We see the headline stories regarding drought throughout the southwest – especially in Texas – and think about some of the most immediate impacts. But, a report issued today by the Texas Forestry Service (reported by Reuters) says that at least 500 million trees in the state may have been killed in the drought this [...]
We haven’t touched on H5N1 in quite a while because frankly, health authorities have figured out how to rapidly cull bird populations to help control the spread of the virus. However, new outbreaks have popped up inChina,India, and parts of Southeast Asia recently – as well as theMiddle East. It may be that the virus [...]
Analysts are speculating that there could be a net Palladium deficit going into next year – the effect of which could hit a number of industries. Analysts believe that demand will increase by 10% worldwide with only a 6.7% increase in supply(output of palladium). Today, there is a palladium surplus. Take a quick look at [...]
There are some worry signs starting to show in the global commodities markets – for certain things. Cotton is the latest (following corn and soybeans) to take a hit in futures trading this week, dropping 4% yesterday (the maximum allowable drop in a commodity in one trading session). Today, it was off 3.4% in early [...]
The cotton markets around the world are behaving a bit sporadically. Cotton prices in the United States have come off of record highs from this past spring, but we see cotton prices increasing in India because of supply and government controls imposed. Analysts believe that retailers will [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please Subscribe [...]
The growing scandal with Solyndra has clouded the national outlook on solar technology and the solar industry in general. Despite this and other high-profile bankruptcies, the solar industry is still doing well–at least if the measurement is by job growth. The solar industry has added almost 7,000 jobs in the past year bringing[This content is [...]
In the face of adversity, we often see great innovation. Nippon Steel, the premier producer of steel in Japan has found a way to turn the tsunami disaster into a positive. Here is an excerpt of the story from Sendai News: SENDAI–Nippon Steel Corp. said Sept. 14 it has found a way to turn [...]
Although cotton prices haven’t been hit hard in the US, in Pakistan, they are spiking. More than 7% of the cotton crop has been destroyed in late season rains. The crop will yield likely far less than this 7% figure, officials were trying to show the lighter side of the damage in order to try [...]
The Baltic Dry Index is climbing. We’ve talked about this a lot over the past several months and gave you an update on it last week. The BDI continues to rise despite the negative Wall Street sentiment. So, what could possibly be making it return to “normal”? First, the BDI was at one time [...]
Global cotton prices did not take a sharp uptick as a result of predictions that Hurricane Irene would deal a heavy dose of rain to the region. In fact, some analysts are now re-evaluating their forecasts and [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please Subscribe to continue.]
