Excellent description of the inflation/US personal income wipe out and train wreck. And today was just more evidence of life outside of the Land of Oz.
Here's another one (in a long string) that is just to close to home: my coffee habit. Looks like Folgers to increase prices to the consumer.
NY coffee soars 5 pct, set to test September highs
Tuesday January 20, 4:19 pm ET
NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - CSCE coffee futures jumped 5
percent Tuesday, hitting a fresh 4-month peak but stopping
short of its mid-September highs, as funds were aggressive
buyers with producers using the rally to hedge, dealers said.
"Funds bought maybe 6,000 to 7,000 contracts on the day.
The volume was impressive with the producers taking advantage of the rally and selling all the way up," said one broker.
The active March arabica coffee (KCH4) sprinted 3.55 cents
to close up at 74.70 cents a lb, off the top of a 70.90 to
74.80 cents trading range.
Traders viewed the advance as a continuation of a rally
that began late November driven by a growing perception that supplies could tighten with reduced exports from key producers and lower expectations about the coming 2004/05 crop from top producer Brazil.
Coffee trading resumed Tuesday after the Martin Luther King
holiday closure Monday and the funds wasted little time
matching London's gains. Prices basis March retested levels not seen since Sept. 12 and bested the Sept. 11 high close at 74.40 cents. May coffee (KCK4) climbed 3.45 cents to 76.25 cents and the back months settled 3.30 to 3.40 cents higher.
"The funds still have shorts to cover and there are rumors
that roasters are about to raise their prices. The market looks good to me," said one coffee analyst.
Despite the hectic pace of trading, brokers found time to
discuss the possibility that consumer giant Procter & Gamble's (NYSE:PG - News) Folgers coffee unit might raise its prices. The last time Folgers raised coffee prices was in November 2002 after a rally in the futures market from 46 to 73.50 cents. With the current rally since late November stretching to just short of 75 cents from 56.40, traders are beginning towonder when Folgers will bump prices up again.
Estimated volume swelled to 32,858 lots from 11,287 on
Friday. The option pit recorded 7,875 call and 3,184 puts.
Technicians raised their chart points finding support on
March at 73 cents with resistance at 74.70, 75 and 76 cents."The market is emerging from a large consolidation. The first target is 88.50 cents with $1.08 possible," said Peter DeSario chief commodities analyst with www.elliottwave.net. |
