Platinum Futures (NYMEX: PL) , Chart

Platinum is trading above the 1980 high. The daily platinum futures chart is looking good with many white candles, short term trend line support ~ 1105$. Platinum Info.








Gold & Silver spot charts

Copper Futures , Comex : HG

Copper futures and spot have really gone extremely parabolic, registering ~ 400% price appreciation since the bear market bottom. Amazing!















Gold and Silver Charts

Live Cattle Futures (CME: LC)

Live Cattle Futures and live cattle options on futures are trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
Contract size = 40,000 pounds.






Gold Spot Blog

Orange Juice Futures (NYBOT: OJ) E – Waves count

Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice (FCOJ) futures and options on futures contracts are trading at The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT). OJ futures trading introduced in 1966, with options trading since 1985. The NYBOT FCOJ futures and options market traditionally provide critical weather risk management tools to this highly dependent commodity weather market, especially sensitive to weather conditions in Florida and Brazil.
Contract size 15,000 pounds of orange solids ( 3% more or less ) from Florida and or Brazil only.


Orange Juice futures (OJ) quarterly all time chart.



















Orange Juice futures (OJ) bottom to date weekly chart.


















Seems like fairly young bull market.

NYMEX to change margins for silver, copper futures contracts

Washington (Platts)--18Apr2006

The New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday announced margin changes for
its silver and copper futures contracts, beginning at the close of business on
Wednesday.

Margins for the silver futures contract will increase to $3,750 from
$3,250 for clearing and non-clearing members and to $5,063 from $4,388 for
customers. Margins for the copper futures contract will increase to $3,750
from $3,500 for clearing and non-clearing members and to $5,063 from $4,725
for customers. source

Random Length Lumber Future (CME: LB)

Random Length Lumber Futures are trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(CME) since 1969. The Lumber future contract offer price protection to the forest products industry. Firms engaged in producing, processing, marketing or using lumber are able to hedge their risk exposure. The North American lumber market is valued at 30 billion $.

Random Length Lumber Futures contract size = 110,000 board feet (one 73’ flat car) of random length 8’ – 20’ foot softwood, the type used for rehabbing and construction. Options contracts are also available.

New all time high for crude oil (WTI) , Energy charts

The continuous crude oil futures closed the week at new all time nominal high. The triangle pattern initial target is ~ 81$.



Unleaded Gasoline futures price is around 30% lower then 2005 highs.



Natural gas futures are trading about 50% lower then 2005 highs.

Corn Futures (C) , (YC)

Corn (Maize) is widely cultivated throughout the world and a greater weight of corn is produced each year than any other grain. While the United States produces almost half of the world's harvest, other top producing countries are: China, Brazil, France, Indonesia, and South Africa. Worldwide production was over 600 million metric tons in 2003 just slightly more than rice or wheat. In 2004, close to 33 million hectares of maize were planted worldwide, with a production value of more than $23 billion.

The primary use for corn is as a food or feed for livestock, Corn also has many industrial uses. Some is hydrolyzed and treated to produce corn syrup, a sweetener, and some is fermented and distilled to produce grain alcohol, or ethanol. Grain alcohol from corn is traditionally the source of bourbon whiskey. Ethanol is being used as an additive in gasoline (gasohol) for motor fuels to increase the octane rating, lower pollutants, and reduce petroleum use.

The corn futures are traded at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)

Contract Size is 5000 bushels for the regular future contract and 1000 bushels for the mini future contract, corn options are also available.

Corn seems to put in a nice double bottom pattern:


50 years chart of corn Futures

DBC , ( DBLCI ) Deutsche Bank COMMODITY ETF ; update

DBC returns are expected to track the performance of the DBLCI. The DBLCI is a rules -based index, comprised of Crude Oil, Heating Oil, Gold, Aluminum, Corn and Wheat. DBC has passed its IPO price and support is expected ~ 24$ in the case of a pullback, but it can continue to keep going – depending on the underlying commodities. Volume at around 1/2 million shares per day, is still very low and the public interest seems mild.

See Gold (XAU) , Silver (XAG) charts.

United States Oil Fund Lp (AMEX: USO)

Victoria Bay Asset Management, LLC has recently listed the United States Oil Fund, LP (USO) on the American Stock Exchange (Amex).

USO's returns are expected to track the price movements of West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) light, sweet crude oil.
USO will invest its assets in futures contracts for WTI light, sweet crude
oil and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on regulated futures
exchanges in the U.S. and elsewhere and other oil interests such as
cash-settled options on oil futures contracts, forward contracts for oil,
and over-the-counter transactions that are based on the price of oil.

http://www.unitedstatesoilfund.com/

Crude Oil Futures , CL (Chart update)

The price of crude is struggling with the upper diagonal downtrend line, RSI & MACD are rising. If a breakout is indeed successful the triangle target is ~ 81$

Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Index review

The “RJ/CRB” is an Index of 19 commodity futures prices, Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Index was originally developed in 1957, continues to be one of the most often cited indicators of overall commodity prices.


Index Components (alphabetical order) :

1. Aluminum (6%)
2. Cocoa (5%)
3. Coffee (5%)
4. Copper (6%)
5. Corn (6%)
6. Cotton (5%)
7. Crude oil (23%)
8. Gold (6%)
9. Heating oil (5%)
10. Lean Hogs (1%)
11.Live cattle (6%)
12. Natural Gas (6%)
13. Nickel (1%)
14. Orange juice (1%)
15. Silver (1%)
16. Soy beans (6%)
17. Sugar (5%)
18. Unleaded Gas (5%)
19. Wheat (1%)


The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) began trading the CRB in 1986; the name of the index changed to the Reuters CRB Index in 2001. Now again renamed and sponsored as the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index..

The NYBOT also offers futures and options contracts on the Continuous Commodity Index (CCI) , representing the ninth revision (as of 1995) of the original Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Index. The CCI Index consists of 17 commodity futures prices.

The RJ/CRB and CCI futures and options contracts, traded exclusively in the NYBOT index market place, offer investors direct access to an alternative asset class that may diversify their holdings.

For in dept overview regarding weighting factors adjustments and Index Chronology See NYBOT.

Sugar Futures #11 (SB, NYBOT)

Sugar – the Universal Commodity – is produced in over 120 countries and consumed in every country. It turns up everywhere from your coffee cup (as a food additive) to your gas tank (as the fuel additive ethanol)

Ethanol provides an alternative use for sugar crops, particularly important in markets where sugar consumption per person is unlikely to grow any further. Ethanol, as an alternative fuel, reduces dependence on imported oil and improves balance of trade flows. Ethanol aids in improving air quality and avoids problems associated with groundwater pollution.

Table sugar or sucrose is extracted from plant sources. The most important two sugar crops are sugarcane and sugar beets in which sugar can account for 12%–20% of the plant's dry weight. Some minor commercial sugar crops include the date palm, sorghum and the sugar maple.

The world sugar futures market has been around since 1914. Sugar No.11 options were introduced in 1982 as the first exchange traded commodity option.
The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) is the designated futures market and exclusive global marketplace for Sugar No.11 futures and options on futures contracts and Sugar No.14 futures.

Contract Size: 112,000 Pounds (50 long tons).

Copper High Grade (HG, Comex) & Aluminum (AL, COMEX)

Aluminum is a partial substitute for copper; currently copper is more then two times more expensive then the same weight of aluminum. Aluminum is also a component of the Deutsche-bank commodities index DBLCI which is tracked by the DBC ETF.