Issue Date: July 17, 2009
Playing the Hand You're Dealt
In honor of the 40th Annual World Series of Poker that, this week, narrowed down a main event field of over 6,000 players to just 9 - I'd like to discuss some parallels between the current economic climate and opportunities as they relate to the game of Texas Hold' Em. For those of you that have been sheltered from the rapidly growing popularity of poker, you should know that Texas Hold' Em is played by having two face down cards dealt to every player at the table. Subsequently, there is a series of bets made by players as they see community cards dealt out. The first "flop"is of 3 cards that are shared by all players, a "turn" single card then follows, and a "river" card finalizes the reveal of community cards that can be used by all players in combination with their original two cards to complete a 5-card poker hand.
By Francisco Ramirez
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Finding Hope In Oil Prices
Oh Roubini chili beanie the spirits are about to speak! Is the recession over? Well maybe not yet but maybe if you want to belive one of the premier economic doomsayers Nouriel Roubini perhaps the worst of the financial crisis is over. Yippee!! Not only that the pessimistic prognosticator predicted that maybe just maybe the recession might be over by the end of the year. Great news, mind you, but if you care about energy I know what you are thinking. What does this have to do with the cost of tea in china or better yet the price of oil? Could this be the start of another bull run or is it just another guess when the globe will reemerge from the greatest financial crisis of modern times.
By Phil Flynn
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The Corn Market Has Been Wounded, But It’s Not Dead
What a difference a month makes in the corn market. A month ago we were looking at a corn market that was trapped by a large supply of old crop inventories on the upside, while improving demand as well as poor early planting conditions, were expected to maintain support on the downside. The corn market has nosedived from its high on June 2, by $1 per bushel in less than a month. It has continued this slide over the past two weeks. Although there are many factors that are to blame when a market has a move of that magnitude in that timeframe, in the case of the corn market, there are two main culprits; the June 30 Acreage Report and weather.
Entering the June 30th acreage update, the trade was expecting corn acres to fall by over 800 thousand acres due to the wet weather in the Eastern Corn Belt causing delays and switching to other crops. In fact, the USDA announced that they project an increase of over 2 million acres from their March 30th expectations. This left the market with a nearly 3 million acre increase over the expected acreage on June 29th.
By Scott J. Harms
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