What Are Corn Buyers Doing?

Corn buyers are becoming concerned about what will happen when corn is harvested. They are either concerned that too much corn will come to town at harvest, or if they can sell corn at harvest.  Buyers are trying to push corn delivery into 2016 and the farther into the summer of 2016 the better. As I write Thursday, August 6, 2015 the spread between December and March 2016 corn is around 11 cents and from December 2015 to July 2016 around 22 cents.

DECEMBER 2015 - JULY 2016 CORN SPREAD August 6, 2015

With July 2016 Corn 22 plus cents over December 2015 corn, merchandisers are trying to persuade corn farmers to sell away from harvest. Using the rule of thumb at 3 cents per month, or 18 cents for 6 months to carry corn, the spread on the futures is plus 4 cents. (The actual simple carry now using December Corn at $3.80/bushel is 1.425 cents/month)**  If a farmer is storing, it pays to take advantage of the spread and sell July corn.  (more)

Gold Traders: Get Ready for a Short-Term Rally

When it comes to trading gold, it pays to watch what commercial traders are doing.

Commercial traders are the so-called "smart money." They're merchants, miners, explorers, or bankers in the gold business. They use futures contracts to hedge their exposure to gold and protect themselves from adverse downside moves.

And right now, the "smart money" says we should expect at least a short-term rally in gold...(more)

Shopping For 100x Stocks in Oil and Gas

I’m back from Vancouver, where I spoke at the Sprott-Stansberry Natural Resource Symposium. I enjoyed the conference and chatted with attendees, other speakers and mining executives. It’s in a great setting at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and the city is a pretty place in the summer with its sunny skies, glistening waterfront and green mountains behind.
So I’ve been thinking more about the natural resource sector in the context of making 100-to-1. Below, I want to talk about what is the most important thing to look for and give you an example of a company that gets it.
After all, resource stocks would seem a good place to fish. Cheap stocks appear plentiful. Stocks linger near lows not seen since the 2008 crisis. (more)

100x Hunting in Vancouver

“Over a period of years, our thinking has focused more and more on the issue of reinvestment as the single most critical ingredient in a successful investment idea, once you have already identified an outstanding business.”

— Chuck Akre, Akre Capital Management

I’ve just returned from the Sprott-Stansberry Vancouver Natural Resource Symposium. I expected to find a lot of exuberant resource bulls at the conference.
After all, the natural resource sector is the most bombed-out sector in the market. Many stocks are down 90% — or more. And yet many long-term bulls on the sector were only tepidly bullish on natural resource stocks. (more)

WTI Crude Oil Breaks To $43 Handle After Another Rise In Oil Rig Count (To 3 Month Highs)

Having hovered around the $43/$44 level all morning, new from Baker Hughes that the oil rig count in the US rose 6 to 670 (its highest in over 3 months) has sent it back down to a $43 handle...

• *U.S. OIL RIG COUNT UP 6 TO 670, BAKER HUGHES SAYS
• *U.S. TOTAL RIG COUNT UP 10 TO 884 , BAKER HUGHES SAYS

The rig count has now risen for 5 of the last 6 weeks... with Texas, Louisiana, and Kansas seeing the biggest rises...


Pressing crude back below $44..