Category: Agricultural Commodities
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
2013 Invest in Year Apples not APPL / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Apples are, according to many nutritionists, good for us. However, one has to be sure to choose the right ones as AAPL has demonstrated in recent months. AAPL, despite the Street's claim in would be working its way toward $1,000 by now, has fallen hard from the tree. Now badly bruised, investors are suffering from a collapse of more than 25% from the high. Investors would have been far better off, as the following chart portrays, down on the farm, perhaps in real apples.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Why Soybeans Beat iPads / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Technology businesses have always seemed to this researcher to be a losers' game. Soybeans, in the past decade or so, have been converted to a winning game. Why play with losers when one can play with winners? The simple, but elegant, reason soybeans are a better bet than iPads is the cost structure of the two businesses. One is desirable and one is not. The reason soybeans are better is that the cost structure in the industry is now fundamentally better than that of technology.
Friday, October 05, 2012
Wall Street Fishing in an Empty Lake for Profitable Investments / Companies / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
One of the secrets to successful fishing is to fish in a lake with fish in it. Fishing in a lake void of fish is not likely to be a worthwhile venture, though it still beats a day of work. That simple reality is something much of the investment community has never really understood. Even today, twelve years after the internet/technology bubble burst, the Street is still attempting to resurrect that tired old theme. For twelve years, the Street has been fishing in a lake without fish.
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Thursday, September 20, 2012
Agricultural Commodity Markets Inflationary Peak Forecast 2013 / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: John_Hampson
Agricultural commodities prices resumed upward trends in June 2012, largely due to drought conditions in key global farming areas on top of existing low inventories. Extreme global conditions continue, with the period June-August of 2012 the hottest such period historically on record.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Why the U.S. Drought is Hitting Harder Than Most People Realize / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_Morning
Chris Martenson writes: This is an important update on the U.S. drought of 2012 and its impact on food prices, water availability, energy, and even U.S. GDP.
Even though the mainstream media seems to have lost some interest in the drought, all of us should continue to be aware of it since its ramifications are far-reaching.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Corn and Canola, a Tale of Two Agricultural Markets / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
With harvesters now beginning to move in parts of the U.S. the reality of the drought is now being recorded. Farmers face the loss of substantial income, and in many cases actual losses. Early estimate of losses by crop insurers is $30 billion(Financial Times, 27 August). Tax payers will be paying a significant portion of that loss. Crop insurance is the mechanism for insuring that farmers can plant a crop in April of 2013.
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
U.S. Food Prices 2013: Jeremy Grantham Warns of Coming "Dystopia" / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_Morning
Ben Gersten writes:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on July 25 issued a report warning every American that U.S. food prices in 2013 will rise 3%-4% -- but that jump is just the start of a frightening long-term trend.
The warm weather in the winter months gave farmers hope for a great crop production this year, but a crippling U.S. drought now covers around 60% of the continental United States. The water shortage has killed crops, pushed corn prices higher, and will eventually make its way to your local store shelves.
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Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Rising U.S. Food Prices are About to Eat Away at Your Savings / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_Morning
Ben Gersten writes:
As U.S. households prepare for Recession 2013 , they'll have trouble saving as one constant expense is starting to take a sharp climb: food prices.
Higher U.S. food prices are the last thing the country needs as 2013 is set to bring with it a painful bunch of tax increases and the ominous fiscal cliff, but U.S. consumers need to understand that their grocery bills are about take a much bigger chunk out of their wallets.
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Thursday, July 12, 2012
Facebook Tanked and Soybeans Soared! / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Facebook was to be the rebirth of the glorious technology stocks. Portfolio managers have been longing to return to the era when they did not think. They just owned massive positions in technology and internet stocks. Social networking was to be the seed from which that rebirth would sprout. Rather, Facebook turned out to be one damp squib. As we write, that stock is still off 30% from the high achieved on opening. While Facebook may not be the worst performer of the 2012, it will certainly be the worst recommendation of the year.
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Glory Days for U.S. Farms are Far From Over / Companies / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_Morning
Michael A. Robinson writes:
Many Americans view farming as one of the last bastions of low tech.
It's not hard to see why. These days you can use your tablet computer for a video chat session while your car parks itself.
How on earth could crops ever compete with that?
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Friday, June 01, 2012
Biggest Value for Agricultural Stock Investors Revealed / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: The_Energy_Report
Steve Hansen of Raymond James sees the potash market as a barbell, with a handful of large incumbent producers on one end and dozens of junior miners clustered at the other. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Hansen discusses which juniors may migrate to the mid-cap arena and why current share price weakness does not dampen Raymond James' bullish sentiment on the sector, from Canada to Ethiopia.
The Energy Report: Potash prices and production collapsed in 2008. Why is Raymond James still bullish on potash?
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Euro Going To Zero! / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
We listened to confirmation this week that the Euro will indeed go to zero should Greece exit the Euro zone. That information was obtained from watching an exclusive cable news interview of Chicken Little by well-known anchor Henny Penny. Chicken Little, a former money manager that appears regularly on cable business programs, said that word on the matter came to him from reliable experts on the Street. These comments were valuable as no one else could find a reliable forecaster on the Street.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Greece, Please Go Bankrupt, As Soon As Possible! / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
We have a request for the politicians in Greece. Please go bankrupt, as soon as possible! Let us have the pain done with. To the Euro zone: Throw them out. The world needs a good example of just how bad Keynesian induced poverty can be. The Western economies would probably be better off with the citizens of Greece living in absolute poverty as a clear example of how not to do it. Keynesian socialists will not save the pensions of the Greeks. They will insure that they end. Get it over with, so investors can move on to more important matters.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Canola, the New Canadian Gold / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
When last we visited on Agri-Foods, 2012 was declared Year of the Soybean. That certainly seems to be the way prices are acting. Since the beginning of 2012 the U.S. dollar price of soybeans has risen by near 28%, more than twice the performance of the S&P 500's 12%. Seems some farmers, particularly in the Midwestern U.S. soybean region, are beating the Street again. Importantly, such results are not an aberration. Since early 2007, a little more than five years ago, soybean prices are up more than a 100%, a quite favorable comparison to the S&P 500 being off by ~3%. Little wonder that Agri-Land prices have been so strong.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Agricultural Stocks: Fatten Up Your Portfolio on Food Price Inflation / Companies / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
For most Americans, the cost of food hasn't always been such a big deal.
For the better part of the last 30 years, food supplies were plentiful and the economy provided enough wealth to keep cupboards stocked.
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Friday, April 13, 2012
Soybeans: The New Corn / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Markets are intriguing due to their constantly changing character. New leadership constantly evolves. In equity markets, that tendency is always pushed to an extreme. A maker of electronic toys is today considered the most valuable company. Nonsensical forecasts of a $1,000 share price have even appeared. A company involved in the social networking fad is praised for a billion-dollar acquisition of a company with no revenues, making the internet bubble look like value investing.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Hot Oil Anyone? / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
The topic of hot oil probably conjures up fantasies that are beyond the boundaries for this public discussions. And no, neither are we referring to the oil made into gasoline, though the price of that oil has been hot lately. We are referring to that oil which goes on your salad, used to fry your dinner, or is a critical ingredient in many of our favorite foods. We are talking here about vegetable oils, or edible oils. While not a regular topic for investors, it may become one as edible oil prices could get hot in coming years.
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Friday, February 24, 2012
Inflation Means Less Cluck for Your Buck / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
An important trend for many years has been the rising preference of consumers for chicken. Apparently those boneless, skinless, tasteless, chicken breasts are quite popular. In the U.S., production of broilers, table chicken, exceeds by ~50% the production of either pork or beef, when measured by weight. And those "clucks" are now costing more bucks.
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Barley Investing Better Than Gold and Silver? / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Over the past five years, barley, of the eighteen commodities we follow, was the top performer. Rising by 180+% it bested Gold, +170%, and Silver, +150%. But why quibble? Nearly all commodity prices have done than paper equities. And perhaps they should, as real assets require real work to produce and are essential to the real world.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Agri-Equities and the Global Food Crisis / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
By: Ned_W_Schmidt
Some may have considered a planter of herbs on the patio for that taste only freshly picked gives. Many of us have a garden for fresh vegetables in the back yard. In the city that is about all that most can do. For in the city, no chickens are allowed. Most communities have strong ordinances against raising a flock of chickens in the backyard. And forget it, no cows for milk either.