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The prices of key soft commodities – including tea, cocoa and sugar – have jumped to multi-decade highs, boosted by supply shortages and robust demand.
The rises are set to translate into higher retail prices early next year, according to analysts. Coffee and orange juice prices have also risen to their highest level in more than a year.
...Cocoa prices surged in New York last week to a near 31-year high, up 28.5 per cent from January. Sugar hit a 28½-year high, up 165 per cent this year.
...Coffee prices are up 30 per cent this year, with high quality arabica trading at levels seen only briefly in the past 11 years.
...Bad weather has driven orange juice almost 90 per cent higher this year.
The rises are set to translate into higher retail prices early next year, according to analysts. Coffee and orange juice prices have also risen to their highest level in more than a year.
...Cocoa prices surged in New York last week to a near 31-year high, up 28.5 per cent from January. Sugar hit a 28½-year high, up 165 per cent this year.
...Coffee prices are up 30 per cent this year, with high quality arabica trading at levels seen only briefly in the past 11 years.
...Bad weather has driven orange juice almost 90 per cent higher this year.
- Financial Times
The dollar may appreciate another 5 to 10 percent against the euro in the "near term" as bearish betting on the greenback becomes too crowded, according to Marc Faber, publisher of the "Gloom Boom & Doom" newsletter.
U.S. stocks and the dollar may keep rallying together, reversing a relationship that existed from March to November, Faber said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
"Sentiment on the U.S. dollar was really extremely negative over the last three months," Hong Kong-based Faber said. "The other currencies are not much better. The dollar will appreciate against the euro by another 5 to 10 percent, and later on we’ll have to see, but that would be a near-term target."
The dollar has gained 4.2 percent to $1.4396 per euro this month, and was poised to end a five-month losing streak, on signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum.
U.S. stocks and the dollar may keep rallying together, reversing a relationship that existed from March to November, Faber said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
"Sentiment on the U.S. dollar was really extremely negative over the last three months," Hong Kong-based Faber said. "The other currencies are not much better. The dollar will appreciate against the euro by another 5 to 10 percent, and later on we’ll have to see, but that would be a near-term target."
The dollar has gained 4.2 percent to $1.4396 per euro this month, and was poised to end a five-month losing streak, on signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum.
- Bloomberg
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One Industry Income Investors Can Count On
By Tom Dyson Monday, December 28, 2009 One Industry Income Investors Can Count On -
The Simplest Reason Gold Will Soar
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud Saturday, December 26, 2009 The Simplest Reason Gold Will Soar -
The Greatest Currency Trade of the Millennium
By Chris Weber Thursday, December 24, 2009 The Greatest Currency Trade of the Millennium -
The Federal Reserve Is Openly Telling You to Buy Gold and Silver
By Porter Stansberry Wednesday, December 23, 2009 The Federal Reserve Is Openly Telling You to Buy Gold and Silver -
How and Why China Will Flood the Gold Market
By Jeff Clark Tuesday, December 22, 2009 How and Why China Will Flood the Gold Market
I Just Got My No-Risk, 18% Interest Check
By Dr. Steve SjuggerudTuesday, December 29, 2009
I got a nice Christmas surprise... a check in the mail for about $2,250.
It is the easiest 18% interest I've ever earned. And – as I will explain – I feel like I had no risk in the deal... at all.
You can easily do the same thing I did. Here's the story...
Here in Florida, if you don't pay your property tax, you're hit with late fees. As you might expect, the later you are in paying your taxes, the more the late fees rack up.
Of course, it's foolish not to pay your property taxes... because ultimately your property can be sold out from under you, literally on the county courthouse steps, just to recoup the back taxes due to the government.
In plain English, YES, you can lose your $100,000 property – over a couple thousand dollars of late property taxes. Ouch!
I took advantage of this situation. I invested in a no-risk way... My possible outcomes were to either get:
In short, the county can't wait for you to pay your property taxes if you're late. It needs your property tax money RIGHT NOW. And it's going to get that money from someone else, if not from you.
As soon as you're late on your property taxes, the county sells a "tax certificate." That's what I bought. Basically, the county strikes a deal with the buyer of the tax certificate (in this case, me). It goes like this:
"If you pay Mr. Jones' property taxes today through buying this tax certificate, then we (the county) will pay you back all your money PLUS all Mr. Jones' late fees, once Mr. Jones pays his taxes."
Well, Mr. Jones just paid his taxes. And I just got a nice Christmas check.
The key to turning tax certificates into a "no risk" 18% is knowing the property... This is actually pretty easy, too.
I know the property I just got paid on pretty well... as well as you need to. Let me tell you about it.
The property is about two miles from both my home and my office. It's about a mile from the beach. It is an empty lot (0.38 acres) in a neighborhood. The owners paid six figures for it.
It was simple. No issues... a six-figure empty lot not far from the beach that the owners didn't pay taxes on.
Now they're caught up on their taxes. And I received 18% interest for my troubles... which were hardly more than driving by the lot, looking at it on the property appraiser's website, and then clicking to buy the tax certificate just like I was buying a book on Amazon.
Seriously, what's my risk in this deal? The main risk is if the property is not worth what you pay for the back taxes. But this is a problem that's easy to avoid as long as you know the property you're buying. A $2,000 certificate on a six-figure empty lot is perfect.
I'm telling you this story so you start saving to buy tax certificates when "the season" kicks in again.
This time of year is not the time to buy tax certificates. The time to buy them is in the summer... when counties start to sell them again.
Taxes are usually officially late by April 1. And the tax sales usually start in late May. I bought in July, when I could get a guaranteed 18% interest.
You can actually do much better than Florida, by the way... Iowa, for example, has a guaranteed 24% interest. And don't even get me started on Texas... the penalty STARTS at 25%.
But my experience is in Florida. I live here. All the properties I have 18% tax certificates on are empty lots within a couple miles of my home – most of which are just a few hundred feet from either the ocean or the intercoastal waterway. I am confident I'll either end up with 18% interest or the property – and I am quite happy to get either.
It sure is nice to get random checks from the government for a few thousand dollars at a time...
Start learning now about tax certificates and tax deeds (skip the Internet and instead buy the first few books you can find on Amazon related to this topic). And when the "season" kicks in again, get yourself in line for your own no-risk 18% interest checks.
Good investing,
Steve
It is the easiest 18% interest I've ever earned. And – as I will explain – I feel like I had no risk in the deal... at all.
You can easily do the same thing I did. Here's the story...
Here in Florida, if you don't pay your property tax, you're hit with late fees. As you might expect, the later you are in paying your taxes, the more the late fees rack up.
Of course, it's foolish not to pay your property taxes... because ultimately your property can be sold out from under you, literally on the county courthouse steps, just to recoup the back taxes due to the government.
In plain English, YES, you can lose your $100,000 property – over a couple thousand dollars of late property taxes. Ouch!
I took advantage of this situation. I invested in a no-risk way... My possible outcomes were to either get:
1) 18% interest over up to two years, or (in a much less likely case)Now how does that work?
2) the property.
In short, the county can't wait for you to pay your property taxes if you're late. It needs your property tax money RIGHT NOW. And it's going to get that money from someone else, if not from you.
As soon as you're late on your property taxes, the county sells a "tax certificate." That's what I bought. Basically, the county strikes a deal with the buyer of the tax certificate (in this case, me). It goes like this:
"If you pay Mr. Jones' property taxes today through buying this tax certificate, then we (the county) will pay you back all your money PLUS all Mr. Jones' late fees, once Mr. Jones pays his taxes."
Well, Mr. Jones just paid his taxes. And I just got a nice Christmas check.
The key to turning tax certificates into a "no risk" 18% is knowing the property... This is actually pretty easy, too.
I know the property I just got paid on pretty well... as well as you need to. Let me tell you about it.
The property is about two miles from both my home and my office. It's about a mile from the beach. It is an empty lot (0.38 acres) in a neighborhood. The owners paid six figures for it.
It was simple. No issues... a six-figure empty lot not far from the beach that the owners didn't pay taxes on.
Now they're caught up on their taxes. And I received 18% interest for my troubles... which were hardly more than driving by the lot, looking at it on the property appraiser's website, and then clicking to buy the tax certificate just like I was buying a book on Amazon.
Seriously, what's my risk in this deal? The main risk is if the property is not worth what you pay for the back taxes. But this is a problem that's easy to avoid as long as you know the property you're buying. A $2,000 certificate on a six-figure empty lot is perfect.
I'm telling you this story so you start saving to buy tax certificates when "the season" kicks in again.
This time of year is not the time to buy tax certificates. The time to buy them is in the summer... when counties start to sell them again.
Taxes are usually officially late by April 1. And the tax sales usually start in late May. I bought in July, when I could get a guaranteed 18% interest.
You can actually do much better than Florida, by the way... Iowa, for example, has a guaranteed 24% interest. And don't even get me started on Texas... the penalty STARTS at 25%.
But my experience is in Florida. I live here. All the properties I have 18% tax certificates on are empty lots within a couple miles of my home – most of which are just a few hundred feet from either the ocean or the intercoastal waterway. I am confident I'll either end up with 18% interest or the property – and I am quite happy to get either.
It sure is nice to get random checks from the government for a few thousand dollars at a time...
Start learning now about tax certificates and tax deeds (skip the Internet and instead buy the first few books you can find on Amazon related to this topic). And when the "season" kicks in again, get yourself in line for your own no-risk 18% interest checks.
Good investing,
Steve
THIS IS HOW TROPHY INVESTING WORKS WONDERS
As we near New Year's Eve, it's time to look at how one of the secrets of rich investors played out in the stock market in 2009.
You see, seasoned investors monitor a handful of the world's best trophy assets. These elite assets include Miami condos, Canada's huge heavy oil deposit, Hong Kong skyscrapers, and Freeport-McMoRan's monster Grasberg copper mine. The best investors look to buy these trophies during a crisis... when prices reach "fire sale" 50%-75% discounts. After all, trophies are the best... so they tend to rebound in price.
One of these trophies is the tiny Asian city-state of Singapore. Singapore sits in the center of the booming East Asia/Australia region. It's currently No. 4 in MasterCard's world financial center rankings. It's home to the world's largest water port. Most importantly, it's considered the world's easiest place to set up and conduct business. All of this creates a powerful tailwind for Singapore investments...
Like all assets, Singapore stocks were crushed early this year. But as you can see from today's chart, the big Singapore fund is soaring right now... and sits at a new 52-week high. It pays to buy trophies.
You see, seasoned investors monitor a handful of the world's best trophy assets. These elite assets include Miami condos, Canada's huge heavy oil deposit, Hong Kong skyscrapers, and Freeport-McMoRan's monster Grasberg copper mine. The best investors look to buy these trophies during a crisis... when prices reach "fire sale" 50%-75% discounts. After all, trophies are the best... so they tend to rebound in price.
One of these trophies is the tiny Asian city-state of Singapore. Singapore sits in the center of the booming East Asia/Australia region. It's currently No. 4 in MasterCard's world financial center rankings. It's home to the world's largest water port. Most importantly, it's considered the world's easiest place to set up and conduct business. All of this creates a powerful tailwind for Singapore investments...
Like all assets, Singapore stocks were crushed early this year. But as you can see from today's chart, the big Singapore fund is soaring right now... and sits at a new 52-week high. It pays to buy trophies.