Financial economics Archives - Page 8 of 21

Agrium doubling dividend under shareholder pressure

November 9, 2012

Reuters / Fertilizer maker and ag retailer Agrium said Oct. 22 it plans to double its annual dividend, marking its third increase to the payout in less than a year. The move, announced as the Calgary company completed a $900-million share buyback, comes amid pressure from its largest shareholder, Jana Partners LLC, which wants Agrium

Crops, News, Weather

Crop-insurance tab for U.S. drought could top $15 billion

By Charles Abbott October 26, 2012

Reuters / U.S. taxpayers could pay a record $15 billion to subsidize the privately run crop insurance program in the wake of this year’s devastating drought. The program’s runaway costs are in focus as Congress looks for ways to cut government spending, making crop insurance a bigger target for reforms. Precise estimates won’t be available

News

CME Group buys Kansas City exchange, heading off rival ICE

By Ann Saphir, Carey Gillam October 26, 2012

Reuters / CME Group is buying the Kansas City Board of Trade for $126 million in cash, cementing CME’s dominance in world grain futures markets and keeping rival IntercontinentalExchange from gaining an important foothold. It is CME’s first exchange purchase in five years since it wrapped up a buying spree that put the Chicago Mercantile

News

Hedge fund continues to push for Agrium breakup

October 26, 2012

Reuters / Hedge fund Jana Partners LLC, the largest shareholder in Agrium Inc., is calling for the company to be more open to discussing ways to boost shareholder value. Jana, which has been pushing for a split of the Canadian fertilizer company’s wholesale and retail division, says Agrium’s responses to the issues it has raised

International news, News

Feast and famine for Africa farm investment

By Helen Nyambura-mwaura October 17, 2012

African agriculture has a big investment problem: lots of private equity interest but few opportunities because most farms and companies are too small to absorb the cash or provide attractive returns. With only a third of its 630 million hectares of arable land under cultivation and large quantities of water flowing untapped, Africa is the

Cereals, Crops, Grain Markets, Oilseeds

Funds trample market fundamentals in fleeing canola

By Phil Franz-Warkentin October 10, 2012

The ICE Futures Canada canola market continued to fall apart during the week ended Sept. 28, as speculative long liquidation took precedence over any fundamental support that might still be there. The most active November contract fell below the psychological $600 per tonne level during the week, and settled below that key chart point for

Grain Markets, News

U.S. judge delays efforts to rein in speculators

By Alexandra Alper October 10, 2012

AU.S. judge has knocked back tough new rules to clamp down on excessive speculation in commodity markets, handing an 11th-hour victory to Wall Street’s biggest banks and angering lawmakers concerned about high prices for gasoline and other raw materials. Just two weeks before the “position limits” rule was to take effect, U.S. District Court Judge

Crops, Grain Markets

Classic topping action in soybean meal

By David Drozd October 10, 2012

Each day’s prices and the pattern configurations are a direct result of human decisions to buy and sell

Technical analysis is the study of market movement. Its strength and popularity comes from the assumption that future price direction can be predicted by studying a market’s past activity. Technical analysis is concerned exclusively with the market and certain statistics the market generates — prices, volume and open interest. In technical analysis, no consideration is

Opinion

Local investment can pay off

By Bruce Stewart August 10, 2012

Canadians may not have to face some of the dangers others in the world are dealing with directly, but there’s still good reason to be nervous. After all, Bernie Madoff drained the accounts of his Canadian holders — including some of our most prominent institutions. If the shenanigans at Jon Corzine’s MF Global or at

News, Opinion

Futures industry shaken as another broker goes bankrupt

By P.J. Huffstutter, Tom Polansek July 21, 2012

Reuters / Russell Wasendorf Sr., arrested last Friday, confessed to a 20-year fraud at Peregrine Financial Group (PFG), his now-bankrupt Iowa brokerage, saying business troubles and his “big” ego left him no choice: “So I cheated.” In the dramatic conclusion to a week-long saga that has shaken trader confidence in the trillion-dollar U.S. futures markets,

Daily Network News

Pulse Weekly: SPG looks back at harvest, ahead to trade

U.S. grains: Soy futures set 15-month high after China agrees to purchases

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures take a pause after recent slides

Tag Archives Financial economics