Wall Street started off the week in red territory following concerns that the euro zone debt-drama may take much longer to resolve than investors had originally anticipated last week. Euphoria was quick to return to the markets on Tuesday, however, as stocks soared in the last hour of trading, following an unofficial report that Germany and France had ironed out a bailout package to assist the debt-burdened euro zone member nations. Stocks drifted lower on Wednesday despite a better-than-expected Beige Book report, which showed that the U.S. economy continues to expand at the same steady pace as seen in the months prior. Gold remains range-bound, although the precious metal has been drifting lower all week, with futures contracts setting near $1,640 an ounce on Wednesday.
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Stocks finished in bright green territory last week as investor worries over the Euro zone subsided, while corporate earnings at home gave the bulls a reason to come back to Wall Street. France and Germany pledged their full support to the debt-stricken currency block and promised a concrete plan to ensure stability by November. Gold [...]
Grim jobs data on Friday put stocks in a hole right from the opening bell as investors were quite displeased to see that the U.S. economy did not add any jobs in August. Nonfarm payrolls were unchanged for the month, posting the weakest performance in labor payroll data since September of 2010. Unemployment is sitting [...]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is, after an extremely shaky summer period, back in positive territory for the year. Equity markets have gotten off to a strong start this week, opening above last Friday’s close on Monday and pushing higher through Wednesday. As talked about in previous editions of ETF Insider, the S&P 500 has [...]
Equity markets were dangerously volatile last week, extending the ongoing theme of “uncertainty” for yet another week. Domestic equity indexes are largely stuck in “no man’s land”, and until there is some consistent price action above key support levels (above 1,200 for S&P 500), we recommend for most investors to stay on the sidelines. Even [...]
Thanks to rising oil prices and poor harvests around the world related to extreme weather, food prices have been escalating for much of the past year. The trend hasn’t just impacted commodity crops such as sugar or cocoa either; staple foods such as corn, wheat, and rice are all soaring higher thanks to a confluence [...]
Egypt has become the center of the news world over the last week, as a series of violent protests and intensifying calls for a regime change have left the future of one of Africa’s most populous countries in doubt. Though violence has been limited to a relatively small number of incidents, protesters have continued to [...]
Commodities have been in the limelight for much of 2010, as prices have surged all across the board. Perhaps the most notable commodity movement is that of gold, which is currently trading near the $1,400/ounce mark, as the yellow metal broke all-time highs while skyrocketing in the latter half of the year. But aside from [...]
Last week saw another string of active sessions in commodity markets, with precious metals continuing their climb higher and agricultural ETFs soaring on supply concerns around the world. The most interesting performance of the week came on Friday, when the Teucrium Corn Fund (CORN) added more than 14% on trading volume ten times its daily [...]
Population growth is a fairly common and straightforward driver of economic growth; as the number of people in a given market increases, so too does demand for products and services. Generally a positive development for the overall health of the global economy, there are some potential hazards to consider. In recent years various analysts have [...]
With equity markets surging as of late, commodities have been left on the back burner, an after-thought for most investors. However, recent events in both the sugar and wheat markets look to once again put commodity ETPs at the forefront of investors’ minds. While sugar is surging due to seasonality issues, wheat has been heavily [...]
