During the month of July, the top 3 performing sectors were: Livestock (3.40%), Metals (1.64%) and Indices (1.51%). Continued scare of African Swine Fever drove up lean hogs, boosting the livestock sector. The bottom 3 sectors were: Softs (-3.78%), Grains (-2.75%) and Energies (-2.31%). Other sectors stayed fairly quiet during…

Americas   While US Economic Data showed slowing but positive Q2 growth at a projected +1.5% annualized. Payrolls surprised to the upside at +224,000 versus the +160,000 projected by the economist survey.  Official unemployment was rounded up to the very low 3.7% and underemployment also ticked up (from 7.1% to…

Odd Thing Happened   on the way to an oil crisis… nobody came! Events a few years ago that would have sent the markets soaring or collapsing are absorbed and taken in stride.  A proto-shooting war between a superpower and regional belligerent that included oil tanker sabotage and seizures, heightened…

During the month of June, the top 3 performing sectors were: Metals (7.35%), Indices (7.32%) and the S&P GSCI – Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (4.43%). With a weaker U.S. dollar, gold led the way in a nice rally with other precious metals. US indices rose as the fed took a less…