Commodity Sell Off Continues, Brent Breaks $100 - April 18, 2013 1:59

The big deflationary wave hitting the markets right now is gaining steam.  The S&P 500 finally put in a proper down day (~1%) after months of liquidity-fueled levitation.  The oil markets took a little while to catch up with the grain complex, which began selling off in late March, but with Brent finally putting in […]

The Yen Approaches 100, The Euro Stabilizes - April 8, 2013 21:33

We have not seen the end of the Yen debasement by any stretch of one’s imagination.  The Japanese monetary dumping ground has been in free fall since markets opened Sunday night and the USDJPY pair is now comfortably over 99 and headed to 100 easily this week.  The U.S. bond market has given back more […]

Gold Rockets Up on Risk Off Trade Returning - April 6, 2013 0:06

Even the late afternoon ramp in equities could not dampen the bullish atmosphere in the precious metals futures pits today.  After a horrific Non-Farm Payroll print that even CNBC couldn’t spin in a positive light, Gold shot up past $1570 and then subsequently twice pushed through obvious capping action at $1566 and $1572 before ending […]

Energy Prices Rise to Begin Q2 - April 1, 2013 22:40

The first quarter of 2013 were a complete roller coaster ride in the energy space.  We saw U.S. gasoline futures de-couple from Brent crude prices on RIN speculation and natural gas prices close the quarter back over $4.00 per million BTUs for the first time in nearly 2 years.  Quietly, with the continuing saga unfolding […]

Gas Continues to Correct Back Towards Demand Fundamentals - March 22, 2013 6:08

It’s been a wild ride in gasoline over the past month as refiners have been bidding up the price of RINs due to U.S. E.P.A. bioethanol blending rules.  This caused rampant speculation in the futures pits sending gasoline futures prices soaring while the price of Brent crude fell on Euro-zone breakup fears spilling over into […]

Cyprus Risk-Off Trade Pulls Equities Lower - March 18, 2013 22:21

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials both closed off slightly today as this was a risk-off kind of day in most every way.  Following up Friday’s weakness into the close with today’s drop is creating a pause in equities as fresh fears over the stability of the European banking system have been raised […]

Brent Prices Continue to Soften - March 12, 2013 23:39

Brent crude prices have been falling steadily for the past three weeks having come down from $119 per barrel to $109 per barrel.  It has been a relentless drubbing that coincided with the peak of the Euro and further exacerbated by the results of the Italian election along with poor commodity demand numbers hitting the […]

Market Stability Has Been Acheived - March 5, 2013 1:05

This may have been the most boring Monday in the markets I’ve seen in a long time.  The only thing that is for sure, however, is that the S&P 500 will rise and if it doesn’t do so early in the session it will do so late.  So, officially, as Zerohedge pointed out, a new […]

Brent Arrests Slide as WTI Spread Widens - February 13, 2013 1:39

Brent Crude prices reversed a two-day slide that began last Friday after coming within sight of $120 per barrel on short-term inflation expectations.  In doing so the spread between it and West Texas Intermediate Crude widened back above $20 per barrel.  The spread had narrowed considerably on the re-opening of the Seaway pipeline.  But traders […]