,982 tonnes, thus the SNB would need to buy at least 10% of the annual production every year for the next 5 years.

The bottom chart shows the latest composition of the SNB’s FX reserves.  The requirement to buy gold will necessitate selling reserves, mainly EUR (which makes up 45% of all reserves).  Should these euro selling flows come

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Admin

Countries Hurt By Lower Crude Oil

As the price of oil extends a free fall that began this summer, countries around the world that rely on oil revenues are bracing for an imminent economic and budget hit.  The drop is widening budget gaps in the Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain that rely heavily on oil to pay government services.

With oil and gas production accounting for some 70% of Russia's government spending, Moscow also faces a big shortfall—after budgeting based on $100-a-barrel oil for 2015. Russia's economic growth was already slowing before the plunge in oil prices. Trade sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe—in response to the invasion of the Ukraine—will further crimp growth and government spending.

The impact of budget gaps among big producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia, though, will be softened somewhat by large reserves built up during boom years. But a protracted era of cheap oil would force them to undertake serious belt-tightening.

Note:  Click on a c

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Admin

Short Black Gold? Commodity Deflation

?width=300Oil production in North America is booming, crude oil today hitting new 4-year lows, and it is now beginning to have a huge impact on global hydrocarbon markets. In fact, some believe that the U.S. will eventually overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s biggest producer of the key commodity, with some calling for the surge to happen by the end of the decade and OPEC is left if in a precarious situation.  If they cut production, prices may rise but they also risk losing customers to another provider (the U.S. or Russia).  If they do not cut production, prices will likely continue to fall due to excess capacity worldwide. 

This push towards energy self-sufficiency is largely thanks to the combination of fracking and oil shale, as previously unobtainable supplies are now being unlocked with relative ease. The amounts are so impressive that the International Energy Agency last year declared the production surge as a ‘supply shock’ that is causing ‘ripple effects through all aspect

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Admin

Lower Oil Spawns Numerous Opportunities

1290973?profile=RESIZE_480x480As many Western economies are seemingly slowing down again, with most of them still struggling with stubbornly high unemployment levels, they will only benefit from the current sharp drop in oil prices which will stimulate the global economy. Moreover, countries now have the opportunity to replenish stocks and protect themselves against future price hikes. Stockpiling begs the question: how long will prices remain relatively low compared to recent years? Will they fall further? $60 would certainly kick start substantial economic activity or will supply be rained back?

In the past, we have seen the US and its Western partners put pressure on OPEC, and the world's only swing producer Saudi Arabia, to increase supply so as to lower prices or maintain price stability. Are we about to see them create further price fixing market imperfections by asking the Saudis to cut production so as to create a return to higher prices? Much of the Western economic commentaries are suggesting the Middle

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Admin

Beware Old Man Winter (again?)

th?&id=HN.608014683289486513&w=346&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0If the Old Farmers Almanac is even semi accurate, it looks as though it's going to be another nasty Winter - colder than last year (!) ahead thanks to the sun's activity.  According to this video (below) this forecast is nothing to shake a stick at as allegedly they have an 80% accuracy but only time will tell. 

Of course, the folks back home in Chicago will immediately roll their eyes and sigh in pure disgust and they have the right to after the "polar vortex" that rolled through the area last January.  Not only were schools shut and streets impassable but even expressways, covered with salt as fast as they could spread it, froze and brought commuters and semis to a stand still.  Supplies were cutoff across the nation and insurers definitely had to have felt the pain.

Seems I relocated to Texas just in the nick of time!  While we still get a few snow days down here below the 40th parallel North (even a inch of snow here paralyzes drivers and shuts down schools), the first thing that j

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Admin

Who Will Quench China's Thirst For Crude Oil

In September 2013, China became the biggest net importer of crude, beating out the U.S. for the first time. This came as no surprise, given how rapidly China’s thirst for oil has grown, although landing in top place happened a little ahead of U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) predictions that it would take place in 2014. However, where the U.S. has been shoring up its own internal production, China has lagged behind. Between 2011 and 2014, U.S. oil production rose by 31 percent, as opposed to China, which saw its own production increase by a little more than 5 percent over that time. This leaves China utterly dependent on oil imports, a vulnerable position to be in at a time when its economy is beginning to wobble.

energy-china-transit-traffic-2_30863_600x450.jpg?width=300China’s demand for black gold is only set to increase, causing it to spend a staggering $500 billion a year on imports by 2020, according to Wood Mackenzie. This increase is being fueled largely by an explosion in car ownership. But who will be the faithful bartender, ref

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Admin

Gold Bulls Take Care

1290793?profile=originalI can’t tell you that gold is a bad investment. Even after the recent plunge, if you bought gold in 2004, your investment would have earned you an annualized rate of about 10.4 percent, after accounting for inflation. That is darned impressive. If you bought in 1994, it would have earned about 3.9 percent per year -- not too shabby. Even if you bought all the way back in 1984, you would have earned 1.8 percent in real terms. (Of course, this assumes that shadowstats.com is wrong, and that inflation hasn’t been massively understated.)

In addition to delivering decent long-term returns, gold has been a way to spread or offset investment risk. As my co-blogger Yichuan Wang showed last year, gold’s return is somewhat negatively correlated with interest rates, so that a bet on gold is to some degree a bet on lower rates. This is actually the prediction of some old economic models, which also indicate that gold should have a positive rate of return over the long term. But a lot of the varia

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Admin

1290758?profile=RESIZE_480x480While it's obvious nothing will be done until after mid term elections this Fall and new officials are sworn it, it would appear there's hope for appropriations in the drilling and exploration area going to next year.   Per GovTrack.us

H.Res. 641: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4899) to lower gasoline prices for the American family by increasing domestic ...

... onshore and offshore energy exploration and production, to streamline and improve onshore and offshore energy permitting and administration, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4923) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes; and for other purposes.

Introduced:
Jun 24, 2014
Status:
Reported by Committee on Jun 24, 2014
Prognosis
99% chance of being agreed to

Read full text

I had previously recommended ac

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Admin

Filling up at the pump yesterday, paying $3.79 for low grade made me wonder.  Aren't you supposed to be kissed before you get screwed over?  Captain Obvious over the last few years is the disconnect between gasoline demand/usage in the U.S. vs. price when it comes to the stinky stuff and that price chart certainly looks like a large, bull flag which should make your head spin at the potential increase ahead unless something changes.  Surely the gentleman next to me would have to sell a body part or small child to fill up his enormous SUV.  Fool with that huge tank but he thinks he looks slick.  The powers that be decided they wanted us to become accustomed to $3/gal and it seems that we have unfortunately but I have to keep saying it, the demand just does not justify the price of oil without a supply disruption or military crisis in the Middle East.  As much as I hate to say it, the Prius is beginning to look good.  Maybe a scooter?  It worked well for Larry Crowne.  Someone save me.

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Admin

german_solar_farm_zpsf739d698.jpg?width=320

(edited 1:18pm to add U.S. projections)

Germans have now achieved goals, which coal industry skeptics have been claiming for the last 40 years could not be achieved even by 2050 and is is rapidly becoming a model country for transitions to renewable and sustainable energy proving that "yes, a transition to a renewable energy economy can be done, and it can be down with continuous improvement to existing technology.

Germans have a special word for it -"'Energiewende', or energy transformation - which aims to power the entire country by renewable resources by 2050." Germans are now laying down a challenge for other countries saying there is no longer any excuse for countries to say this is impossible.

June 6, 2014 was a record breaking day for the solar power industry in Germany when the country broke through the symbolic barrier of generating more than 50% of its total electricity needs with solar power for one hour in an all time record, according to Tobias Rothachter, and expert on r

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Admin

I'm Not Insane, No, Maybe

For all you doubters out there, yes I have out my pompoms on the move in gold and silver this week.  You scoffed in March when I said a right shoulder could be formed.  Then again chuckled in April and May 3rd but I ask you who's laughing now?  Already I'm seeing tweets of a possible H&SB and I'm comfortably long SLV calls, enjoying the sunshine.  Scoff all you wish you financial gurus.  Charts don't lie; people do.

This daily for GLD and SLV is intriguing, showing both breaking out of falling wedges (they should test support which would be great to get in or add more shares or calls).

1290762?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

Gold seasonal demand doesn't actually kick in until late Summer for festival season in India, unless you're a believer of getting in early.  Silver does see some season demand in the Summer due to coin manufacturing BUT these two could also be signalling some fear in the equity market topping.  Of course this could also be nothing more than short covering (inflation hedge?) but it is what it is  Bull

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Admin
The investigation is looking into whether single cargoes of metal were used multiple times to obtain financing, according to industry sources. Trading houses and banks have sent executives to the port to physically check on their exposure, while some banks have stopped new metal financing to some clients in China. Traders said holders of copper in Qingdao that were having difficulty obtaining finance could also be forced to deliver

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Admin

LNG Has "No Climate Benefits" Says DoE

An explosive new report from the U.S. Department of Energy makes clear that Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is likely a climate-destroying misallocation of resources.

That is, if one uses estimates for methane leakage based on actual observations.

This is the same conclusion I reached back in 2012, based on

  • Emerging analyses of how even a relatively low leakage rate in the natural gas production and delivery system negate its climate benefit, and
  • A 2009 EU report on how the energy-intensive liquefaction process and transportation further increase LNG emissions.

How-LNG-Reaches-Consumers.gifAgain, natural gas is mostly methane, and some 86 times (to as much as 105 times) better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

One of the country’s leading experts on natural gas leaks told me, “a close reading of the DOE report in the context of the recent literature indicates that exporting natural gas from the U.S. as LNG is a very poor idea.”

So you may wonder why the Financial Times had this headline on its story: “US LNG exp

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