From the category archives:
Here’s what I’m reading this morning. You might find these stories and blogs interesting, too.
Economics as science? No chance. Economics is not a science. Physics wouldn’t be a science either if esteemed members of that profession who got prestigious jobs running the country were willing to make statements that contradict all known facts.
Commodity Futures [...]
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COMMODITIES
Bank Commodity Derivatives Rise to $9 Trillion, 1.5% of Total Outstanding Commodities derivatives held by banks expanded 27 percent last year to $9 trillion as declining raw- material supplies and lower interest rates buoyed investor demand, according to International Financial Services London.
Institutions Money Drives up Commodities
In the last five years, investment in [...]
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We hear from Bloombergthat both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar could abandon their currency pegs to the U.S. dollar in favor of a basket of currencies within months, and Saudi Arabia may follow the move late next year. They would all be following the lead of Kuwait, which last year broke from its [...]
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Keep your eye on agriculture. For one thing, I guess they’re talking about different areas of Australia, but it’s interesting to see these two bits of news …
Australia May Produce Biggest Canola Crop in Nine Years as Drought Eases Australia, the world’s third-largest canola exporter, may produce its biggest crop in nine years [...]
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A monthly Energy Department report said demand for finished petroleum products dropped 8.5% in February from January — to 573,677 million barrels from 623,545 million barrels — and demand for gasoline fell by 6.2%, to 256,422 million barrels from 273,235 million barrels in January.
News articles have said (and I’m quoting from one): “Though [...]
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AGRICULTURE
Kazakhs Ban Wheat Exports to `Ensure Food Security’ (sorry, no web link)
(Bloomberg) — Kazakhstan, the world’s sixth-largest wheat exporter, banned exports of the grain in a bid to control domestic prices for bread and other food. The government decided today to halt exports until at least September 1 “to ensure food security,” [...]
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Recession in U.S. Sows Slow-Growth Economy, Weak Dollar, Faster Inflation The U.S. may pay a steep price to free itself of its economic and financial travails: bigger government, faster inflation and a poorer country.
Oil, Gold Decline as Dollar Rallies; Wheat, Corn Rise on Lower Stockpiles Crude oil and gold extended declines as the [...]
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Fed Takes Broad Action to Avert Financial Crisis The Federal Reserve took dramatic action on multiple fronts last night to avert a crisis of the global financial system, backing the acquisition of wounded investment firm Bear Stearns and increasing the flow of money to other banks squeezed for credit.
XX This Washington Post story [...]
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I don’t worry (too much) about the subprime credit crisis at Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and others. Sure, it could total $600 billion, but these are smart people who will figure a way out of the the problem they created. If they don’t, these companies will go bankrupt. Life will go on.
But [...]
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