Sales of New Homes Decline in January to Erase Gains Posted in December

Sales of new single-family homes fell 12.6% to an annual rate of 284,000 in January after nearly a 17% jump in December.  Effectively, the level of new home sales is back to the November 2010 mark.  The record low is 274,000 established in August 2010.  Regionally, sales of new homes fell in the South (-12.8%) and West (-36.5%) but advanced in the Northeast (+54.5%) and Midwest (+17.1%).  Inventories of unsold new single-family homes rose to 7.9-month supply and

FXstreet.com: Fundamental

Gold rebounded and posted almost 1% gain yesterday

Crude The Fed’s commitment to maintain its 600 bln USD stimulus program fuels crude prices despite the fact that the US Department of Energy (US DOE/EIA) regular report confirmed that US crude inventories rose more than expected during the previous week. The report also unveiled that refinery utilization dropped by 1.2 percentage points compared to the week before. As a response to the US DOE/EIA report, the short end of the US benchmark crude (WTI) forward curve further steepened and a spread

FXstreet.com: Technical: Technical Market View

This Little-Known Asset Has Posted Double-Digit Gains for the Past 60 Years

For the courageous souls willing to jump into stocks in March 2009, it's been a bonanza: The S&P 500 has risen about 90% since then, equating to annual gains of more than 40%. But this widely-held index has been a loser if you go farther back. In the past decade, the S&P 500 is down about 20%. Those kind of neck-snapping gyrations have surely caused lots of indigestion for investors.

Want to find an asset that doesn't behave like a roller-coaster? I think I've found it. It's been an attractive asset for much of the past 10 years and all signs point to continued gains in the decade ahead.

According to a study conducted by Kansas State University, the average annual return on U.S. farmland since 1950, including crop yield and land appreciation, is 11.5% compared to a 12% annualized total return for the stock market. But here's the great thing: the farm returns actually came with about half the volatility of stocks.

Farm prices only slumped three times in the last century: In the 1930s, the 1980s and again in 2008. Despite that 2008 slump, The NCREIF Corn Belt Farmland Index shows a total return of 11.4% from January 1991 to December 2008 (6.75% appreciation plus 4.46% income). That's in keeping with a more recent look by the Chicago Fed. A quarterly survey found that farm land prices rose 10% from a year earlier in the period ended September 2010.
Why farmland will be a hot commodity

Looking ahead, there's no reason to think that farm land won't keep rising in value. The factors behind rising farm land prices include:

• Rising agricultural yields — which generate stronger cash flow for each acre of farmed land.

• A growing shortage of worldwide arable land. According to the Food & Agriculture unit of the United Nations, the amount of arable land per capita worldwide has fallen from 1.2 acres in 1960 to just 0.55 acres today. Only 7% of the Earth's land surface is suitable for cultivation — the remainder is either too hot, too cold, too salty, too steep or too stony.
   
• In the next 40 years, the global population is projected to grow from six billion to nine billion. Meanwhile, in many places, farmland is disappearing. Where I live, in New York's Hudson Valley, a number of apple farms have been replaced by subdivisions. 
   
• Surging caloric intake in many emerging economies. The consumption of grains and proteins in China, India, Brazil and elsewhere has been on a steady upward trajectory. Barring a global economic crisis, this should keep rising in coming decades.

Global land grab
The rising global population has already led countries and major investment entities to take action. China is spending billion in Africa to snap up fertile plots. With one-fifth of the world's population to feed, but less than 10% of the world's arable land, China has no choice. Oil-rich Gulf States have also gone on a land-buying spree.

Yet despite those efforts, many countries — including China — will need to increasingly rely on imported agricultural products.

Data regarding global trade of soybeans, wheat and other crops are hard to obtain, but it's become increasingly clear that Brazil has emerged as the farmer to the world. Right behind Brazil: The United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the current fiscal year (which ends in September) is off to a very strong start, and many believe that we're on track for a record year of agricultural exports.

 Source: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

As exports rise, the entire farm economy is becoming stronger. "Very healthy farm income is rippling across the Rural Main street economy," noted economists in a recent Creighton University report, adding that "businesses heavily dependent on the farm economy continue to experience very strong economic conditions."

Farm prices have already risen in the last few years and are surely out of deep bargain territory. But the conditions are ripe for continued moderate gains. And it's important to note that some economists speculate farm prices will simply be flat in 2011, as recent gains are consolidated. So you should have a long-term view when investing in this sector.

Now for how to profit…

Action to Take –> The simplest way to play this asset is to go out and buy up farm land, which can often be had for ,000 to ,000 per acre. [I found this web site to be especially useful.]

But to make the most of the investment, you would need to farm the land or rent it out to others. For some, it's easier to find investments that manage the whole process for you.

For example, a company called Agrinuity is an investment firm that sells shares in farm land investments, primarily in the Midwestern United States.  Investors seeking to get in on the agricultural boom taking place in Latin America should check out Argentina-based Cresud (Nasdaq: CRESY), which operates 25 massive farms across Argentina and Brazil. But don't expect robust near-term appreciation: According to analysts at Raymond James, shares already reflect a valuation on its farmland than would be valued in the United States on a comparable basis.

If you simply want to play the agriculture boom and would rather not speculate on the value of farm land, the Van Eck Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO) owns a number of ag-related firms around the world. The fund is heavily exposed to farm commodity prices and as a result, fell sharply in 2008 before a recent strong rebound.

Exposure to the farm belt won't yield any quick home runs. But a whole host of factors should help this asset class hold its own for many years to come.
 

– David Sterman

This article originally appeared on StreetAuthority
Author: David Sterman
This Little-Known Asset Has Posted Double-Digit Gains for the Past 60 Years

StreetAuthority Articles

GBP/USD: The pair posted heavy losses

EUR/USD Despite initial weakness, the pair finished the session near the unchanged mark, which also coincided with the 100DMA level at 1.3377. Much of the earlier underperformance was attributed to various reports that indicated that numbers of the EU states, as well as various EU banks are due to refinance large amounts of debt obligations which may undermine investor appetite for government debt, especially in the troubled periphery. Still, the Chinese VP said that China will continue to buy

FXstreet.com: Technical: Technical Market View

There were 15 deliveries posted against the Dec live cattle contract.

Trading Forum and Blogs

Creating An Investment Plan By Way Of Binary Options That Works Posted By: Wesley Alvarado

Binary options trading is a win-lose situation that is paying off big for many investors. For those who can win, the fixed payoff is about 75% of the profit plus the return on the initial investment. For those who lose they still receive about 15% of return on their capital. This new field helps small investors turn a few dollars into big money in very short order.At any time, success in trading is the name-of-the-game. For those interested in hedging opportunities you should note that there are some limitations. Few securities are traded in this market and the few that do participate are very well-known such as the Nasdaq Index, Microsoft, US dollar/Yen fx rate, and Google. All of these are highly liquid markets. This may put some restrictions on those would really like to maximize opportunities in the market.One of the greatest advantages of binary options trading is the fact that the turnover rate on investment is extremely fast. Based on an hourly payoff rate, this means that the return on venture happens within the same day.binary options trading binary options forex options trading forex options currency trading foreign currency trading day trading futures brokers option

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Tricks Of The Trade – A Few Forex Trading Tips For Beginners And Seasoned Traders Alike Posted By: Michael P Southall.

Forex trading tips act as a guiding light for beginners as well as seasoned traders. It is a fact that everybody cannot remember everything at all times, and beginners will also find it difficult to understand everything suddenly. So these forex trading tips will help you a lot in surviving in the market. However, forex market is not a dreadful place, it just does not have a place for fools!Forex, as you know, is short for foreign exchange market. It is the place where transactions in international currencies take place. There is no third party interference in this trade; the transactions are done directly between the buyer and seller. And therefore, it is referred to as, ‘over-the-counter” system. The market is decentralized, which means that it can be operated from anywhere in the world. And those of you who are keen on making a profit, here can make use of these forex trading tips.3 It is very important to have a sound knowledge of the market. You should acquaint yourself with the trading terms, the pattern changes, trends and so forth. Otherwise, you will not be successful in making a profit.forex finance currency trading investing day trading

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Will China Buy More Us Treasuries Now That Chinese Yuan Is Showing Signs Of Progress? Posted By: Cedric Welsch

The Chinese Yuan finally seems to be showing signs of rising. Actually, left to free market forces, the Yuan would have appreciated much earlier and by a greater amount. However, the Chinese government has traditionally kept the Yuan undervalued in order to keep Chinese goods cheaper as compared with goods produced in other nations so as to promote its exports. China has prospered using this artificial subsidy for its exports and in the bargain raised a huge corpus of dollars in the form of a huge trade surplus. China has used this massive surplus to buy US treasuries.

Traditional economics suggests that a trade surplus implies that the nation is exporting more than it is importing and the demand for the domestic currency should be higher than the demand for foreign currencies. A higher demand for the domestic currency vis- AND #224;-vis the foreign currency implies that the domestic currency should appreciate. However, in order to provide an artificial kick to its industry, China had not allowed its currency to rise.

This abnormality seems to have been acceptable to the US till the going was good.US Treasuries Chinese Yuan Chinese government Chinese goods Traditional economics trade surplus domestic currency

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Profitable Forex Trading – How To Trade Price Reversals Using Divergence Patterns Posted By: James Woolley

A very popular way to trade the forex markets is to look for possible price reversals when the current trend appears to be ending. This is not always that easy to do, but one of the best ways to find possible reversals is to look for divergence patterns.

These divergence patterns present themselves when you employ certain technical indicators, and they are simply where the price of the currency pair makes a new high (or low) but the indicator you are using fails to make a new high (or low). So what do these divergence patterns actually tell you?

Well in simple terms they are basically saying that because the indicator in question is failing to make new highs or lows in accordance with the actual price, the momentum of this trend is starting to run out of steam. Therefore as a result of this, the price is likely to reverse in the opposite direction in the near future.

To look for these useful patterns you can employ any number of different technical indicators, but the most effective ones to use for this purpose are the MACD, CCI, RSI and stochastics indicators.forex forex trading currency trading divergence divergence patterns divergence trading reversals

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Auto Trade Forex – A Profitable Business Posted By: Francis Taylor.

One of the easiest ways so that you can generate some cash is through an auto trade Forex. And indeed, there are already a lot of people who have succeed through it and it is really a good idea if you will try it out too. The only thing that you will have to worry about is that this is a very unpredictable business.If you want to make money through an auto trade Forex, it is very important that you are really knowledgeable about the foreign exchange. This is very essential because it can be very risky if you are going to deal with a business that you really know nothing about. This is the main reason why you really need to know how the different transactions work. As much as possible, you should know the tricks of the trade if you want to succeed here.There is also a need for you to have some experience as to how these kinds of transactions work. This is very important if you want to succeed in an auto trade Forex.FAP Turbo forex trading robots expert advisor forex trading currency trading finance

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