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Agriculture • Michigan hay buyers should plan purchases early
Michigan hay buyers should plan purchases early
Dennis Stein, Michigan State University Extension | Updated: 05/20/2013
Farms in the Saginaw Valley continue to plow down old hay and pasture fields which will continue to make a limited hay supply available this year. The winter of 2013 has Michigan starting this growing season with a zero supply of 2012 hay. That puts hay buyers in the position of needing to bid much higher prices to purchase the 2013 hay crop, according to Michigan State University Extension.
With fewer acres in production and most farms trying to rebuild their own inventories, a hay buyer will need to purchase supplies early to be sure they will be able to secure what they need over the next year. In the past, many hay buyers have enjoyed the option of buying hay as they need it.
The current short crop situation will create new challenges for the buyer and possible opportunities for the seller who may be asked to store some hay for later delivery. The value of storage will need to be part of the purchase price or purchase agreement. Hay buyers may want to use resources like the hay seller/ buyers list sponsored by MSU Extension to post your farm’s hay purchase needs on this web page early to identify a local supply if possible. In this type of situation, buyers need to be ready to pay for or at least make a reasonable deposit for the 2013 hay they will take delivery of at some point in the future. This may mean that buyers will need to secure a line of credit from their lenders to help cover the farms cash flow needs of purchasing hay and forage needs.
With limited overall hay production, hay seller’s will be able to see higher first, second and third cutting prices for hay even if it is purchased straight from the field. Hay sellers can expect to be asked to sign hay purchase agreements as buyers work to insure that they are not the farm that is left without enough hay next fall if supply falls short of demand. If the buyer has limited storage, consider how to value extra storage that you may have available.
Most hay users have become more aware and active in finding and purchasing alternative feeds that can be used to replace high priced hay crops for their livestock. Tight supplies for most of the nation have put pressure on nearly every alternative forage to have a price that tracks closely to baled hay prices.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-new … 40271.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Mon May 20, 2013 10:41 am
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Business • Will the last buyers please turn out the lights?
Will the last buyers please turn out the lights?
Posted on 14 May 2013
How long can global stock markets rise on the back of money printing by central banks while their underlying economies show very little sign of recovery and far from preparing for lift-off look every bit as likely to fall back into recession?
Global stock markets have continued on up into May, defying the short sellers and cries of ’sell in May and go away’. But the last few sessions have looked weak to negative. Will the last buyers please turn out the lights?
Extreme bullishness
One thing we do know about stock market bullishness is that it eventually fizzles out. You need a constant stream of new buyers to keep the show on the road. The market might look to be rising on the hot air of media output but in fact you do have to have money buying stocks.
Why would anybody buy at a new all-time high? Buy cheap, sell expensive, that’s how you make money as an investor, especially more after more than four years of rising prices.
If there is some kind of genuine economic revival going on in the world then ArabianMoney can perhaps be forgiven for missing it. Strip away inflation and there’s not been much advance in national GDPs since the global financial crisis and many nations have gone backwards, not forwards.
The Financial Times commented recently that the latest profit and sales figures have been lacklustre in both the US and UK with companies ‘bearish about the future’ and ‘talking down earnings’ at the fastest rate since 2001.
Investment madness
Low interest rates have left investors so desperate for income yield that they accept lower and lower returns as they bid share prices higher. There has to come a tipping point when the huge downward risk to share prices outweighs the tiny dividends available in the current environment of central bank manipulation.
Then those buyers will sell and put a market reversal into place. When markets have risen higher and higher with almost no underlying economic justification they do generally reverse quite dramatically.
Of course behaving like Chicken Little of the children’s fable and running around saying that the sky is falling in does make you look stupid, until you are right!
http://www.arabianmoney.net/us-stocks/2 … he-lights/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Tue May 14, 2013 6:14 am
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Gold and Silver • Return of Chinese buyers from New Year holiday to rally gol
Return of Chinese buyers from New Year holiday to rally gold as central banks buy most in 50 years
Posted on 15 February 2013
Bearish noises in the gold pit have lowered prices again this week but the real reason for the price fall is the absence of the world’s most voracious buyers, the Chinese who are on a national holiday this week for their New Year, though they have been buying in the gold souks of Dubai instead.
Global central banks bought more gold last year than at any time in the past 50 years, according to figures published yesterday by the World Gold Council. They added 535 tons to reserves, 17 per cent more than in 2011. Gold prices rose for a 12th successive year.
Gold bears
The bear argument against gold is that economic growth is picking up in the US and China and will divert investment into stocks and away from disaster insurance like gold. That can only really stack up if you believe economic growth is actually about to accelerate.
Unexpectedly GDP in the US did not grow at all in Q4 and recent Chinese trade data is a fiction according to many Asian economists. Besides if the world economy does grow a bit faster this year it will be entirely down to money printing by the global central banks who continue to hedge their own inflation risk with gold.
Individuals are likely to do the same and hedge funds could quickly switch back to being bullion positive. Our local ‘Mr. Gold’ in Dubai thinks the gold price will bottom at current levels and not test the $1,500 an ounce level that chartists have as a potential floor.
Chinese liquidity coming back into the bullion market is probably all it takes. China is the biggest global gold consumer and overtook India sometime last year. They always love to snap up a bargain and with gold on sale should be back with a bang from their holidays.
China bulls
ArabianMoney does not buy the argument about Chinese growth being bearish for gold. If it is true then the inflation risk is elevated again and the Chinese know gold is the best way to diversify their foreign exchange reserves.
Gold legend Jim Sinclair has highlighted the Chinese as the savoirs of the gold price in 2013 with the first Chinese ETF on the horizon . We think the current price weakness is just down to the absence of Chinese buyers for their New Year.
Sell your gold cheaply now and you will regret it as the price goes up again. Mr. Sinclair’s conservative price target is still $3,500 an ounce.
http://www.arabianmoney.net/gold-silver … -50-years/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Feb 15, 2013 12:22 am
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Other • Nine times more sellers than buyers as US insiders dump stoc
Nine times more sellers than buyers as US insiders dump stocks over the past week
Posted on 06 February 2013
Company executives are usually in a better position to know when to buy and sell stocks in their own firms, and such insider selling is a classic indicator of a stock market that has topped out.
Over the past week there have been nine times more sellers than buyers among insiders, according to the Vickers Weekly Insider report, one of the oldest researchers of executive buying and selling on Wall Street. The eight-week ratio is five-to-one, the most bearish since early last year when the market corrected suddenly by 10 per cent.
Deja vu all over again?
The same thing happened in June 2011 just before another stock market sell-off. Insiders have a remarkable record of getting this stuff right but then it is their business after all.
At the same time stock market technical analysts are confused by mixed signals. The appearance of a Golden Cross, for example, in the charts is supposed to be very bullish, though it has been wrong before.
Then again there have been trivial observations such as US GDP going down when the stock market is still going up. The reappearance of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis in headlines this week also ought to sound alarm bells. And many economists doubt the truth of recent positive data from China.
Still markets that sold off heavily on Monday rallied a little on Tuesday. Investors who have ridden this bull market this high seem reluctant to give up on a good thing.
http://www.arabianmoney.net/us-stocks/2 … past-week/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:43 am
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Gold and Silver • Gold Buyers Push Up Premiums
Gold Buyers Push Up Premiums
By Patrick A. Heller
December 04, 2012
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Art … id=2221608
The U.S. Mint has just announced that November sales of gold American Eagle bullion coins tripled the volume sold in November 2011. In fact, the November 2012 sales were at the highest monthly levels in 14 years.
In a recent column I alerted readers that supplies were tightening, deliveries were slowing, and some premiums had risen on bullion-priced gold and silver coins and ingots. I also warned you to expect these shortages and higher premiums to become more widespread. That is exactly what has happened.
The most recent information is that a purchase of any quantity of Austrian 100 coronas could take a month for delivery. It still might be possible to find an odd piece or two in a dealer’s inventory, but don’t expect to get immediate delivery if you are looking for a hundred coins.
Premiums have risen on all the lower premium gold forms, including the 100 coronas, Mexican 50 pesos, U.S. American Arts Medallions and the like. There is at least one low-premium seller of U.S. 1-ounce gold American Eagles that recently increased its selling price above spot by $19 per coin. Another major seller is reporting that they are running about two weeks delay for shipping orders for the Canadian 1-ounce gold Maple Leaf.
The 2013 Chinese Pandas are being offered for sale now, for delivery in a few weeks. It would not surprise me if a substantial percentage of the entire mintage is sold before they are even released. If you have an interest in such coins, you may want to contact your favorite dealer today.
As for silver bars and rounds, there are several manufacturers who are now two weeks delayed on making shipment where they previously were able to ship orders immediately.
Reports early this week show that the price of gold in India was trading for more than $8 above the worldwide spot price. The levels are far higher in Vietnam, where early trading this week at $145 above the spot price. These are two of the larger physical gold-consuming nations. The prices they were willing to pay in excess of the current commodity market spot prices give a good idea where the long-term gold price is headed.
This week’s article is being written while I am in Las Vegas working on the set for the filming of the movie “Alongside Night.” I have previously written about my involvement in this film, where privately-manufactured gold tokens are displacing U.S. government paper money in large parts of the economy in the year 2018.
In one scene filmed today, a teacher enters a classroom to find one of his students is depositing Federal Reserve Notes into her bank account by scanning them on her cell phone. Once each note is scanned, the bank’s automated voice tells her that the particular note is now void and should be burned. In the scene, the student has a stack of notes on her desk about three inches high.
Naturally, good business practices would not allow a total of $27,000 of Federal Reserve Notes to be burned for this scene. Instead, the currency is one of the issues of movie money made to look like official U.S. issues, but not so close that they risk running afoul of counterfeiting prohibitions.
An accompanying photo shows many passing similarities to Federal Reserve Notes, but none that are exactly like them.
Major filming of “Alongside Night” began Dec. 3 and will run for two weeks. The second major film period will be in January. The intention is to have the film’s premiere at the Anthem Film Festival held in conjunction with the Freedom Fest in Las Vegas in the second week of July 2013.
Patrick A. Heller is the American Numismatic Association 2012 Harry Forman Numismatic Dealer of the Year Award winner. He owns Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., and writes “Liberty’s Outlook,” a monthly newsletter on rare coins and precious metals subjects. Past newsletter issues can be viewed at http://www.libertycoinservice.com. Other commentaries are available at Coin Week (http://www.coinweek.com and http://www.coininfo.com). He also writes a bi-monthly column on collectibles for “The Greater Lansing Business Monthly” (http://www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com/a … nt-columns). His radio show “Things You ‘Know’ That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” can be heard at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday and Friday mornings on 1320-AM WILS in Lansing (which streams live and becomes part of the audio and text archives posted at http://www.1320wils.com.
Statistics: Posted by DIGGER DAN — Tue Dec 04, 2012 5:56 pm
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Gold and Silver • Indian buyers are driving up the price of silver will it las
Indian buyers are driving up the price of silver will it last until Diwali?
Posted on 06 October 2012 with no comments from readers Trading in silver futures on the Bombay-based Multi Commodity Exchange surged by 30 per cent in September against July numbers while volumes for gold futures fell by 10 per cent over the same period, indicating a switch from gold to its sister monetary metal silver by Indian investors.
It’s been a great year for gold in India with the rupee’s devaluation sending gold back to record prices in the Indian currency. Silver by contrast is still 20 per cent below its record hit in April 2011, bringing out the bargain hunters.
Bargain silver
The impact of this futures contract buying is already registering in the price of physical silver. Spot silver in New York is up 27 per cent since the end of June to around $35 while gold is up by a less impressive 12 per cent, and hit $1,802 on Friday before selling off.
You sometimes wonder why investment managers are so concerned about the S&P 500 or the Nifty in India, and are not throwing their funds more wholeheartedly into precious metals.
Well for the next nine days buying precious metals is regarded as inauspicious for religious reasons in India, ahead of October 15th. The buying should then restart and peak during the week ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali on November 13th.
It is going to be interesting to see if the penchant for silver over gold is maintained in this crucial buying season for precious metals. India is still the largest consumer of gold and increasingly important for silver.
However, China could take up some of the slack while the religious ban on gold buying remains. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange silver futures were up 29 per cent at the end of September versus the end of June, while gold climbed 13 per cent. It’s the same story, and these two emerging nations are neck and neck as contenders for the world’s biggest market for precious metals this year.
Gold to silver
The switch from gold to silver is a classic arbitrage from a more expensive asset to a cheaper one. Besides market participants know full well that silver outperforms gold on the way up in price and vice versa, so this tends to be somewhat self-fulfilling.
It is also a function of the much tigher market for silver with less physical supply available than gold and a far smaller absolute market size. Money injected into a tight market sends prices up faster than in a broader and more liquid one like gold.
The 600-pound gorilla in the front room is the possibility of a stock market correction on bad economic news from the eurozone or China, or conversely a pre-election rally if the US market senses a Romney victory in prospect next month.
A stock market fall would take down gold and silver prices, a rally would take them higher. It’s not an easy call to make. But the general trend higher is easy for all to see and that is what counts most.
http://www.arabianmoney.net/gold-silver … il-diwali/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:40 am
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Gold and Silver • Bullion Buyers See Red From New Sales Tax
Bullion Buyers See Red From New Sales Tax
http://www.numismaticnews.net/buzz/bull … id=2221608
Bullion buyers of the world, unite!
That might be the rallying cry of gold and silver investors when they hear that their online purchases will be subjected to state sales taxes.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the political consensus that had managed to keep the Internet a sales tax free method of purchase for many years is breaking down and state governors are now scrambling to tap another source of tax revenue.
This would require congressional action to mandate that online merchants collect the taxes, but Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander is quoted as saying that this will happen this year or next.
But before you think bullion buyers are being singled out, the mandate to collect state sales taxes would apply to all online goods, including coins. However, the thin margins on which many bullion firms work will be jeopardized.
The language of previous proposals have called for online merchants to collect the taxes levied by the state where the purchaser is.
Many states currently exempt certain coin and bullion purchases from state sales taxes so bullion buyers from those states wouldn’t be affected – yet.
But how long might these exemptions survive, especially if Congress decides that a uniform national rate would simplify the collecting burden being placed on the shoulder’s of online merchants?
Now bullion investors can ad tax policy to their worries about fiat money, quantitative easing and potential government confiscations.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”
Statistics: Posted by DIGGER DAN — Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:05 am
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Agriculture • Buyers fear higher wheat prices
The roaring rally in crop prices has Canadian farmers smiling, but it’s creating a lot of furrowed brows and worried looks on overseas buyers’ faces.
They fear they might not be able to get the quality crops they need if frantic competitors snap up corn alternatives such as wheat.
“The demand for wheat from Argentina that comes from Europe or other countries will increase (because of droughts in the U.S. Midwest and the Black Sea Region), so I think the price will go up,” said Marcio Cunha de Paiva, a wheat product-focused research and development co-ordinator with Bunge in Brazil.
Brazil often gets most of its wheat imports from neighbouring Argentina, but might have to broaden its search this year.
“Now you have to be open to look at the other markets — Canadian, Russian — to see what price and the quality, because I think the quantity of Argentine wheat will decrease (as foreign buyers compete for Argentina’s wheat).”
Malaysian miller Noor Hafiza Abdul said her company, Seberang Flour Mill, is worried that quality wheat will get sucked into the vacuum created by the shrinking corn crops.
“Of course everybody is talking about price, but quality is the main concern because the money is asking for the quality,” said Abdul.
“We can have the wheat, but (it is) high in price and the quality is not there.”
Peter Park, assistant manager of the Korea Flour Mills Industrial Association, said his organization’s members know the corn rally will pull wheat prices higher, even if the world has lots of wheat.
“Their prices are well-connected,” said Park.“Eventually the world wheat price will be influenced.”
Park, Abdul and de Paiva were interviewed during the Canadian International Grains Institute’s International Grain Industry program, where they and 12 other participants from 11 countries learned some of the intricacies of Canadian grain quality and grading and how the grain system operates.
They were busy throughout the 10-day program, but all had kept apprised of the drought disaster striking the U.S. Midwest and the problems in the Black Sea region.
With continued dryness forecast for the U.S. Midwest and the former Soviet Union
http://www.producer.com/2012/07/buyers- … %E2%80%A9/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:23 pm
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Gold and Silver • For gold to rise physical buyers must return
For gold to rise physical buyers must return
Despite weaker-than-expected US jobs numbers out last week and renewed hopes of QE, analysts say that the physical market needs to return if gold is to start re-gathering momentum
Geoff Candy
April 10l, 2012
www.mineweb.com
GRONINGEN (MINEWEB)
Since its 2012 peak at the end of February at $1,786.1, gold has lost over $140 an ounce. Much of this fall is on the back of an increasingly firm belief that another bout of quantitative easing in the US is unlikely.
So, when the US government released its latest set of non-farm payrolls data, which came in weaker than expected, it was not surprising that gold prices rose.
As UBS’s Edel Tully points out, "Friday’s non-farm payrolls data should be giving gold the opportunity to gather support again."
The big question on the minds of potential buyers, in Tully’s view is, "does this latest data challenge the increasingly accepted view that some form of QE is unlikely to come from the Fed?"
While the increased uncertainty could boost gold in the short term, for Tully and the economists at UBS, do not expect this to be the catalyst that gets gold back on its feet.
"Although more on the disappointing end, Friday’s data hardly comes as a game-changer. Our economists think that the softer-than-expected March payrolls are likely due to weather effects rather than fundamental weakening. They estimate that the earlier weather-related boost to employment figures has now more or less been fully reversed, given the weak numbers in March," she writes.
Morgan Stanley, is a little more on the bullish side.
In a note out earlier yesterday titled, "We still like gold" the bank writes, " We believe that the recent weakness in gold is a good entry point as some elements of the recent selling pressure appear to be at odds with the FOMC’s still dovish position. As the Fed continues believing that long-run inflation will likely remain subdued, it has reaffirmed a commitment to accommodative monetary policy, as expressed by zero nominal rates, negative real rates, and Operation Twist. These developments will likely support gold prices. Moreover, we believe that the weak March payroll report out last week likely underlines the Fed’s cautious outlook.""
And, it points out, "After peaking in mid-1Q12, gold prices fell amid renewed volatility. We note such corrective price movements have been evident throughout the 2001-12 bull market, especially since the acceleration in the uptrend from 2009. Notably, this latest correction, while painful, has not retested the late December 2011 lows and has so far been notably less severe than the retracement in 2H11."
Where to next?
For Tully, the yellow metal needs a boost from the physical side of the market if it is to really turn a corner and build momentum.
"The end of the jewellers strike in India provides a good foundation, especially with the Akshaya Tritiya festival on Apr. 24. But prices need to be appropriate."
She points out that Indian demand only really started to kick in last week when gold traded below $1620.
But, she adds, "The relatively ‘clean’ state of spec positioning could enable a move higher, if interest returns. The latest COTR to Apr. 3 shows the gold net longs contracted by 1.07 moz to 18.7 moz. But this factor is just an enabler; investors need to want to buy gold first."
Statistics: Posted by DIGGER DAN — Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:48 am
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Technology and the Internet • iPad 3 refunds for Australian buyers after Apple admits no 4
iPad 3 refunds for Australian buyers after Apple admits no 4G service
Competition watchdog takes Apple to court after tablet was sold as ‘iPad with WiFi + 4G’ but cannot use Australian network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 March 2012
Apple’s iPad 3 does not work on Australia’s 4G network and customers are buying offered refunds.
Apple has offered refunds to Australians who bought a new iPad 3 after the maker admitted it does not work on the country’s 4G network.
Australia’s consumer watchdog found Apple had misled customers with its recent promotion of the new "iPad with WiFi + 4G".
In a statement, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Apple had "represented to Australian consumers that the product ‘iPad with WiFi + 4G’ can, with a sim card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case".
Australia does have 4G service on the Telstra network but the new iPad connects to 4G on the 700MHz and 2100Mhz frequencies, neither of which is used by Telstra.
The ACCC has taken Apple to court alleging its advertising broke four sections of Australian consumer law.
The new iPad is compatible with some 4G networks in the US and Canada. It is incompatible with all European 4G frequencies, including those proposed for the UK.
The ACCC is seeking a court order for Apple to publish corrective advertising on its website and in newspapers, and for Apple to stop using its model name "iPad with WiFi + 4G".
Australia was the first country to sell the new iPad, launching it on 16 March. The ACCC has said in court that it wrote to Apple outlining its concerns the day before the launch.
Apple says it will place a clarifying statement at the point of sale and send emails to customers offering a refund if they bought the iPad 3 thinking it was compatible with Australia’s 4G network. It is resisting an ACCC attempt to force it to put stickers on its packaging.
Telstra has not promoted the new iPad as 4G compatible. Instead it has marketed it as the "new Ipad on our data + tablet bundle".
Another major Australian carrier, Optus, advertises it as a Wi-Fi and 3G device.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 … stralia-4g
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:33 pm
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