Tag Archives: commodities

Business/Economics, Influenza

Pandemic Perfidy: What happened to ‘deadlier than Delta’? Saudi oil boss claims Pandemic is a False Flag to control market prices!

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Anybody remember the very recent main stream news media mantra of ‘Deadlier than Delta’? Anybody remember the ancient Greek fable about The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

07 December 2021 (04:42-UTC-07 Tango 06) 16 Azar 1400/02 Jumada l-Ula 1443/04 Geng-Zi (11th month) 4719

InfectionControlToday, 03DEC2021: Omicron May Be More Infectious, Deadlier Than Delta

DNAIndia, 29NOV2021: Omicron more transmissible and deadlier than Delta

ABC News, 26NOV2021:

NationalGeographic, 17SEP2021: Is a variant worse than Delta on the way?

JoyNews, 02SEP2021:

Cedars-Sinai/Newsweek, 24AUG2021: A Doomsday COVID Variant Worse Than Delta 

KanakNews, 07AUG2021:

MSNBC, 05AUG2021:

Keep in mind that almost every new variant of coronavirus had initially been labeled as deadlier than the previous variants!

Reuters, 04DEC2021: South African official says Omicron infection is mild, symptoms are flu-like, so far no deaths 

The latest data (as of 03DEC2021) out of South Africa is that so far nobody has died from Omicron, and that most people who were hospitalized, were hospitalized for a different medical condition and that it was after hospitalization that they tested positive for Omicron! This is called being “COVID incidental”; you being hospitalized for a non-Pandemic problem and you just happen to be also infected with the Pandemic.

Omicron is more infectious than Delta, but at this point the data shows it is in no way more deadly than Delta!  What seems to be the biggest impact of continued news media/government fear mongering over the Pandemic, is economic, and apparently that is the true motive.

France24, 30NOV2021: Omicron variant raises new fears for pandemic-hit world economy

Reportedly, Amin Nasser, Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Arabia’s Aramaco, intimated that the Pandemic news media fear mongering is all about controlling market prices of natural resources! It should be noted that on 06DEC2021, Saudi Arabia used the recent Omicron fear mongering as an excuse to raise their oil prices for January 2021 deliveries!

There are now concerns that one barrel of oil could hit U.S. $150 for 2023!

Reuters, 07DEC2021: Pandemic fear mongering makes the super rich wealthier!

Business Standard, 07DEC2021: International Monetary Fund uses Omicron fear mongering to call for tighter control of world economies!

SouthChinaMorningPost, 07DEC2021: Communist China backs Switzerland based World Trade Organization for the creation of a ‘post-pandemic’ world economy!

Pandemic Perfidy: PRE-PANDEMIC NURSING SHORTAGE WILL LAST UNTIL 2025!

Pandemic Logistics Perfidy: SKYROCKETING USED CAR PRICES & INSURANCE RATES STARTED YEARS BEFORE THE Pandemic SHORTAGES!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Commodities crashing? More signs that there is no economic recovery

The cost of living in the U.S. rose at its fastest pace since December 2009 in the year ended in March, the same month when Chinese consumer prices rose by the most since 2008.-Bloomberg report

Rising commodity prices can bring inflation.  Commodity prices go up when there is an expected higher demand than supply (or speculators playing the market).  Today, May 5, commodity prices are falling.

Some people blame an increase in the value of the U.S. dollar, but has it really gone up that much? When the U.S. dollar is up, it makes commodities that much more expensive on the world market, because commodities are traded in U.S. dollars: “The common denominator for all the commodities selling today is the strength of the dollar.”-Bayram Dincer, LGT Capital Management Ltd

Others are pointing out that commodity traders are realizing that the world’s economy is still bad, and that the average person can’t afford to pay higher prices.  That means demand will go down.

If you buy commodities (oil, gas, metals, food stuffs, etc) why bid higher when there’s a good change you can’t sell it on the retail market?  Some analysts think this will be the crash of the commodities (which is a good thing for us little guys): “This could be one of the most severe corrections that we’ve seen over the last year. If things get really bad, we could possibly retrace half of the rally of the past six to nine months.”-Sean Corrigan, Diapason Commodities Management SA

How about the fact that a little known company, Glencore, who turns out to have a lot of say in the commodities market, has told their clients to be “underweight” when it came to commodities.  Glencore expects prices to actually go up in the next 12 months.  Being “underweight” means to sell off your investments, so maybe what we’re seeing is an intentional, and temporary, sell off.  A sell off would drive prices down.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Who’s behind high commodity prices? Glencore, ever hear of them? Call them food crisis managers

Glencore is a private company in Switzerland.  The company is valued at $60 billion.  What do they do?  Buy and sell commodities.

Glencore is the world’s biggest commodities trader, buying and selling much of the world’s wheat, corn, rice, sugar and edible oils. They also buy and sell minerals; metals, oil, coal.  In fact they control 3% of the world’s daily oil supply.

Because Glencore is a privately held company, no one has heard of them.  Why are they in the news now?  Glencore wants to become even more powerful, so they are going public, offering public stocks in their company for the first time.  For those of you who think ,”If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”, the public stocks offering will take place at the end of May, in the London and Hong Kong stock markets.

Glencore has on it’s board some controversial people, including people with their hands in the pockets of U.S. politicians, so do your research.

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Occupy America: Why are Diesel fuel prices so high? Diesel commodity futures trading less than Gas, even with low sulfur refining

Read my November 20, and November 5, 2011, postings about current diesel prices.  It’s bad news, it explains why prices are only going up, and how fracking of natural gas is really for fuel production.

May 3, Diesel fuel prices are higher than gas, at the pump.

In Idaho, as of May 3, most gas stations are selling Diesel for about $4.15 per gallon.  The highest is $4.50 near Mountain Home.  That’s way higher than gas.  Most gas stations are selling gasoline around $3.65 per gallon, with the highest at $4.00 near Hailey, Idaho.

Yet Diesel futures are selling for less than gas futures on the commodities market.   As of May 2, gas futures, for June delivery, were at $3.34 per gallon.  Compare that to Diesel NY at $3.29, and Diesel Gulf at $3.31 per gallon.

So why is Diesel so much higher at the pump?

Many websites say it’s because Diesel must be refined to low sulfur standards.  That doesn’t explain the higher price at the pump!  The commodity prices paid are for already refined Diesel, so the claim that low sulfur refining is the cause doesn’t work.

Some people say it’s because Diesel is actually in higher demand than gasoline, due to industry (like trucking & airlines, “jet” fuel is actually a form of Diesel/Kerosene) and the military (possibly the biggest user of Diesel, thank the War on Terror).  That might be, but normally the commodity price reflects anticipated demand.

Some journalists have asked oil executives about fuel costs, but oil executives can only talk about the price of refined fuels sold on the commodities market, not at the pump.

What about taxes?  It turns out that taxes for Diesel are more than taxes for gasoline.  In Idaho the average (January 2011) pump tax (combined state/federal) for Diesel is 49.4 cents per gallon.  For gas, in Idaho, it’s 43.4 cents.  That’s only a 6 cents per gallon difference, so that doesn’t explain the 50 cent per gallon difference in the pump price of Diesel vs gasoline ($4.15 for Diesel minus $3.65 for gas).

By the way, California has the highest tax rates in the country for Diesel at 76 cents per gallon, and gas at 66.1 cents.  That’s because California has higher local and state taxes on top of the federal taxes.

So, the only conclusion I can come up with is that Diesel fuel prices, at the pump, are higher than gasoline due to higher taxes for Diesel, and maybe  higher demand for Diesel (again that’s usually what drives commodity prices, before it gets to the pump).  Maybe gas stations are trying to make up for their extremely slim profit margins on gas prices by jacking up the more stable Diesel prices?



Business/Economics, U.S.

U.S. Gas prices will be about $4.50 average by end of May

The price of May reformulated unleaded blendstock gasoline futures prices hit $3.37 per gallon, on April 29.  That means the average price of gas at the pump could be $4.50 by the end of May.

For some parts of the country, like California, prices could hit $5.50 or more, per gallon.  For a little explainer on gasoline futures see my post “Think gas is high now…”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

I told you, “Watch the Commodities Market”, more bad signs of inflation

The Commodities Market “…is sending us the mother of all price signals. The prices of all important commodities except oil declined for 100 years until 2002, by an average of 70%. From 2002 until now, this entire decline was erased by a bigger price surge than occurred during World War II.”-Jeremy Grantham, GMO LLC

I recently wrote a post that advised people to stop paying attention to stock markets, and start watching commodities markets.  Jeremy Grantham’s research shows why.

According to Grantham, commodities prices (oil, gas, food, clothes, metals, etc) have been going up for the last eight years, big time.  The Federal Reserve has been downplaying inflation, until recently, but Grantham’s research shows inflation has been with us for a while.  He also claims the last eight years has seen the biggest jump in commodities prices since World War 2 (see, wars are not good for the economy, unless you become the world’s arms dealer and can stay out of any actually fighting).

Grantham says the rise of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) has also affected commodities, possibly permanently: “I believe that we are in the midst of one of the giant inflection points in economic history. The world is using up its natural resources at an alarming rate, and this has caused a permanent shift in their value.”

Grantham explains why everyone should pay attention to commodities, rather than stocks: “…stock prices and they can be, often are, psychologically flakey. But commodities are made and bought by serious professionals for whom today’s price is life and death.”

Grantham says commodities are truly affected by supply and demand, so, with the booming economies of the BRICS, and the ever growing and expanding War on Terror, all of which increase demand for limited supplies, viola, long term inflation!

“We all need to adjust our behavior to this new environment. It would help if we did it quickly.”-Jeremy Grantham, GMO LLC

Business/Economics, U.S.

Think gas is high now, wait ’till May. Or: How you can predict next month’s gas prices

Unleaded gasoline is traded on the commodity market.  That’s the price you need to watch.  Oil prices only affect gas prices indirectly.  Yes, as oil prices go up so will eventually gas prices, but for a direct cause watch refined unleaded gas prices (if you use Diesel watch Diesel futures prices).

Oil and gas are traded in the commodities markets as “futures”.  That because they are being bought in advance.  Example: Today’s unleaded gas “futures”, being sold in the commodities market, is for May “deliveries”.  So today’s “market” price of gas is actually for gas that will be sold at gas stations in the month of May.

What is today’s market price for gas? As of April 20, the closing price was $3.25 per gallon.  That price is not paid for by the gas station you get your gas from (and evil “speculators” looking to make fast profits).  It’s the price paid by the companies who supply it to the gas stations.  Of course they need to make a profit, so they’re going to charge the gas stations more.  This is why gas station owners, especially the independents, says they make only a few cents profit on every gallon.

Now, to explain how you can predict next month’s gas prices.

On April 18, the average “retail” price of gas at the pump, in the United States, was $3.84.   The April “futures” price was, on March 21, $2.98 per gallon.  That’s almost a full dollar difference.  You can see that’s not much of a profit split between the gas stations, and the gas suppliers.  But you can also predict how much we’re going to be paying in May.  It’s not good.

Current May “futures” are around $3.25 per gallon.  Add about a dollar for profit and you can see that average “retail” price at the pump, in May, is going to be around $4.25.  Ain’t no trick to it, just stop paying attention to the stock markets, and start paying attention to commodity markets.  What ever is the “future” price of gas that day, just add about a dollar to it to estimate what you’ll be paying at the pump in the next month.  This also applies to Diesel prices.  Also, if you live in the evil state of California, your prices are going to be much higher, due to federal, outrageous state, and even outrageous local gas taxes.  You might as well add at least two dollars onto the commodity market price of gas.

Business/Economics, Opinion

Ignore the Stock Market, it’s the Commodities Market that hits you in your wallet

The main stream media puts so much effort into reporting what happens in the stock markets.  Why?  Because the main stream media is controlled by big corporations.  Big corporations get investment money from stocks.  Big corporations use the main stream media to control the stock markets.

So you got money in your 401k, so what?  That’s for retirement, if you don’t lose it all in the next crash.  But on a day to day, affect your wallet right now kind of way, the stock markets don’t mean squat.   When you go to buy fuel for your car, or buy food for your family, or clothes, or anything, it’s the commodity markets you should be paying attention to.

Commodities affect every thing you buy; gas, food, household goods, a new car, new clothes.  Every basic resource is traded in the commodities markets; from oil to trees to metal, to all kinds of crops and livestock.  It could be that the main stream media’s focus on the stock markets is just a way of distracting the general public from the market that is really controlling everyday prices (or the main stream media is just ignorant).

Unless your an executive in a big corporation, or a big time stock holder in corporations, you should ignore the stock markets and start paying attention to the Commodities Markets.

Idaho, International

Food Prices Up, Crop Yields Down

27 September 2010

Signs of a coming food crisis are everywhere. Most notably at the source, the farms that grow the basic crops. Here on the east side of Idaho, farmers had to deal with a spring that was too cool too long, resulting in crops being planted weeks late, and then a short summer (www.noaanews.noaa.gov) (www.kidk.com).

It’s not just Idaho, but many of the crop growing states in the U.S. are experiencing lower yields, and you can blame the weather. Any type of extreme weather will affect crops (sciencepolicy.colorado.edu).  In Idaho it’s too cool & too dry. In other parts of the United States it’s too wet (just look at all the flooding in the southern states), or too hot & dry. And it’s not just the U.S.; Canada & Mexico, South America, Eurasia & Africa as well as Australia, are all dealing with the adverse affects of weird weather on their crops. Pakistan can kiss most of their crop production goodbye after the incredible floods they experienced. Russia is loosing crops due to record heat & fires (www.voanews.com) (rt.com) (rt.com). Just in the past couple of days flooding in Nigeria has destroyed 240 acres of farmland (www.cnn.com).

The result is that overall, globally, less product is heading towards the markets, which means higher commodity prices paid for those crops (Law of Supply & Demand). This is good for farmers who can still produce big crop yields, as farmers in Colorado are finding out (www.agweek.com), but it’s bad for the average consumer. Coffee retailers have finally started passing on the higher costs they’re paying for the beans (starbucks.tekgroup.com). This will only add to the specter of inflation, a three pronged attack caused by governments printing too much money, precious metal prices blasting off and food prices soaring.

Here’s what has happened to wheat commodity prices: In March 2010 Hard Red Winter Wheat was at a value of 191.07,  by August 2010 it hit a value of 246.35 (www.indexmundi.com).  Not all commodities have experienced such a big increase, a few have actually dropped. But, there is a trend of reduced availability & increased cost, so much so that the UN held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue (www.guardian.co.uk). Some UN officials blame inexperienced commodity speculators for the increases in prices. One example of that is that it looks like the December 2010 Corn futures were “overbought” (Idaho Grain Market Alert 9.23.10). This is a double whammy for the average consumer; not only will some foods become limited but some food will be too expensive. So the coming food crisis may probably be more about people not being able to buy the food, than it’s limited availability.

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