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Current Markets

Corn Base Forming Well

Andy WaldockComment on Corn Base Forming Well

The corn market is balancing several factors as we move towards the US planting season. On one hand, we have the bearish factors of a record global corn crop and the largest year ending stocks since 2001. On the other hand, we are witnessing a rapid and sustained growth in exports along with weather complications taking their toll on South American supplies. Given the technical and seasonal factors at play in this market, I think we have finally put in the post 2013 harvest lows and could continue higher into the planting season.

Current Markets Energies Energy Markets Trading Strategies

Overheated Heating Oil Market

Andy WaldockComment on Overheated Heating Oil Market

I was fortunate enough to be interviewed for a heating oil story in the Wall Street Journal last week. The primary question was, “How high can prices soar?” Supplies have tightened up considerably during Mother Nature’s onslaught and another bout of cold weather is hitting us, pushing prices higher yet again. Short-term demand related issues like the ones we’re experiencing now due to the weather are never a reason to jump into a market. My less than sensational outlook on current prices pushed me to the closing section of the article. This week, I’ll expand on the topic
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Current Markets Trading Strategies

Protecting Stock Market Gains

Andy WaldockComment on Protecting Stock Market Gains

This is the third cautionary report I’ve written on the stock market in six weeks. The last time I focused this heavily on the stock market was in early 2009. Back then, I was making a point to everyone who’d lost their shirt on the way down that employing the leverage provided by stock index futures contracts would be a great way to recoup some of their lost funds when the market bounced.
This week, we’ll discuss the same strategy only in reverse. I’ll explain how to use leveraged futures to protect your equity portfolio ahead of time …

Current Markets Macro Economics

Cheap Feed, Expensive Beef – What Gives?

Andy WaldockComment on Cheap Feed, Expensive Beef – What Gives?

The cattle market has reached new highs repeatedly this month. We’ve known for years that the U.S. cattle herd has been steadily declining. It currently stands around 89 million head, which is the lowest it’s been since 1952. This hasn’t mattered much as the decades long decline in US beef consumption has wilted domestic demand. Furthermore, the impact of modern animal husbandry techniques have significantly increased the final weight of the cattle that hit the slaughterhouses, thus supplying the market with more total beef on fewer total animals killed. All of this bearish information begs the question, …

Current Markets Macro Viewpoints

2014 – Equity Flop & Commodity Hop

Andy WaldockComment on 2014 – Equity Flop & Commodity Hop

I thought taking a vacation at the end of 2013 might allow me to come back to the markets with a clear head and new viewpoint. My hope was that a little detachment would bring the forest back into the picture at 35,000 feet. I’ve now caught up on my reading and research and find the markets just as schizophrenic as they were when I left. While the markets remain as confusing as ever, our trip did provide me with the sense of awe that comes from physically …

Current Markets Energies Macro Economics Trading Strategies

Sell the Rally in Natural Gas

Andy WaldockComment on Sell the Rally in Natural Gas

The recent bout of record breaking low temperatures has led to an obvious increase in the demand for natural gas and pushed delivery prices up to $4.40 per million metric British thermal units(mmbtu). These are the highest prices we’ve seen since the heat wave and drought from the summer of 2011. In fact, the Energy Information Administration reported the largest natural gas draw for the week of December 13th since they began tracking it in 1994. Furthermore, many analysts expect to break this record yet again with this week’s report. However, in spite of the recent strength …

Currencies Trading Strategies

Trading’s Gut Check

Andy WaldockComment on Trading’s Gut Check

Actively participating in the markets comes with the understanding that the trader’s gut will be checked frequently and deeply. The primary cause of this is the trader’s degree of certainty in an uncertain world. It’s been proven over and over again that once an individual feels that they have enough information to make a decision, they will. Additional information provided after the fact typically raises the degree of certainty that the correct decision was made, rather than raising the degree of accuracy. So, I sit in front of the Federal Reserve Board’s announcement this afternoon involved up …

Current Markets Macro Viewpoints

Equity Market’s Race to the Top

Andy WaldockComment on Equity Market’s Race to the Top

The equity markets have just been rip roaring strong. Companies like FedEx, Google, Morgan Stanley, Walt Disney and Boeing have all gained more than 40% this year. The equity markets have made new all time highs, eclipsing the pre-crash highs from 2007 with hardly a shudder and soldiering on past the tech bubble highs of 2000. Recently, the technical analysts at Merrill Lynch came up with a four-year target of 2300 in the S&P 500. This is based on their analysis of the long-term pattern that was triggered by the new highs. The S&P 500 has climbed more …

Current Markets Macro Economics Metals

China Bolsters Copper Market

Andy WaldockComment on China Bolsters Copper Market

The United States is crawling into 2014 with the Federal Reserve Board doing everything it can to stave off deflation. Years of zero percent interest rate policies along with the current $85 billion per month in stimulus have failed to generate inflation in anything but the stock market. This leaves GDP well below 2% and unemployment remains stubbornly high. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank just cut their rates in half, now at a .25%, to spur any kind of economic growth of their own. Typically, two thirds of the world, North America and Europe mired in economic doldrums …

COT Signals Current Markets Trading Strategies

Wheat May Have Bottomed Out

Andy WaldockComment on Wheat May Have Bottomed Out

The wheat market is a primary staple in human diets as well as global trade. This causes the wheat trade to be affected nearly as much by geopolitics as it is by price and weather. Therefore global trade prices have to factor in sanctions, duties and taxes as well as transportation fees. The simplest way to understand this is by looking at the surplus produced by the primary growers like Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, Argentina and the European Union as well as us and then trying to determine why each one of those countries are also wheat importers. …