| Pork producers have opportunities to lock-in profits
With feed prices high and headed higher, pork producers may continue to see losses at least through the first quarter of 2008. That's according to USDA's Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, which the Agency released Friday. But a noted hog marketing expert says the futures market is providing opportunities for pork producers to avoid red ink next year.
The USDA report said for the first quarter of 2008, hog prices are expected to average between $38 and $40 dollars a hundredweight, more than 15% below a year ago. USDA estimated production costs in the low-to-mid $50's per hundredweight and also said most hog producers are likely to lose money in 2008. But University of Missouri livestock economist Glenn Grimes told Brownfield taking advantage of strength in lean hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) may help pork producers avoid that prediction.
SEC to consider CBOE rule on trading rights
U.S. securities regulators plan to consider this week a Chicago Board Options Exchange rule aimed at eliminating trading rights held by certain members of futures exchange CME Group Inc. Settling the issue is critical for the largest U.S. options market to complete a year-long process of converting from a member-owned organization into a for-profit, shareholder company, which would pave the way for an initial public offering. CBOE has been in legal dispute over the trading rights issue with CME, which was formed last summer after Chicago Mercantile Holdings merged with Chicago Board of Trade's parent CBOT Holdings Inc. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to decide on Wednesday on whether to approve a proposed CBOE rule change that would eliminate eligible Chicago Board of Trade members from trading at the options exchange, according to a SEC meeting notice on its Web site late last week.
Bad news belts CME
CME Group Inc., owner of Chicago's two globally dominant futures exchanges, is back at war with its biggest customers. The resumption of hostilities pushed its stock price down Wednesday by more than $100 per share, or 18 percent, wiping out more than $5 billion in market value. The Justice Department triggered the decline with a letter to the Treasury Department suggesting futures exchanges should not be allowed to clear, or guarantee, the trading within their systems. In-house clearing, the department said, chokes off competition by making it harder for exchanges to cut in on another's established turf, where the clearing function enjoys a low-cost advantage. The letter aligns with the view of Wall Street investment banks that have long wanted to take out the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade and keep for themselves the fees they pay the exchanges.
CME up after volume jumps
After a halting start, the year-end rally gained momentum, with stocks rising roughly 7 percent in less than two weeks.
Among winners, shares of CME Group Inc., the world's largest futures exchange, shot higher after November volume advanced 41 percent on rising volatility.
Traders saw their business boom as economic uncertainty caused investors to hedge or speculate with futures contracts tied to equity indexes and interest rates on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade, both owned by CME.
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Trading Technologies Launches Hosted Connectivity to Sydney Futures ...
CHICAGO, SINGAPORE and SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) announced today that TT has expanded market access to the Australian Securities Exchange's (ASX's) Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) market with a new connection through the TTNET(TM) hub in Singapore. TTNET, TT's fully managed hosting solution, has offered direct connectivity to SFE through its primary hub in Chicago for more than a year. The new Singapore connection provides TT's customers with another low-latency path to the exchange for high-performance order routing and execution. TT first established connectivity to SFE in March 2006 and remains the only Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that provides a facilities-managed solution with a direct link to the exchange's trading network.
Adventurer Fossett declared dead
The 63-year-old went missing on September 3 after taking off in a single-engined plane from a Nevada airstrip. His wife had asked for him to be declared legally dead. The judge heard testimony from Mr Fossett's wife, Peggy, and a family friend, as well as from a search-and-rescue expert, before deciding there was sufficient evidence to declare him dead. Mr Fossett earned millions of dollars trading futures and options on Chicago exchanges. Attorneys representing his estate had filed a petition to have him declared legally dead so his assets could be distributed according to his will. Mr Fossett was a record-setting balloonist, sailor and pilot who completed non-stop flights around the world. Mrs Fossett's lawyer, Michael LoVallo, said: "It was very sad and at first she hoped and sort-of envisioned him walking down the road the next day with another story to tell.
Using CCI and Stochastics For Long and Short Term Forex Trading
Sam Seiden brings over 15 years experience of equities and futures trading which began when he was on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He has traded equities, futures, interest rate markets, forex, options, and commodities for his personal interests for years and has educated hundreds of traders and investors through seminars and daily advisory services both domestically and internationally.
Sam has been involved in the markets since 1991 both on and off the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He has served as the Director of Technical Research for two trading firms and regularly contributes articles to industry publications. Sam is known for his trading, technical research, and educational guidance. Software instructions HotComm is the multimedia communication tool we will be using to host our New Live Market and Education Sessions.
US Commodities: Gold Up; Platinum Soars; Wheat Down Sharply
In grains trading, most wheat futures closed sharply lower Monday after the exchanges increased margins and daily trading limits and index funds began to roll positions out of nearby contracts, traders and analysts said. Minneapolis Grain Exchange March and May wheat were the exceptions, with the March contract soaring to the new, daily exchange-imposed limit of 60 cents. MGE May wheat ended slightly below limit-up. Chicago Board of Trade March wheat fell 45 cents to $10.48 per bushel. Kansas City Board of Trade March wheat dropped 56 1/2 cents to $10.83 3/4, and MGE March wheat surged 60 cents to $16.13. Activity was volatile after all three exchanges said late Friday they would raise their daily trading limits to 60 cents from 30 cents, effective Sunday.
CME bid spurs fears of merger monster
THE commodities boom is intensifying the merger mania among the world's financial exchanges. But the $US11 billion ($12.4 billion) bid by CME Group to acquire Nymex Holdings may fuel worries that consolidation is leaving the survivors with too much power. A purchase of the 135-year-old New York Mercantile Exchange's owner by CME, parent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, would create the largest exchange in the world, with a stock market value of about $US45 billion. And acquiring Nymex's crude oil futures, one of the largest commodity contracts in the world, would fill the last major hole in the 110-year-old Chicago exchange's product line-up, while squeezing remaining rivals in the energy market. The deal also highlights some unsettling consequences of the global scramble for alliances and market share in trading financial securities.
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