This commodities frenzy, and the related dash by nations to snatch up and secure all sorts of resources, has been a long time coming. It certainly didn’t happen overnight. I can safely say that for the vast majority of my career, commodities have been the poor red-headed stepchildren of the investment world. Two decades ago, when I walked onto the trading floor of the New York Cotton Exchange at the old World Trade Center, the climate was very different from today’s.
July 17th, 2008 | Kevin Kerr | 2 comments | ContinuedArchive for Kevin Kerr
Kevin Kerr's unparalleled expertise in futures and commodities has made him a regular contributor to news outlets like CNN fn, CNBC and CBS Marketwatch, where he's been quoted in over 500 articles. Now, as a contributing editor to Outstanding Investments, he uses his extensive knowledge and connections to uncover blockbuster natural resource investments.
Peak Oil, Peak Food and Peak Everything Else
In the past year, we have seen the oil and agriculture markets explode. And this could be just the beginning of the rally, not the end, as some would have you believe. Personally, I think we are about halfway to the new top for many commodities. That means $200 oil (easily) and gold at $1,500-2,000. The agriculture markets have even further to go, in my opinion.
June 4th, 2008 | Kevin Kerr | 6 comments | Continued
Food and Fuel
I really enjoy history. I can’t say I am a scholar of history – I’m more like a History Channel buff. It’s interesting that when we look at the history of food prices in America, we see that in 1901, people spent 43% – almost half – of their income on food, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you know what that figure was in 2003? We will answer that in a minute…
March 21st, 2008 | Kevin Kerr | 2 comments | Continued
Cotton Futures Expected to Rise in 2008
It’s the start of a new year, and traders begin to try to figure out what trades will be the big winners in the coming 12 months. Now, it’s not exactly breaking news that agriculture markets have basically been on fire for the last couple of years. Corn has skyrocketed on the back of huge [...]
January 9th, 2008 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
Grain Prices to Rise Further due to Population Growth, Weather
There have been few markets in my almost 20 years of trading that have been as exciting as the grain markets have been over the past two years. In my opinion, the best is yet to come. In the commodities world, energy, metals and stock indexes have been the most active futures contracts – and [...]
September 21st, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
Buying Options: An Introductory Guide
Early in my career there was one area of trading that I avoided like the plague – buying options, or options on futures, to be precise. I thought they were too complicated, too expensive, too risky. It took me a long time to learn that all my fears were misguided. In fact, options have ended [...]
April 27th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 2 comments | Continued
Cattle Market Climbs as Demand for U.S. Beef Increases
A year ago in the cattle market, the average choice grading steer fetched around USD$85.50 per cwt to the meat packer. (The abbreviation “cwt” stands for hundredweight. Hundredweight simply means “per 100 pounds specified weight.” It is always qualified as the type of weight used for cattle.) Two weeks ago, the average was USD$94.44 cwt, [...]
April 20th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 2 comments | Continued
Commodity Prices Always On The Move
Like stocks, commodity prices don’t always go down or up. But the one thing you can practically guarantee about the commodities market is that somewhere prices are on the move. And predicting these prices is where fundamentals and technicals come in. Technicals versus fundamentals, which is better? This is an ongoing argument among traders, but [...]
April 13th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
The Psychology of Commodity Trading
If you’re going to trade commodities profitably, it’s vital that you understand the inner workings and psychology of commodity trading and the market participants, as well as what actually goes on in the pits. By having an understanding of what goes on in the pits and with the floor brokers, as well as with your own [...]
March 24th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
Commodities: Advice on the World’s Most Misunderstood Market
Sometimes when I turn the TV on and listen to the commentators talk about commodities I cringe. For years the media treated commodities as a secondary asset class, or worse, a form of legalised gambling – to some extent they still do. Their understanding of how the markets actually function is rudimentary at best. Now [...]
March 23rd, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 1 comment | Continued
Solar Power: The Most Profitable Solution to the Oil Crisis
Opportunities abound for investors in the energy market right now, just looking at what’s being set in motion globally. The end of the age of oil will not be a disaster if we are prepared for it as investors and consumers. Acceptance is the first step. Aside from water, the world is most thirsty for [...]
March 14th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 1 comment | Continued
Trading Commodities: It’s All About the Passion for the Product
The commodities markets are always in flux, and it’s important to keep up with new markets and new opportunities. Never judge a book by its cover. I remember in the stupidity of my youth being offered a natural gas seat to trade on the commodities exchange for free. For free! I turned it down. You [...]
March 9th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
The Safest Way to Invest in Gold and Silver on the Commodities Market
Over the last decade the commodity markets have changed to the point that to some they may be unrecognizable. Since 1848, the open outcry and hand signal method of trading on commodity exchange floors was the only way to go. Enter electronic trading in the early 1990s, and soon the old auction method looked as [...]
March 9th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 0 comments | Continued
Commodities Trading: The Last Bastion of Pure Capitalism on Earth
Commodity markets in various forms have been around forever, or at least since the time of ancient Greece and Rome. They even survived the Dark Ages, and reemerged at local fairs in medieval times, arranged by trade associations formed by merchants, craftsmen, and promoters. Over the next few centuries, these markets evolved into exchanges, or [...]
February 9th, 2007 | Kevin Kerr | 2 comments | Continued
