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Caffeine addicts face higher prices for their daily fix as the wholesale cost of both coffee and sugar rise sharply because of poor crops and robust demand.

Central banks succumb again to bullion’s lure By Javier Blas in London and Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai. Published: May 6 2009 23:31 | Last updated: May 6 2009 23:31 Ten years ago on Wednesday the UK Treasury sent gold prices tumbling when it announced it would sell a chunk of its gold reserves. In a matter of weeks prices plunged to a 22-year low of $250 a troy ounce and, over the course of that year, central banks from Australia and Switzerland to the Netherlands announced plans to sell a large slice of their bullion. “There was a feeling that...

Gold demand has risen to 3,659 tons: WGC Commodity Online LONDON: The global economic meltdown has propelled a surge in demand for gold jewellery, bars and coins that the demand for the yellow metal has risen to touch 3,659 tons, says a new report from the World Gold Council (WGC). The Gold Demand Trends, compiled for WGC by GFMS Limited said that investment demand for gold, including gold exchange traded funds (ETFs), bars and coins, was 64% higher in 2008 than in 2007. ”This is equivalent to an additional inflow of $US15 billion. Demand for gold bars and gold coins...

Oil demand to fall at fastest rate since 1982 By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor Published: February 11 2009 09:47 | Last updated: February 11 2009 09:47 Demand for oil will fall this year at the fastest rate since 1982, the International Energy Agency has forecast. The rich countries’ energy think-tank has again cut sharply its prediction for world oil demand this year, and now expects it to average 84.7m barrels per day, down 1m b/d from last year, because of the steep downturn in the world economy. This year is expected to mark two successive years of falling demand for...

GAZA CITY — Hamas has demanded a guarantee from Israel that it would not attack the Islamic regime in the Gaza Strip. ShareThis Hamas sources said a five-member delegation that completed negotiations in Cairo has insisted that any Israeli ceasefire include a guarantee backed by the international community that Israel would not topple the Islamic regime. The sources said this has been the main obstacle to a ceasefire agreement, Middle East Newsline reported. "They [Egypt] have a duty to provide guarantees that bind the Zionist entity, and the Egyptians have to give us answers to our inquiries," Hamas spokesman Fawzi...

How will China deal with the US adjustment? January 9, 2009 by FT By Michael Pettis The post-1997 global balance is breaking down, and the world is lurching drunkenly to find a stable new balance. Until now, Chinese overproduction has balanced US overconsumption, leading to China’s massive trade surplus and capital account deficit. Inevitably, however, a reduction in US overconsumption, a necessary consequence of the financial crisis, must force a corresponding reduction in overproduction elsewhere, and China, like it or not, will have to bear the brunt of the adjustment. The US and Europe must design their fiscal and monetary...

ABC has Gotcha Gibson. NBC has Williams. CBS has Couric. Fox has............ Nothing. There is no national broadcast coming from Fox news. This needs to change.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil dropped more than 3 percent on Thursday, touching the lowest level since May 2005 as record U.S. job losses intensified concerns of a long and deep global recession and further crushed demand expectations. The U.S. government reported the number of workers making new claims for jobless benefits last week surged to the highest in 16 years, helping to push down global equity markets. U.S. crude fell $1.81 to $51.81 a barrel by 1251 p.m. EST after earlier touching $49.75, marking the lowest level since May 25, 2005, when prices hit $49.58. London Brent crude shed...

NEW YORK – Oil prices fell below $79 a barrel in choppy trading Tuesday as investors took profits from the previous day's rally and shifted their focus back to signs of dwindling world energy demand. A falling U.S. stock market, a day after a record-breaking advance, also weighed on crude prices as oil market traders continued to fixate on equities as a barometer for the overall confidence in the shaky world economy. At the pump, retail gas price kept dropping. A gallon of regular dropped 4.3 cents overnight to a new national average of $3.163, according to auto club AAA,...

CBOT Rice Review: Slips As Lack Of Demand Weighs 3 hours ago CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Chicago Board of Trade rice futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as a lack of demand continues to weigh on the market, an analyst said. November rice ended down 40 cents to $17.30 per hundredweight and January rice ended down 41 1/2 cents to $17.62. Prices have fallen sharply since hitting a high of $20.44 last month, when the market had rallied on concerns about the crop following hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Although the crop remains troubled, with lower yields expected, firstgrain.com analyst Ed Taylor said the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil dropped more than 6 percent to below $88 a barrel on Monday as a global market rout churned concerns that faltering fuel demand could slow further. U.S. stocks tumbled 6 percent to the lowest level in nearly five years as part of an international sell-off on fears the global economy was heading into recession. U.S. crude settled down $6.07 at $87.81 a barrel after hitting an eight-month low of $87.56. London Brent crude fell $6.57 to settle at $83.68 a barrel. Crude prices have plummeted from a peak over $147 a barrel set on July...

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices fell below 105 dollars Friday on concerns over slowing energy demand and a strong US currency, while the market awaited next week's OPEC meeting on crude output levels, traders said. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October dropped 97 cents to 105.33 dollars a barrel in electronic deals after slipping under 105 dollars earlier in the day. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October, fell 96 cents to 106.93 dollars a barrel in pit trading. "Crude prices featured on the downside on persistent concerns over weakening oil demand and as the US...

$65 oil is coming (maybe) A top analyst expects crude prices to start plummeting. If you don't believe it, you're not the only one, and a few stocks look good if you're in the skeptics' camp. By Jon Markman If you're frustrated over the high cost of gasoline at the pump, don't trade in your Hummer for a Vespa just yet: A leading energy analyst is telling clients these days to prepare for crude oil to retreat back below $65 per barrel over the next three years. How could it happen? He says conservation, new drilling, efficient new vehicles, alternative...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commodity markets slumped broadly Wednesday, dragged by crude oil prices that dropped below $125 a barrel after the government reported a big rise in gasoline stocks, suggesting high pump prices were hitting U.S. fuel usage. Gold prices sank almost 3 percent while industrial metals such as aluminum and copper tumbled to five-week lows. Soybeans and wheat fell, giving back most of Tuesday's rebound. Corn slumped too as investors fretted about demand for biofuel products that had until June enjoyed a boom competing with the rally in oil. The broad sell-off pushed the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index ,...

World oil production fell by 0.2 percent in 2007, the first decline since 2002, while consumption rose by 1.1 percent, BP (British Petroleum) said on Wednesday, highlighting a tight supply/demand balance that has helped push oil prices to record levels. Production fell by 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year to 81.53 million bpd and reserves were essentially flat at 1.24 trillion barrels, London-based BP said in its 2008 Statistical Review of World Energy. The figures compiled by BP underline the world's challenge of boosting production to meet growing demand, particularly from developing economies such as China and India.

North Korea is refusing to proceed further with its nuclear disarmament unless other countries at arms talks guarantee promised energy aid, a South Korean official said Thursday. Seeking to break the latest stalemate at the nuclear negotiations, the five other countries in the arms talks - the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea - met with the North on Wednesday in the truce village of Panmunjom in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Koreas. "The North has taken the position that if that (energy aid) is not fully guaranteed, it cannot cooperate in making further steps" at...

China's Oil Needs Keep Rising For Trucks, Industry, Stockpiles Reinhardt Krause 1 hour, 37 minutes ago Beijing's Summer Olympics, Sichuan's 7.2-magnitude earthquake in May and a buildup in strategic petroleum reserves put China's always difficult-to-discern oil demand even more in the dark. China has become the world's second-largest oil consumer after the U.S. as its people drive more cars and its factories produce steel and other energy-intensive goods. Despite China's growing role in global consumption, its actual demand for oil remains a mystery. In May, the U.S. urged China to join the International Energy Agency to help calm oil markets....

Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average. They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil. The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported. It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m. In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults are...

Many investors have become contrarians and are now apparently experts in being able to spot bubbles. Hence, they all are fully aware that a bubble exists in agricultural commodities at this juncture. Really, you can listen to just about any financial source and hear some commentator warning about the epic bubble that is evident in agricultural commodity prices. However, some of these same folks were completely blindsided by the collapse of the tech bubble in 2000. And they also were shocked that real estate prices could ever decline in value. Of course, this new class of maverick investor is also...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's High Court rejected an opposition demand Monday for the immediate release of long-delayed election results, prolonging a political crisis that has paralyzed this southern African nation for more than two weeks. An opposition spokesman said the party would stage a nationwide "stay-away" from work on Tuesday. The main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, says he won the March 29 election outright, and has accused President Robert Mugabe of holding back the results so he can orchestrate a runoff and ensure his 28-year grip on power. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change had hoped that the court — though...