BLOOMBERG Bonds rose with commodities and emerging markets on speculation that central banks will persist with policies that support financial markets. The European Central Bank began buying corporate bonds to expand its monetary stimulus, helping drive average yields on investment-grade corporate debt below 1 percent. Germany’s 10-year bund yields fell to a record. Emerging markets equities and currencies rose ...
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IEA cuts gas demand outlook again as glut seen to end of decade
Bloomberg While oil markets will start re-balancing after a slump next year, an oversupply in natural gas won’t disappear until the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency said, slashing its gas demand outlook for a fourth straight year. Global consumption will expand by 1.5 percent annually from 2015 through 2021, down from last year’s forecast of 2 ...
Read More »Lundin seeks up to $940mn for Ecuador gold mine
Bloomberg Lundin Gold Inc. is forging ahead with its gold project in Ecuador, one of the world’s largest undeveloped deposits, in a signal the industry is moving back into expansion mode as the metal continues to rally. The Vancouver-based miner is planning to raise $820 million to $940 million in two phases to finance the Fruta del Norte project, ...
Read More »Stocks, emerging markets rally on Yellen; Pound gains
BLOOMBERG Stocks rallied with emerging markets as investors added to bets that U.S. interest rates will stay lower for longer, keeping growth on track. The MSCI All Country World Index headed for its strongest close since April after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Monday signalled that officials won’t derail the economy with a premature rate hike. Emerging-market stocks ...
Read More »Corn enters bull market on a hot start for US growing season
Bloomberg Corn futures surged into a bull market as production concerns in the U.S. and Brazil, the world’s biggest exporters, sparked optimism that the global grain glut will ease. Dry conditions have beleaguered Brazil’s crops so much that the nation’s chicken processors have been forced to reduce production as domestic consumers compete with foreign buyers for grain supplies. Now, ...
Read More »Crops rot while Trump-led immigration backlash idles farm lobby
Bloomberg The death of meaningful U.S. immigration reform, done in by Washington partisanship and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s incendiary comments on foreigners, is leaving crops withering in the field and the farm lobby with nowhere to turn as a labor shortage intensifies. Carlos Castaneda watched one-quarter of his Napa cabbages rot in three of his California fields this ...
Read More »Commodities rise with stocks before Yellen speech; Pound falls
BLOOMBERG Miners and energy companies led stocks higher and commodities advanced on speculation the Federal Reserve will hold off from raising interest rates this month. The pound slumped following polls that showed Britons favor exiting the European Union. European stocks and S&P 500 futures advanced as the Bloomberg Commodity Index reached its highest level since October, with Brent crude ...
Read More »Brexit fears spurring traders to buy volatility, trim stocks
Bloomberg The pound tumbled and currency volatility surged on Monday after two polls showed more Britons favor a vote to leave the European Union at a June 23 referendum than those who want to stay. That prompted a money manager 10,500 miles away in Sydney to buy stock-market protection, while a brokerage in Bangkok is advising clients to trim ...
Read More »Megacaps are now S&P 500’s curse as smart beta gets payback
Bloomberg The world is turning upside-down for U.S. equities, with the biggest gains coming from a strategy that has done little of late but deliver losses to investors and taking over market leadership from large technology stocks. With companies from Microsoft Corp. to Apple Inc. floundering, baskets of stocks that are free of capitalization biases — known among traders ...
Read More »China demand to drive 15 year-long Bauxite boom, says Rio Tinto
Bloomberg China’s quest for raw materials for its aluminum smelters and alumina refineries promises to deliver a 15-year boom for exporters of bauxite, according to Rio Tinto Group, which is spending $1.9 billion to raise output. Global demand is already growing rapidly and will outpace the 4 percent-a-year lift London-based Rio forecasts for aluminum in the medium-to-longer term, Alf ...
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