The Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGE) is the nation’s smallest commodity exchange. The MGE has only one actively traded commodity futures contract: spring wheat.
As I’m sure you’re now aware, the Federal Reserve under the tenure of Chairman Ben Bernanke performed an unprecedented move: a 75-basis-point cut one week before its scheduled meeting (at which time the Fed cut another 50 basis points).
There’s an electric tension in the air as our heroes, Louis Winthorpe III and Billy Ray Valentine, muscle their way through the crowd of traders lining the New York Board of Trade’s (NYBoT) frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) trading pit. The traders are nervous with the anticipation of what’s to come, sweating from the heat generated by more than 100 tightly packed bodies. The clerks manning the phones surrounding the pit are on high alert.
The Dodo, a flightless bird, has been extinct since the 17th century. The phrase to “go the way of the Dodo” means to become obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice or to become a thing of the past. The Dodo is considered the poster child for an extinct species because its demise was directly attributable to human activity: They were good to eat and easy to catch.
The S&P 500 began 2007 at 1,428. On Friday, Dec. 21, it closed at 1,498 for a respectable, if unexciting, 4.9 percent return for the year.
Do you remember the good old days when gasoline was less than $1 per gallon? These days, volatility in the oil markets has exploded.
The following is an excerpt from Larry Livingston’s book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, which is based on the story of Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest traders of all time.
Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst weekly loss in five years with a 4 percent drop. The Dow is now down 8 percent from its highs, but it’s still up 5 percent for the year.
Last week, the market made history. Oil traded at all-time highs, and the dollar hit all-time lows. What now?
On any given trading day, for any market, there are four possible scenarios. Furthermore, when a trader considers the market’s reaction to significant news, there are six possible scenarios.
