Commodities

China locks up coal reserve

Clive Palmer has secured Australia’s biggest export deal, with a $70 billion agreement to sell coal to China.
The Resourcehouse chairman said the company’s proposed China First coalmine and infrastructure project in central Queensland had reached a 20-year agreement with one of China’s largest power companies, China Power International Development, the flagship company of China Power [...]

Gold prices on the rise

The benchmark contract for Gold rebounded +2% to 1105 as the “Greenback” weakened. Precious metals with heavier industrial exposures rallied even more.
The USD tanked against major currencies yesterday and the Dollar index fell for the first time in 5 days to 79.24.
Silver soared +2.9% to 16.66 as strength in the manufacturing sector will likely probably [...]

Gold edges up encouraging consumer confidence

Gold futures on the New York Merc ended a bit higher Tuesday as stock markets continued to rise on Bullish consumer confidence, Silver and Platinum slid South.
The most active Gold contract for February delivery gained US$2.60, or 0.2%, to finish at US$1,098.30 oz.
The US dollar climbed sharply overnight after a some of negative economic events [...]

BHP, Rio venture faces EU probe

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto face a European Union investigation into whether their Australian iron-ore joint venture curbs competition.
Regulators will probe whether the deal between the world’s second- and third-largest iron-ore producers is a restrictive business agreement, the European Commission, the EU antitrust authority in Brussels, said in a statement today. It didn’t give a [...]

ConocoPhillips trading moves to London

ConocoPhillips (COP.N), the third largest U.S. oil major, is reshaping trading and supply operations into a global organization it believes will be more efficient and profitable, the company announced on Wednesday.
The new global trading operation will be headquartered in London. The new global supply organization will be based in Houston. A few jobs will be [...]

Red’s Crude Oil Report

Crude Oil prices rose Tuesday ending a 5 day slide as US stocks charged North.
Crude futures declined over the past 5 sessions prior to Tuesday’s open,but Crude Oil prices rebounded on a broad based rally in stock reversing market sentiment and sending the VIX lower.
Also OPEC said Tuesday that Crude Oil prices remain vulnerable to [...]

What to expect this week and down the line…

Today the new year begins in earnest and the Holiday Season is officially over, all traders, investors and players should be back in the action, no expiration, and earnings season kicks off big time.
Thus it is fitting that the market (S&P 500) is tapping against the resistance; the September low of (1152)

Ditto for the NAS, [...]

Vale to outpace BHP, Rio

Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore miner, may win back market share from rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto because it can boost exports faster as demand for the steelmaking raw material surges to a record.
Vale will likely take 28 per cent of the iron-ore market this year, the most since 2007, when its stock rose [...]

London Metal Exchange hits 2nd highest trading volume in Y 2009

The London Metal Exchange (LME) hit the 2nd highest trading volume in its history in Y 2009, according to the annual trading figures released Friday.The LME trade volume achieved 111.9M lots in Y 2009, equivalent to 2.57B tons with a notional value of US$7.41T, down a modest 1% on it Y 2008’s record 113.2M lots.
Trading [...]

Aussie Consumer confidence surges on GDP news

Consumer confidence jumped the most in 22 years as Australians took heart from the release of better than expected economic growth figures for the first quarter of 2009.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment rose 12.7 per cent to 100.1 points, seasonally adjusted, from 88.8 points in May.
The index rose above 100 point level for [...]