Investing Guide at Deep Blue Group Publications LLC - Fledgling Chinese iron ore futures traded by speculators and small-time industry players are giving accurate predictions of moves in the iron ore spot price, which has become increasingly important to the health of Australia's biggest miners and national export revenue. [See http://deepbluegroup.org/]
Analysis by the The Australian shows price moves in the five-month-old Dalian Commodities Exchange iron ore futures price have become highly correlated to the overnight moves in the spot price, which Platts puts out well after market using private information [See http://deepbluegroup.org/blog/] from hundreds of physical iron ore traders.
The relationship was starkly illustrated when, overnight on March 10, the iron ore price had its biggest fall in years.
That day, before the price fall was announced, Dalian futures traders -- obviously plugged into physical price moves yet to be revealed to the market -- sold off hard.
The Dalian move contributed to a $16 billion rout on the Australian Stock Exchange, despite the official extent of the iron ore spot price move not being known.
Read full article: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/iron-ore-futures-an-accurate-guide/story-e6frg90f-1226869331145
Investing Guide at Deep Blue Group Publications LLC - After posting scorching returns in 2013, stocks' flat performance in this year's first quarter seems anticlimactic. Many investors were no doubt expecting the good times to keep on rolling, while valuation-conscious types might have expected an even bigger performance drop-off.
With the first quarter receding in the rearview mirror, we decided to get Morningstar readers' takes on the action. What has been the biggest surprise thus far in 2014, and (cue the crystal balls) what do they expect will happen during the rest of the year?
Some investors said the first-quarter uptick in stock market volatility was indeed jarring. Others said they were surprised to see decent performance from their bond holdings so far in 2014, given the widespread pessimism that has hung over the fixed-income market for several years running.
Looking forward, many posters said they don't have high hopes for stocks for the rest of the year; a frequent refrain was that a still-sluggish U.S. economy will make it difficult to justify higher stock prices when they're already on the lofty side.
Read full here
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