| London robusta coffee hits 9-year high
London robusta coffee futures hit a nine-and-a-half-year high and cocoa reached a four-year peak on Friday on a wave of enthusiasm among investment funds for all sorts of commodities. Reallocation of investments for the New Year has already seen several basic resource prices, including gold and oil, hit record highs this month and soft commodities such as coffee and cocoa have been tipped as a good bet for the year ahead. "Funds are increasing their holding in both commodities at the moment. It is not an overnight thing, I think it has been building for some time," soft commodities trader Jeff Cooper of Ambrian Commodities said. .
Obama: Boost
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Canadian dollar falls against U.S.
Canadian dollar falls against U.S.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 OTTAWA (AP) - The Canadian dollar suffered one of its worst days on record in relation to the American greenback on Monday, tumbling almost three cents, amid a reversal of several forces that had pushed it to record highs last week.
With commodities, particularly oil and gold, losing their luster and the U.S. dollar suddenly flexing some muscle, the loonie's orderly retreat from last week's brief flirtation with US $1.10 turned into a rout in international markets on Monday.
Canada's banks were closed Monday for the Remembrance Day holiday, so there was no official trading of the dollar in Toronto. At late afternoon on international markets, the loonie was at 103.09 cents US, down from Friday's close of 106.7 cents.
The Investment Column: Barclays investors should keep faith after ABN ...
In normal times, Barclays' shares would have bounced in the last few weeks after it lost out to Royal Bank of Scotland in the battle to buy ABN Amro. Instead, the bank's stock has fallen 12 per cent since 5 October, the day before it conceded defeat. Barclays is not the only bank whose shares have suffered in the credit crunch. But Barclays is of particular concern because the success of its Barclays Capital investment bank has been closely identified with the booming credit markets that seized up in August. The investment bank Credit Suisse restarted coverage of the stock yesterday with an 8 per cent downgrade to 2007 earnings, based on higher funding costs and expected reductions in trading and investment income. Bob Diamond, who runs BarCap, has done the rounds to remind investors that his business does commodities and foreign exchange as well as leveraged finance and structured credit.
Japan's Fukuda in a fight for his life
Critics refer to the issue as the negative legacy of Koizumi's market-friendly reforms. On the day of his inauguration in late September, Fukuda himself called his team a ''do-or-die'' cabinet. He also said at the time that his cabinet has "its back against the wall". More specifically, "That is to say if [the cabinet] fails, the LDP will be ousted from power," he said.
In the new year, Fukuda is a toshi otoko - literally ''a man of the year' - as those men born in a year with the same Oriental zodiac sign as the current year are commonly referred to in Japan. The 71-year-old Fukuda, the eldest son of former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, was born in July 1936, also the Year of the Rat.
At this time it is impossible to tell whether 2008 will be a lucky year for the prime minister.
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