The Short View: Commodity contradictions (FT.com via Yahoo! News) Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:35:14 GMT Are stocks really ready to abandon all the ground they won on the back of this year's interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve? The S&P financials index on Tuesday closed below its level of January 18. On the next trading day, the Fed cut the Fed Funds rate from 4.25 to 3.5 per cent. A week later it cut to 3 per cent - a drastic step that should make US banks much more profitable. Click Here for Other Details

Sovereign wealth funds (Federal Reserve Board) Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:51:45 GMT Chairmen Gutierrez and Kanjorski, Ranking Members Paul and Pryce, and members of the Subcommittees, I am pleased to appear today to provide the Subcommittees with information on the standards for review by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System of investments by sovereign wealth funds in banks and bank holding companies in the United States. Click Here for Other Details

BASE METALS: Comex Copper Reaches 21-Month High As Funds Buy (INO News) Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:31:52 GMT NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Copper futures rose to a 21-month high as funds bought it and other commodities Wednesday while inventories declined, the dollar sank and crude oil breached $104 a barrel, market participants said. Click Here for Other Details

CGM's Growth Funds Disclose New Holdings after Outperforming in 2007 (Indie Research via Yahoo! Finance) Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:50:00 GMT A mix of international, commodity, and technology names helped fuel the firm's outsized gains. Click Here for Other Details

Goldman Sachs: Forget The Funds, It's Project Costs Driving Oil (CattleNetwork.com) Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:01:54 GMT LONDON (Dow Jones)--OPEC's oil ministers may blame speculators for driving oil prices into record territory but Goldman Sachs (GS), whose S&P GSCI Commodity Index is the world's largest, said Tuesday that fundamentals, not speculators, underpin scorching crude prices. Click Here for Other Details

European ministers agree to keep doors open for state wealth funds (Gulf Times) Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:03:59 GMT BRUSSELS: Europe should remain open to investment from state-backed sovereign wealth funds as fears about any political motives they may have are unfounded, EU finance ministers agreed yesterday. Click Here for Other Details

EU ministers keep door open for sovereign funds (Reuters via Yahoo! Singapore News) Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:48:10 GMT BRUSSELS, March 4 - Europe should remain open to investment from state-backed sovereign wealth funds as fears about any political motives they may have are unfounded, EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday. Click Here for Other Details

Commodity stocks boost TSX; stocks gain traction on US service sector data (Canadian Business) Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:08:24 GMT Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press March 5, 2008 - 11:45 a.m. Men work through a dust storm on a new oil well being drilled in the Sakhir, Bahrain, desert. Click Here for Other Details

IMF to seek guidelines for sovereign funds (Straits Times) Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:07:03 GMT WASHINGTON - THE International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it was stepping up efforts to develop standards for sovereign wealth funds, forecasting they could swell to US$10 trillion (S$13.9 trillion) in five years. Click Here for Other Details

Most U.S. Stocks Gain, Led by Commodity Producers; Banks Drop (Bloomberg.com) Published on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:06:38 GMT March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. stocks gained as record oil and gold prices spurred a rally in commodity producers, outweighing declines in technology and financial shares. Click Here for Other Details

Markets volatile with index funds influence, bio-fuel requirements - Delta Farm Press Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:48:17 GMT Markets volatile with index funds influence, bio-fuel requirements Delta Farm Press, NE - 9 hours ago Very few are aware one of the biggest issues impacting US agriculture are index funds. ?There are two commodity funds. Regular funds can be both long and ... Click Here for Other Details

Exchanged-Traded Funds | Robert Frost Investing - Forbes Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:02:11 GMT Exchanged-Traded Funds | Robert Frost Investing Forbes, NY - 2 hours ago This fund is the sole soft commodity play in the ETF field. Its benchmark is the Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) Liquid Commodity Index, ... Click Here for Other Details

Gold Recovering From Tuesday's Correction - Gold Seek Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:57:27 GMT Gold Recovering From Tuesday's Correction Gold Seek - 9 hours ago While growing US inventories may limit the pace of short term gains, solid global demand, speculative buying and broad-based fund interest in commodities ... Click Here for Other Details

Conservative funds wait out commodities rush - Globe and Mail Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:29:40 GMT Conservative funds wait out commodities rush Globe and Mail, Canada - Mar 4, 2008 In a commodity-crazed stock market, a conservatively run mutual fund doesn't stand a chance of keeping up with its benchmark index. ... Click Here for Other Details

Speculative buying puts jolt into coffee prices - Arizona Republic Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:15:38 GMT Speculative buying puts jolt into coffee prices Arizona Republic, AZ - Mar 4, 2008 In February, it reopened another commodity fund, which was closed to investors in November. A new exchange-traded fund - GreenHaven Continuous Commodity ... Click Here for Other Details

Goldman Sachs: Forget The Funds,It's Project Costs Driving Oil - CNNMoney.com Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:48:19 GMT Goldman Sachs: Forget The Funds,It's Project Costs Driving Oil CNNMoney.com - Mar 4, 2008 The S&P GSCI Commodity Index is the world's largest commodity index fund with assets of $80-$85 billion of assets benchmarked to it by the end of last year. ... Click Here for Other Details

Ascalon launches global commodity fund - Money Management Published on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:25:52 GMT Money Management Ascalon launches global commodity fund Money Management, Australia - Mar 4, 2008 By Justin Lim Ascalon Capital Managers and H3 Global Advisors have announced the launch of the Ascalon H3 Commodities Fund, which promises to deliver strong ... Click Here for Other Details

Hedge funds present dilemma for regulators - Financial Times Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:27:28 GMT Hedge funds present dilemma for regulators Financial Times, UK - Mar 4, 2008 Lake Shore Asset Management, run by Philip Baker, stands accused by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission of misappropriating $11m from investors ... Click Here for Other Details

EXCLUSIVE-Rogers says investors bet on commodity shortages - Reuters UK Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:57:07 GMT EXCLUSIVE-Rogers says investors bet on commodity shortages Reuters UK, UK - 15 hours ago Other fund managers agree. They say the problem is many analysts only forecast demand, which is accelerating partly because of growing affluence in emerging ... Click Here for Other Details

Lipper Inaugural Hedge Fund Awards - WELT ONLINE Published on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:22:11 GMT Lipper Inaugural Hedge Fund Awards WELT ONLINE, Germany - 13 hours ago EUROPEAN WINNERS ? LIPPER HEDGE FUND AWARDS Hedge Fund Classification Winning Fund Portfolio Manager CTA Commodity Trading Advisors Transtrend Diversified ... Click Here for Other Details