| Wall Street advances sharply
Gold futures hit a record, briefly venturing above $913 an ounce as the dollar tumbled against other major currencies. The euro reached a new high above $1.49.Other commodities were higher, too. Crude oil rose $1.51 to settle at $94.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Peter Dunay, investment strategist at Leeb Capital Management, believes the run in commodities prices will continue as Wall Street eyes what the Federal Reserve will do at its Jan. 29-30 meeting. Chairman Ben Bernanke has convinced investors the central bank will cut rates, and the expectation of cheaper money also bolstered sentiment Monday``We're expecting inflation to be a problem, and believe the commodity demand is going to continue,'' Dunay said. ``We think the Fed is going to throw as much money as they can to keep us out of recession, or keep the recession mild, so commodities will be higher.''Stocks sold off sharply last week after a chorus of Wall Street economists predicted the U.S.
Platinum Hits Record on Supply Concerns
Other commodities traded broadly higher, with wheat futures rebounding after days of losses and energy futures also rising. Platinum has shot up 15 percent this month amid supply concerns fed by a South African energy shortage, which has slowed the vital mining industry and sent commodities prices spiking. The country's state-run power utility said Wednesday that the mines and other major customers will receive only 90 percent of their usual power supply until 2012 _ raising worries of significant setbacks in platinum production for years to come. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world's second-largest platinum producer, said Thursday it has already lost 10,000 ounces in output and could lose another 10,000 ounces under the energy restrictions, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Overseas sales help Sara Lee post profit
Sales of household and body care products and North American retail bakery sales were also strong, Sara Lee said, helping it weather record-high commodities prices that have plagued many competitors. "Our strategic approach to pricing, combined with the impact of procurement and continuous improvement savings, helped offset significantly increased input costs," Chief Executive Brenda Barnes said in a statement. The company expects fiscal 2008 earnings to be between $1.03 and $1.09, including 18 cents per share of proceeds from the sale of its tobacco business in 1999. Analysts expect a profit of 96 cents per share, but those estimates typically exclude such one-time items. Sara Lee predicted 2008 revenue of $13.4 billion, while analysts said they expect revenue of $13.22 billion.
Oil sets record at $100.01 a barrel
The petroleum world produced a record Tuesday, which was bad news for consumers. Frenzied trading sent crude oil surging above $100 a barrel to $100.01 — the highest closing price ever for oil on the New York commodities market, making it likely that gas prices soon will jump, too. In addition, prices for gold, copper and other commodities soared as investment funds sought places to park their money in the face of inflation concerns and a weaker dollar. Also Tuesday, the Energy Department confirmed what anyone who filled up recently already knows — that pump prices are on the rise, bringing the U.S. average back above the $3-a-gallon mark. The nationwide average cost of self-serve regular jumped 8.2 cents over the past week to $3.04 a gallon Monday, released a day late because of the Presidents Day holiday.
Oil price strikes record $US90
CRUDE oil prices struck a record $US90 a barrel in after-hours trading in New York overnight, amid increased tensions between Turkey's government and Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Traders said a weak US dollar and supply jitters had also stoked the price surge. The price gains came after New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, had jumped $US2.07 to a record close of $US89.47 a barrel. London prices also pushed higher in after-hours trading, as Brent North Sea crude for December delivery soared to $US84.88 after the contract had earlier settled $US1.47 higher at $US84.60. Oil prices have pushed higher this week amid geopolitical angst related to the Turkey-Iraq border and a weakening dollar, which makes dollar-priced commodities such as oil cheaper for buyers with stronger currencies and therefore lifts crude demand.
Meeting demand for oil-pricing answers
Stephen Schork, a former New York commodities trader who lives in Villanova, is attracting a lot of attention with his three-year-old newsletter that analyzes the wild changes in oil prices. Only about 100 people have agreed to pay the upwards of $10,500 that he charges for a one-year subscription. He shows up regularly in newspapers and on national television as reporters seek help in making sense of this crucial and volatile commodity market. This exposure during the year when crude oil prices nearly doubled has produced "a ton of people on trial subscriptions," he said. Schork, 41, caught a wave when the collapse of Enron and other factors came together to drastically change the oil markets. In addition to supply-and-demand and what OPEC is thinking, people with oil-centered lives now "have to worry about what some 28-year-old hedge fund manager in Manhattan, with billions of dollars of other people's money, will do next," Schork said over coffee at the MilkBoy Cafe in Ardmore.
Give up your job and earn £100,000
He said that was exceptional and down to some bets he had placed on mining stocks. However, even in a "normal" year, Grant’s record is impressive. He said he tends to make between 300% and 400%. Spread-betting allows you to speculate on the future direction of all sorts of assets such as shares, stock-market indexes, currencies, house prices or commodities. You can bet on price falls as well as rises, which means you can make money even if markets are falling. Grant was encouraged to give spread-betting a go by friends in the late 1990s, but he lost £100,000 in his first year. He said it took a couple of years before he felt he had "learnt" how to do it. He said: "It was only when I started shorting [betting on price falls] that things started to improve. I began shorting about 18 months before 9/11, and after that I just cleaned up as we went into a three-year bear market." He changed tack and began betting on price rises in 2003 after the markets bottomed out, but recently he has started going short again.
Go with the grain when shares fall
My second pick is connected to the soft commodities boom. One of its downsides is that the high price of food across the world is bumping up inflation numbers already being hit by rising wage demands and energy costs. You can protect yourself against inflation to a degree by buying gold, but also by getting into the government bond market and in particular index-linked gilts, the return on which is linked to the Retail Prices Index. You used to be able to buy these pretty simply via the Post Office, but money-laundering regulations have now made doing so a tedious, administration-heavy task. Luckily the exchange-traded fund business has once again come to the rescue with the iShares £ Index Linked Gilt ETF (INGX) which tracks the returns from the index-linked market.
Civil society, AJI stage protest rally
ISLAMABAD: Members of the civil society and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad (AJI) on Friday staged a protest demonstration at Aabpara to press the government to restore the deposed judges and free the lawyers put under house arrest.
They gathered at the Aabpara intersection and demanded President Pervez Musharraf restore judiciary and resign from his office as he had failed to protect the interests of common man. They also burnt an effigy of President Musharraf to express their anger over the skyrocketing prices of commodities.
They said the government was indifferent to the brutality of police against the peaceful protestors in the federal capital. The protestors raised anti-government slogans and expressed their distrust in the policies of the last government.
They demanded the world think tanks to help restore democracy in the country.
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