HOT AND DRY: Wheat futures soared another 5.7 percent Friday as concerns persisted about hot weather in the Southern Plains and the Ohio River Valley. Wheat is now up 16 percent this week.

CORN FOLLOWS: Corn also rose, but not quite as much as wheat. The July contract rose 1.7 percent, or 10.5 cents, to $6.355 a bushel. Wheat rose 37.5 cents to $6.9525 a bushel.

GOLD UP: Gold and silver both rose. Gold for June delivery rose $17 to $1,591.90 per ounce. May silver rose 69.8 cents to $28.694 per ounce.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/news-summary-wheat-soars-again-220821909.html

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The CME Group’s grain markets will be open for business 21 hours a day starting Sunday afternoon as the exchange guards its turf against upstart IntercontinentalExchange , whose own nearly round-the-clock trade has gotten off to a tepid start.

For the first time, CME grain markets will be open when price-sensitive reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports are issued, which some analysts said could favor high frequency traders able to crunch the data more quickly.

The USDA, following complaints from top U.S. grain groups, said it was in discussions on whether to revise its schedule. Its monthly crop supply/demand reports are currently released at 7:30 a.m. Chicago time.

Traders and analysts are accustomed to having two hours to digest the reports, which contain a wealth of data on U.S. and world crops for previous and upcoming harvests, before the CME grain markets open. With CME eliminating that break in trade, they say, more volatile moves in the grain markets are likely.

“These reports are so extensive and global — it’s hard to get your hands around everything within a millisecond, and that’s what it is going to require,” said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading, a brokerage in Fowler, Indiana.

“Right now, the way it’s set up, it’s going to favor the high-frequency traders and the computer-generated traders,” Gerlach said.

JUNE USDA REPORTS FIRST TESTS OF CME SCHEDULE

USDA is scheduled to release its next monthly supply and demand report on June 12 and hotly anticipated U.S. acreage and quarterly stocks reports on June 29.

Futures broker R.J. O’Brien has urged the CME and ICE to keep grain markets shut for two hours after the reports are released.

Even a half-hour pause would help, said Dale Durchholz, an analyst with AgriVisor in Bloomington, Illinois.

“People say we release unemployment numbers during trading hours. (But) they aren’t nearly as complex,” Durchholz said. “I would think for everybody concerned, having a short break is just common sense,” Durchholz said.

Aside from USDA crop report days, analysts said traders should be able to adjust to the new schedule. CME, which owns the Chicago Board of Trade, received U.S. regulatory approval on Friday to expand its trading day from 17 hours to 21 hours, starting at 5 p.m. CDT (2200 GMT) Sunday.

The change followed three weeks of gyrations and amended plans as CME struggled to balance the needs of its historic core constituency — the commercial grain trade — and the demands of large funds and computer-based trading operations that could benefit from expanded hours.

NEW HOURS

CBOT grains will trade electronically on a continuous basis from 5 p.m. to 2 p.m. Chicago time (2200 to 1900 GMT). The start is an hour earlier than the current schedule.

Trade in CME’s open-outcry pits will not change, running from 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. CDT (1430 to 1815 GMT). The procedures for determining daily settlement prices will remain the same as well.

ICE challenged CME’s 160-year dominance of the global grain trade by launching its own U.S. corn, soy and wheat futures on May 14. Daily trading volume in these new, all-electronic ICE products so far has totaled only a small fraction of CME’s daily grains volume.

But ICE appeared to force CME’s hand in extending the trading hours.

CME in late April originally sought to increase its trading day to 22 hours, hewing close to ICE’s schedule, but pared down its plan after grain groups complained the longer cycle would drive up costs. Also, the extra time in the afternoon would give grain companies time to reconcile their trading accounts and perform other back-office operations.

“I think they probably responded to some of the business issues that the grain trade was concerned about in being able to manage their books,” Durchholz said.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47492574

EDITOR’S NOTE – The Barley MacTavish Fund accepts letters from readers about themselves or other people, explaining why they need help and what they have tried to do about their problems. Write to Barley, care of the Midland Daily News, 124 S. McDonald St., Midland, MI 48640, and be sure to include a telephone number.

There is no real Barley MacTavish. This fund was established by an anonymous donor and is being continued with private financial support, plus donations from area residents during the holiday season. The project has been undertaken to help make Midland a little better place to live.

Dear Barley MacTavish,

I am writing for help with rent. I owe $400 and will owe $400 more by the middle of this month. I am having a hard time finding a job. I’m raising five kids, three of whom are my own. My ex-husband is not available to help with finances. My boyfriend has a job, but his work is sporadic.

If you could please help me with this rent, that would be great.

Dear Friend,

Sometimes a person’s circumstances are less than ideal. I understand that you are in a tough situation. I learned that you are looking for work, and I hope you will soon be employed. Meantime, I have sent your landlord a check for $300.

Copyright 2012 Midland Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.ourmidland.com/story_prep/article_ec5e0b6e-02ed-55ee-87a8-17ab517c2d12.html

Wheat futures soared again Friday as more concerns about dry weather hit the market.

Wheat for July delivery rose 37.5 cents, a gain of 5.7 percent, to settle at $6.9525. Corn also rose, but not as much.

The price of wheat has jumped 16 percent this week on worries that dry, hot weather in growing regions in the U.S. could hurt crop yields. A drought in Russia has also affected the crop there.

“It’s not only a weather concerns for the Southern Plains, it’s also the Ohio River Valley,” said Brandon Marshall, a commodity analyst at Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis. “It’s a weather-driven rally.”

July corn rose 10.5 cents, a gain of 1.7 percent, to settle at $6.3550. Corn is up 9 percent this week. Soybeans fell 33 cents to settle at $14.05.

In other commodities trading, gold for June delivery rose 1.1 percent, or $17, to $1,591.90 per ounce.

May silver rose 2.5 percent, or 69.8 cents, to $28.694 per ounce. July platinum rose $5.90 to $1,459.30 per ounce. June palladium fell $2.25 to $603.60

May copper edged down 1 penny to $3.4695 per pound.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.08 to finish at $91.48 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price many international varieties of oil, fell 35 cents to end at $107.14 in London.

Heating oil fell 1.9 cents to finish at $2.83 per gallon, gasoline futures rose 1.13 cents to end at $2.8895 per gallon and natural gas increased 14.8 cents to finish at $2.742 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/wheat-jumps-again-worries-dry-weather-204252586--finance.html

CME Group on Friday said it would start nearly around-the-clock grain trading on Sunday night, reasserting itself as the dominant player in markets it created.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved CME’s plan to increase electronic trading for grain futures and options at its historic Chicago Board of Trade to 21 hours per session from 17 hours.

The massive exchange operator had originally sought an increase to 22 hours but pared down the plan after grain groups complained the longer cycle would drive up costs.

CME, in an attempt to keep pace with nearly around-the-clock trading that began on Monday at rival IntercontinentalExchange, had asked regulators for expedited approval of the plan for 21-hour trading. Grain groups largely supported the revised plan.

CME confirmed in a statement that it won approval from regulators and declined further comment.

Under the modified plan, grain and soy markets will stay shut from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT (1900-2200 GMT), Monday to Friday, instead of the originally proposed 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. CDT, giving grain dealers an extra hour in the evening to complete back-office operations before the next trading session begins.

While the longer hours appeal to many funds and big traders who are eager for greater market access and the opportunity to trade on key government reports, the plan caused an initial uproar among the CME’s core agricultural constituents, prompting calls for changes or a public-comment period.

CME’s adjustment “definitely gives merchandisers and elevators time to close out their books,” said Steve Wellman, a farmer and president of the American Soybean Association.

“I think it’s a good change, and I think it will be positive,” he said.

Futures brokerage R.J. O’Brien, which had objected to CME’s original proposal, agreed the revised plan would “better meet the risk management needs of the grain industry.”

However, grain firms said they were still worried that expanded trading hours will increase volatility by keeping markets open when the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues monthly crop reports that often cause sharp swings in prices.

R.J. O’Brien, the largest independent U.S. futures brokerage, said it wanted a pause in trading when monthly USDA crop reports are released “to allow the community time to absorb and analyze the wide array of data.”

CME has said it will continue to discuss concerns about trading during USDA reports with industry members.

The push for nearly around-the-clock trading met a demand from funds and large traders, while traditional members of the grain industry like merchandisers and farmers said they were worried about monitoring markets for more hours.

The objections from the grain industry raise questions about whether futures exchanges are “being true to their originally intended purposes of price discovery and risk management, or have they morphed in ways that might be a concern,” CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said, who said he “reluctantly supported” CME’s revised proposal.

In the short term, traders and brokers were preparing for the start of expanded trading hours on Sunday. Trading will open one hour earlier than usual at 5 p.m. CDT.

Jack Scoville, a broker and vice president for Price Futures Group in Chicago, sent emails to his customers notifying them of the last-minute announcement on Friday.

“Hopefully they’ll read their emails between now and Sunday night,’ he said.

Article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-cme-seeks-quick-approval-for-21hour-grain-cycle-20120518,0,5746907.story

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Next week, Long Trail will add its name to the list of Vermont breweries offering its beers in aluminum cans following a growing trend in craft brewing. For years, there have been very few canned options for craft beers. Most consumers had to “trade down” and select imports, such as Heineken, Bass, or go domestic if they needed cans to take to the beach or on the boat. During my five years working in retail, I saw many a dejected fan of craft beer slinking toward the registers with a six pack of Bud, muttering apologies, “I’m going camping.”

A few years ago, some brewers started to take note of innovations in canning technology. The aluminum cans require a special liner inside to prevent the metal from leeching into the beer, and this technology has advanced rapidly in the past decade. No longer are beers prone to that “metallic” taste.

Another contributing factor seems to be the economics of canning. Empty cans are shipped as sheets of aluminum and the volume-to-quantity ratio for transportation is vastly superior to that of shipping empty glass bottles to a brewery. Once they are filled, cans are lighter weight than full bottles, cutting down on shipping costs again.

Some breweries are claiming that cans are more eco-friendly as well. Recycling centers can process aluminum cans quite efficiently. Aluminum cans weigh less all around, reducing fossil fuel usage to transport them at every stage of their life cycle.

And the benefits to active consumers are numerous. If you like to go hiking, boating, fishing or to the beach, canned beer is where it’s at. They’re lightweight to carry and when they’re empty, you can crush them and bring them back in a compact form. (Although, you might lose your 5 cent deposit as some redemption centers don’t accept crushed cans.)

The number of micro-breweries jumping on board is encouraging. In Vermont, Long Trail is joining Harpoon, Magic Hat and The Alchemist, which already offer some of their beers in cans. At better beer stores you should also be able to find canned offerings from Sierra Nevada (Calif.), Brooklyn Brewery (N.Y.), Sixpoint Brewery (N.Y.), Butternuts Beer Ale (N.Y.), and Cisco Brewers (Mass.). And the list seems to be growing weekly.

Article source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120518/COLUMNISTS10/120517020/Hops-Barley-Quality-craft-can

Wheat prices rose again Thursday on concerns about poor weather conditions, while gold and silver shot higher as traders sought refuge from a steep decline in the stock market.

Wheat rose 3 percent, or 19 cents, to $6.5775 per bushel on Thursday. Prices have been climbing for most of the week as traders worry that dry weather in the U.S. and Russia will crimp supply.

Corn and soybeans also rose, but not as much. Corn climbed 5 cents to $6.25 per bushel. Soybeans climbed 16 cents to $14.38 per bushel.

Most metals rose as traders sought safety from the plunging stock market. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 156 points to close at 12,442, and is now down 5.8 percent since the end of April.

Gold for June delivery rose 2.5 percent, or $38.30, to $1,574.90 per ounce. May silver rose 3 percent, or 82.6 cents, to $27.996 per ounce. July platinum rose 1.5 percent, or $21.20, to $1,453.40 per ounce. June palladium rose 2 percent, or $11.75, to $605.85.

Copper was the outlier. The May contract for the industrial metal fell a tiny fraction — about 0.2 percent, or about half a cent — to $3.4795 per pound.

Oil prices followed copper lower. Investors have been unnerved because of a possible slowdown in China, where manufacturing fuels oil demand, and political stalemate in Greece, which could drag Europe into even more uncertainty.

A stronger dollar also tends to send down the price for oil and other commodities that are traded in dollars, because the commodity becomes more expensive for traders who use other currencies.

Benchmark oil fell 25 cents to finish at $92.56 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price many international oil products, fell $2.26 to $107.49 per barrel in London.

Heating oil dropped 4.86 cents to end at $2.849 per gallon and gasoline futures declined 4.27 cents to $2.8782 per gallon.

Natural gas fell 2.4 cents to end at $2.594 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/wheat-gold-silver-rise-down-market-202424533--finance.html

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO |
Thu May 17, 2012 7:24pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) – CME Group has asked U.S. regulators for expedited approval of its revised plan to increase grain trading hours, sending them a detailed rebuttal to lingering industry concerns about the change.

The massive exchange operator, scrambling to keep pace with nearly around-the-clock trading that began on Monday at rival IntercontinetalExchange, requested the Commodity Futures Trading Commission allow it to increase its grain trading cycle to 21 hours a day “as soon as possible,” underlining the words in a letter to the agency that was posted on the CFTC website on Thursday.

CME, owner of the Chicago Board of Trade, modified its plan to extend trading for grain futures and options to a 21-hour session from an originally envisioned 22 hours in response to criticism from grain firms, confirming a Reuters report. The markets currently trade for 17 hours.

It hopes the revision is enough to win quick support from the CFTC.

A majority of the five CFTC commissioners would need to approve CME’s plan for fast-track approval, an agency spokesman said.

On the chance the expedited approval would not be granted, the CME also filed a request seeking CFTC approval of the expanded trading within a 10-business-day review period. Unless the agency decides to extend the review, the longer hours will take effect by June 4, according to CME.

LINGERING WORRIES

The National Grain and Feed Association, the nation’s largest grain group, put its weight behind CME’s expedited request, telling the CFTC it saw “no reason to delay” implementation of 21-hour trading.

At the same time, the NGFA and other grain groups said they were still worried that expanded trading hours will increase volatility by keeping markets open when the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues monthly crop reports that often cause sharp swings in prices.

CME hastily unveiled plans to expand the CBOT’s two-part, 17-hour trading day early this month, seeking to defend its turf after ICE said it would launch 22-hour electronic trading in five major grains including corn and wheat.

The plan caused an uproar among the CME’s core agricultural constituents, prompting calls for changes or a public-comment period.

The National Farmers Union attempted to put the brakes on CME’s latest plan by calling for a 30-day comment period.

“The public, especially farmers and others with an interest in fair and functional markets, would be well-served if the CFTC were to allow for further dialog,” Roger Johnson, president of the union, said in a statement.

CME said it would continue to discuss concerns about trading during USDA reports with industry members.

It said in the letter to CFTC that it was “fair and reasonable” to keep CME markets open for the reports because grains will be actively traded on other markets, an apparent reference to ICE.

CME also told the CFTC that “additional price discovery during longer trading hours will allow the market to absorb market event(s) more effectively,” downplaying concerns about increased volatility.

LONG WAIT

CME, which dominates agricultural markets, is eager to implement the longer trading hours as it has already had to delay the start of extended trading twice.

CME did not submit its initial plan for 22-hour trading to CFTC in time to meet the originally scheduled start date of May 14. On Wednesday, it withdrew its plan to start 22-hour trading on May 21 in response to concerns from grain groups.

The Kansas City Board of Trade also pared back a request to increase trading hours to 21 hours a day from 22 hours, following CME’s lead. The MGEX, formerly known as the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, is also expected to follow suit, as both wheat exchanges trade on CME’s electronic platform.

KCBT said “the effective date of the new extended trading hours will be coordinated with and announced by CME Group.”

(Editing by Dale Hudson, Jim Marshall and Bob Burgdorfer)

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-cme-grain-date-idUSBRE84G1JK20120517

Remember in the movie “Mary Poppins” when Jane and Michael sing about “The Perfect Nanny”?

“Have a cheery disposition .?.?. Never be cross or cruel .?.?. never smell of barley water,” the children chime.

Barley water is a British soft drink, often flavored with lemon. The barley that I recommend as “The Perfect Side Dish” is plain old barley, the kind in the 1-pound bag that hides next to the dried beans and split peas on your grocery store shelf.

If Mary Poppins were going to cook a grain, she’d probably pick barley, because it’s quite magical. When you add water and cook it, it grows to almost four times its size. In other words, 1 cup dry yields 3 1?2 to 4 cups cooked.

Miss Poppins certainly would approve of barley’s nutritional character, too. One cup of barley offers 3.5 grams of protein, zero fat, no cholesterol and a whopping 6 grams of fiber.
A generation or two ago, women didn’t think about calories, fat and fiber, but they knew what was good to eat and how to stretch their food dollars.

Whether she was an Eastern European immigrant or a farm wife during the Great Depression, barley was your grandmother’s grain because barley was a bargain.

That 1-pound bag that costs about $1.50 makes more than 14 cups of whole grain goodness.

If you are already eating brown rice as a side dish, you might like to change up the menu once in a while, and enjoy barley for its heartier texture and satisfying chew factor.

Cooking it is easy. Pour 1 cup of barley (I like Goya brand in the Hispanic food aisle) into a fine strainer or colander, pick through to remove any tiny stones or soil particles, then give it a quick rinse.

Put 3 cups of water in a pot, bring to a boil and dump in the barley. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.

Rushing to make dinner, can’t wait 40 minutes? Cook a batch while you are watching “Mad Men” on Sunday night, then stow it in the fridge or freezer. On Monday or Tuesday, reheat the barley in the microwave or in a low, covered pan on the stove with a little water.

Leftover barley is also the perfect base for a quick cold salad that you can take to work. Just mix barley with chopped celery, carrots, garbanzo beans, a little onion, some walnuts, lemon juice or red wine vinegar and a dash of olive oil. (You can also use bottled dressing) Crumbled bleu or feta cheese makes it extra tasty.

My husband, Mr. Picky, won’t eat barley cold, but finds it quite appealing when it appears in a dish in his lunch bag under a piece of barbecue chicken or leftover Chinese stir-fry.

At my house, leftover barley stuffs peppers, thickens soup, turns into “Spanish rice,” is topped with homemade chili and mixed with beans, salsa and cheese.

Barley breakfast? Sure, you can eat it like oatmeal or stir it up with scrambled eggs and chopped veggies.

About the only thing I haven’t tried is barley water, and I might investigate that brew, as I’ve heard it’s a natural tonic for good health in Ayurvedic, Middle Eastern and Asian cultures.
Until then, if I’m going to drink the stuff, I prefer a nice, cold “barley sandwich.”

Even though Jane and Michael would certainly disapprove, I have an occasional serving of that sort of barley to keep my cheery disposition.

Article source: http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/food-forum/2012/may/17/barley-grandmothers-grain/

Wheat futures soared 5 percent as dry weather in the U.S. brought worries that the crop wouldn’t be nearly as large as traders had expected.

Reports of a drought in Russia also had traders anticipating tighter supplies of wheat. The July contract settled up 30.25 cents at $6.3875. Corn also jumped, 4 percent.

Oil and gold futures fell to their lowest levels in months as the dollar continued to march higher against the euro. Traders have been buying dollars aggressively over the past two weeks because they’re nervous that Greece might be forced to exit the euro bloc.

Dollar-priced commodities like oil and gold tend to fall when the dollar rises. Crude is at the lowest level since November, and gold is the lowest since December.

In wheat trading, the market got a rare bit of bullish news. The grain had been on a steady decline since late April, but has turned around over the past two days on worries about dry weather in the southern plains.

“We needed one more rain to finish the crop up to the bumper level everyone was expecting,” said John Sanow, Telvent DTN in Omaha. “Instead it’s been dry and we’ve had above-average temperatures. On top of that, in Russia they’ve been going through a spring drought and there are reports of irreversible damage to a portion of the wheat crop.”

July corn increased 22.75 cents to $6.20 per bushel. Soybeans edged up 9 cents to $14.22 per bushel.

In metals trading, gold for June delivery fell $20.50 to finish at $1,536.60 per ounce. Gold is now $252 below the year-to-date high of $1,788 it reached on Feb. 28. That’s also roughly when the dollar resumed its appreciation against the euro as investors became more worried about Europe’s debt crisis. A political stalemate in Greece, which has raised the risk that the country could be booted from the currency bloc, has sent the dollar sharply higher over the past two weeks.

Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Montreal-based Kitco Metals, said the dollar’s surge and grossly exaggerated optimism about gold’s future prospects have been key factors behind the sharp decline in the metal’s price.

“Effectively, reality has caught up with the market,” Nadler said.

The end of the gold rally can be traced back to last August, Nadler said, when gold approached $1,900 an ounce as turmoil seized the stock market following the downgrade of the U.S. government’s debt rating. Investors piled into gold at that time as a safe harbor to ride out the turbulence. They anticipated severe weakness in the dollar because of the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policy.

Yet as Europe’s debt woes escalated over this year and the Fed indicated it would end its bond-buying program aimed at keeping interest rates low, the dollar has replaced gold as the favored safe haven investment. Instead of falling against other currencies, an index measuring the dollar against six other currencies has surged 9 percent since September.

“We had been promised by all these doomsday newsletters that the Fed was willing to sacrifice the dollar for the sake of the economic recovery,” Nadler said. “It turned out to be an ill-placed bet anticipating runaway inflation.”

May silver dropped 88.4 cents, 3 percent, to $27.17 per ounce. May copper declined 3.7 cents to $3.485 per pound. July platinum fell $14.30 to $1,432.20 per ounce and June palladium fell $7 to $594.10 per ounce.

Benchmark crude oil fell $1.17 to end at $92.81 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil fell 3.54 cents to $2.8976 per gallon, gasoline futures fell 2.32 cents to $2.9209 per gallon. Natural gas rose 11.8 cents, or 5 percent, to $2.618 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wheat-soars-dry-weather-crude-204620792.html