50 Ways To Invest In Agriculture
The agriculture sector has long been a popular place for commodity trading. After all, it was with agricultural futures that commodity trading got its start. Farmers had originally used these contracts to help offset any losses in crop yields. Now, the agricultural space has blossomed into a market chock full of options for investors, but many investors are still unaware of the vast opportunities that this sector offers [see also Invest Like Jim Rogers With These Three Agriculture Stocks]. No matter what kind of investor you are, there is certainly an agriculture/agribusiness option that fits your investment style. Below, we outline 50 ways to invest in agriculture to help investors pick the correct security for their portfolio:
Weekly Agriculture Roundup: Hot Cocoa
Like just about every other asset class, agricultural commodities have been on a wild ride over the last several trading sessions, fluctuating along with equity markets as investors have tried to evaluate the latest news out of Europe. The last week has generally been a strong stretch for agricultural and soft commodities, as a rally in stock markets and return to risky assets has created a wave of moderate optimism among investors. The following table shows the performance of several popular commodity exchange-traded products for the week ended November 8. It should be noted that each of the funds included below utilizes futures contracts to achieve its stated objectives; as such, returns may not be reflective of changes in spot prices:
Daily Commodity Roundup: Hogs Gain On Chinese Demand, Cocoa Tumbles On Supplies
Thursday started off as the first solid day of the week, but as the trading session progressed with little to no information on the U.S. debt deal, major equities gave back their gains to finish yet another day in the red. As we draw ever closer to the August 2nd deadline, many analysts have begun to worry that both sides are deadlocked, and with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate, that will make it next to impossible to pass any legislation unless one side gives way to the other. While it seems highly unlikely that the U.S. will default on its debts, it is still a possibility at this point in time, a situation that could put the already beleaguered economy into an even bigger hole.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Wheat Surges On Crop Issues, Cattle Tumbles On Demand Fears
American markets started the day on a high note only to finish the much closer to the breakeven level as traders digested testimony from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. In his report, the Chairman suggested that another round of stimulative measures wasn’t completely out of the question and that more ‘untested’ methods may be used to bring the economic growth rate back up. Utilities were one of the losers on the day while traders continued to push into the basic materials and services sector as strong prices for natural resources and hopes for more easing carried the riskier sectors higher on the day.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Cotton Plunges On Dollar Strength, Lean Hogs Soar On Chinese Demand
U.S. markets had a rough start to the week as fears over debt loads in Europe sent many investors running for safe havens. Losses were pretty much across the board in American equity markets as financials did the worst while health care came out relatively unscathed. Internationally, Asia started the day on a down note as the Hang Seng and the S&P ASX both finished the day lower by about 1.5% while Europe outdid their Asian counterparts as the French and German indexes both fell by over 2.3% while the Italian benchmark plunged by close to 4% on worries over that country’s debt. As a result of this international turmoil, many investors fled to safe havens such as the U.S. dollar and Treasury bonds, helping to send yields much lower on the day for most maturity levels of American debt. Unsurprisingly, this led to a risk off trade in commodities, … See the full story here
