Agriculture

Blaming Retail Investors for Commodity Prices

“Commodity index rolls have little futures price impact, and inflows and outflows from commodity index investment do not cause futures prices to change” I haven’t come out strongly on either side of this issue because my job presents me with a dilemma. On the one hand, I believe that individual investors have played at least…

Follow Up: Ag-Related Stocks Being Harvested

Yesterday I discussed the possibility that portfolio managers may now look to the agriculture-related stocks to play catch up vis a vis the metals and energy stock rally. Guess they were thinking just that: Industry Top Performers Intraday Price Performance % Change Market Cap AGRIUM INC. [AGU] +7.31% $8.4 B POTASH CP SASKATCHEW [POT] +6.17%…

Commodity Plays: The Search For What Hasn't Moved Yet

Crunch time for portfolio managers. I read in Barron’s this weekend that the average US stock mutual fund manager is about 5% ahead of the S&P 500 this year, according to Lipper.  OK, but it’s the below-average performing PM that really needs the juice right about now, with 10 weeks or so left to make…

Hot Links: Under the Microscope

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… Passport Capital makes the case for the agriculture investment theme.  (MarketFolly)  The unsinkable Whitney Tilson on housing’s non-bottom.  (TechTicker) Like the rich kid paying off bullies in school, Goldman is set to give a big charitable donation to deflect our attention from $23 billion in bonuses.  Andrew Ross Sorkin has…

Citi Cuts Agriculture Chem Names

Farmer Brown here… Just a quick follow-up to my Monsanto piece from last week. We discussed the fact that analysts are getting antsy about seeing through the valley on the farm stocks.  Today, Citigroup spit the bit on two big agriculture names.  Mosaic (MOS) and Potash (POT) were both cut to hold from buy at Citi following…

Is Monsanto Worth a Look? Depends on Which Monsanto You're Talking About.

Disclaimer:  This is not research, advice or an invitation to trade or invest.  My comments below are simply some observations based on publicly available information.  Do not trade based on anything you read here. Monsanto (MON) is becoming quite the controversial stock in light of the dichotomy of near-term and long-term outlooks.  You could make the…

Market Recap: Regulate

    [vodpod id=Groupvideo.2752577&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]   The Reformed Broker, AKA Nate Dogg, here with today’s Market Recap… In honor of President Obama’s massive Wall Street regulations overhaul today, I thought we’d get started with the classic West Coast joint Regulate by Warren G. Today was one of those ping pong days here on The Street, without…

Hot Links: Black Swans, DJs, CEOs, Rogers and Kass

Hot Links for Weekend Reading Let’s kick it off with a Think Piece from Johnny Debacle of Long or Short Capital.  Johnny asks the question “Why be a JD (Juris Doctor) when you could be a DJ (Disc Jockey)?” I got two from The Business Insider this week…first, a slideshow of the Worst CEOs Ever,…