Indiana Grain Company, LLC

You may have noticed that we at Indiana Grain have been writing about the CME Group a lot lately. But, conversely, you may have also noticed that our friends at CME have been making a lot of headlines.

Two of the world's biggest derivatives exchanges in the US and Europe announced cross-listing a

Ethanol, the commodity that cost Bill Gates more than $44 million the last time prices collapsed, is poised to rally as much as 20 percent as the fastest drop since 2008 spurs demand.

Falling corn prices and record ethanol supplies have driven the price down more than 17 percent in three months t

Google is reportedly close to shutting down its search business in China. According to the Financial Times, executives of the search engine have apparently finalized plans to orchestrate an orderly closure of google.cn.

The report quoted a company insider who said talks between Google and the Chi

Economist and oil analyst Philip Verleger has a dire forecast regarding proposed limits on energy trading: “Great harm to the American economy will result from these unenlightened actions.”

That’s just one of the highlights from the text of a speech Verleger will give today at the Futures I

We at Indiana Grain will be curious to see what Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has to say today.

The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits

The last major private exchange left in the U.S., the Chicago Board Options Exchange, filed for an initial public offering of up to $300 million Thursday.

The CBOE plans to convert from a member-owned organization to a publicly traded corporation known as CBOE Holdings Inc.

The Chicago exchang

JPMorgan Chase is the king of the hedge fund castle, at least in terms of heft, according to a new ranking by Pensions and Investments magazine.

The bank’s two hedge fund units, JPMorgan Asset Management and Highbridge Capital Management, came out on top with a combined $53.5 billion in assets

We at Indiana Grain are fascinated by a story out of New York this week.

Scientists behind an interesting experiment say they have developed cotton threads that can conduct electricity as well as a metal wire, yet remain light and flexible enough to wear.

Researchers led by Cornell University

Swiss bank UBS has launched a series of 69 exchange-traded notes on the London Stock Exchange track the performance of the UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index (CMCI) and its sub-indices.

The notes will reflect underlying price moves in a number of commodities including crude oil, suga

The initial reaction among many traders to today's USDA crop report is that the data is bearish to corn and wheat and friendly to soybeans.

The reduction in corn was on par with estimates, but few expected the sharp reduction in exports (100 million bushels).

Earlier reports suggested that e

The Mexican Stock Exchange, or BMV, and the CME Group have entered into a strategic alliance that includes an order routing agreement for derivatives products.

CME Group has acquired about 1.9 percent of the BMV’s outstanding shares under the terms of the equity portion of the deal for $17 mill

Actress Lindsay Lohan has filed a lawsuit against E*Trade for $100 million, according to Reuters.

In papers filed in Monday in Nassau County, New York, the Mean Girls star claims that one of the online brokerage’s recent TV ads featuring a ditzy, “milkaholic” baby girl named Lindsay is mo

Grain prices fell once again Tuesday, ahead of this morning's USDA update on foreign and domestic grain production.

Apart from crop report suspicions, corn fell for a fifth day on speculation a stronger dollar may weaken demand for commodities.

It should be noted that the USDA doesn't usually

China's exports grew strongly in February in a new sign of a rebound in global demand, government figures showed Wednesday.

Exports were up 45.7 percent in February over a year earlier, the Chinese customs agency reported, beating forecasts by private sector analysts of 35 to 40 percent growth.

Both John Paulson and George Soros are investing in NovaGold, a mining operation focused on discovering gold.

NovaGold announced it would issue stock to Soros. His purchase came after NovaGold made a similar statement that it was considering selling stock in itself to Paulson.

Soros, 80, had c

China's chief currency regulator said the world's most populous nation would attract more capital inflows this year, partly reflecting expectations of a stronger yuan, but he left the market none the wiser as to when Beijing might let the currency resume its rise.

"The U.S. Treasury market is the

Traders are eagerly awaiting Wednesday's supply and demand report and 2009 crop revisions.

The market traded both sides of unchanged throughout the session Monday and is merely "marking time" until Wednesday morning's U.S. Department of Agriculture report, said Arlan Suderman, analyst for Farm Fu

We at Indiana Grain found this gem of information from the Wall Street Journal worth noting this morning.

Our friends at the CME Group are moving ahead with a plan to launch fear gauge volatility contracts in many of the products that have become increasingly popular to trade, including corn and

We at Indiana Grain are learning that Thailand may do its part to contribute to one of the largest sugar harvests on record.

According to multiple published reports, Thailand may harvest a record sugar crop next year after farmers boosted planting, enabling them to benefit from global prices set

Asian stocks rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a six-week high, as better-than-estimated U.S. jobs data and a pledge by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support Greece boosted confidence in the global recovery.

Sony Corp., which gets almost a quarter of its sales in the U.S., climbe

The corn industry is lashing out at an Oscar-nominated documentary that has grossed out grocery shoppers, saying the film is unfair to many of the nation's farmers and shouldn't win.

"Food Inc.," which was nominated for best documentary, has captured audiences with its behind-the-scenes look at t

The CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) is apparently intent on reining in the amount of leverage available to those who trade in the FOREX markets and, according to one story in today's Wall Street Journal, someone in Michigan is none-too-pleased.

An attempt by regulators to protect i

Stocks got a lift today from jobs and... Jobs.

That is, the Labor Department's February nonfarm payrolls report said the economy shed 36,000 jobs last month. Economists had projected losses of 63,000.

Meanwhile, Steve Jobs did his best to lift equities today with the announced release of the i

The new unemployment rate isn't out for a few more hours, but it's already the subject of dispute between the Obama White House and congressional Republicans.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers told CNBC this week that the heavy snowstorms last month may well drive up the unemployment rat

Everybody should accumulate some gold over time, says Marc Faber, editor and publisher of the "Gloom, Boom and Doom Report."

Faber did not think the EU rescue package of Greece will work out, or the other countries such as Spain Portugal may also need bail out and may not work out either. The eco

We at Indiana Grain are anticipating a busy day of international economic data - although no major surprises are expected.

Interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England along with revised gross domestic product data for the eurozone are due today. Both central ban

A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, terrifying residents, disrupting communications and triggering at least one large fire.

Twelve people were injured, the National Fire Agency said.

No tsunami alert was issued. The quake was centered in the same mountainou

CME Group, which operates the CME Globex electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago, said its total volume in February was 238 million contracts. A record 85 percent of these were traded electronically, it said.

CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) said its averag

Emtec Federal said Tuesday it has won a contract worth up to $82.5 million over five years to procure computer equipment for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s International Technology Service organization.

The contract calls for the systems-integration subsidiary of Emtec Inc. to buy equipme

Sugar was a fascinating product to trade and even just observe last year. But we at Indiana Grain have taken note of the shifting momentum of sugar so far in this new year. And it just may be that the knee-jerk reaction by some countries to the past year's explosive sugar prices will start to take t

Commodity prices will perform “very well” into 2011 and later, according to BMO Capital Markets.

“We’ve chosen copper as our No. 1 commodity, followed by iron ore, platinum, silver,” because of a “combination of strong demand, supply constraints,” Bart Melek, a BMO commodity strateg

CME Group, Inc. and Dow Jones & Company, Inc. have signed a definitive agreement in which CME Group will take a 90% ownership interest and Dow Jones will take a 10% ownership interest in a new joint venture that will own the Dow Jones Indexes, which includes The Dow Jones Industrial Average and appr

We at Indiana Grain have learned that hedge funds are quite popular these days in the Hoosier state. It turns out, in fact, that the Indiana Public Employees’ Retirement Fund is pouring $300 million into hedge funds.

The public pension fund’s board has made allocations to three hedge funds, I

If you noticed the price of copper unusually jacked up Sunday evening, you weren't alone.

We at Indiana Grain observed the spike as well, a situation engendered by the devastating earthquake that pummeled Chile.

Copper initially rose the most in 11 months after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake halte

The 67 year old Federal Reserve vice-chairman, Donal Kohn, announced today he will retire at the end of his term this upcoming June.

Kohn's departure leaves three vacant seats for President Obama to fill. The Federal Reserve board is generally made up of seven seats, leaving Obama with a big ta

We at Indiana Grain wanted to take a minute and introduce our friends over at @PassTimes.

When the trading week has taking its toll, and it is time to unwind @PassTimes is a great place for us to stop in and blow off

Last Friday AIG reported a quarterly loss of $8.9 Billion, and gave off the impression it may need another round of government help. This coming at the same time they are trying to pay back taxpayers on the initial bailout.

In a recent filing with the SEC, AIG stated that without more governmen

Sue Martin is president and owner of AG & Investment Services, Inc. With 35 years of experience in the commodity investment arena, she has become to be recognized as an opinionated analyst on:



US Farm Report
AG, Day
Market to Market,

and v

Our friend Ryan Musch over at www.RyanMusch.com has taken some of the best agricultural related pictures we here at Indiana Grain have seen.

As seen by the picture featured on this article, his eye and attention to detail is second to none. Musch is extremely

For great market updates we here at Indiana Grain suggest following our friends over at @CMEGroup.

CME Group is the largest futures exchange in the world, and they provide the widest range of benchmark futures and options products available on any exchange

We all found out in early January about the record corn crop the U.S will see this year, but did it come at the expense of wheat production? The U.S Department of Agriculture says wheat product will decline 12%.

Corn harvest has been foreseen at 13.16m bushels, up 200 million bushels than what

We here at Indiana Grain wanted to take a minute to mention our friends over at the Linn Group.

The Linn Group Platform is a windows-based order entry, quote and charting product.

Some of its feature

The London based investment firm Commoditrade, plans to open it's asset management unit as of March 1st 2010.

Commoditrade completely rebranded its asset management sector as Mentum LLC, which was previously known as AMCO Commodities LP. Commoditrade purchased Mentum just over a year ago.

Ron Paul for President?

Well, the conservative political action conference thinks so.

We here at Indiana Grain tend not to stick our nose into political news too often, but we thought this years CPAC straw poll was interesting enough to mention.

Paul received 31% of the votes at this l

The worlds largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger Ltd., has reached a deal to purchase Smith International for $11.3 Billion in an all stock transaction.

“Smith’s drilling techniques, other products and expertise complement our own, while the geographical footprint of Schlumberger

Corn buyers in South Korea are “very concerned” about the quality of U.S. supplies, said Park Yong, the Chicago-based chief market analyst for CJ Corp., the nation’s biggest food processor.

“We’re worried that the U.S. doesn’t have enough capacity to dry up its crop,” Yong said toda

There are a few "sayings" that bounce off the walls on a consistent basis here at Indiana Grain. Such as: "You Have to be In It to Win It", "I am not here to save money, I am here to make money", and "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity".

Post-9/11, another term that has fou

Our Bloomberg terminals here at Indiana Grain lit up this afternoon with some unexpected news.

The Fed said the discount rate, the interest rate it charges banks, would be increased to 0.75 percent from 0.50 percent, effective Friday.

The modifications are not expected to lead to tighter fina

CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced Feb. 16 the launch of Distillers Dried Grain agricultural commodity futures contracts, scheduled to begin trading April 26. These contracts are listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of the CBOT.

U.S Crude oil for March delivery settled at 77.01 today. Up $2.88 a barrel a gain of nearly 4%, is the highest spike since September 30th.

Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago states "The oil market is reacting to the dollar being weak, and this is a big reason why crude futures

The United States second biggest lender, JP Morgan Chase, has said to have made a deal to purchase the non-U.S components of RBS Sempra Commodities. The acquisition is geared towards expanding JPMorgan's energy and metals trading units.

After receiving a substantial 45.5 billion-pound bailout,

There is probably not a better sign of a "global economy", than when a small European country becomes a big concern for U.S stock investors.

Even though Greece's gross domestic product is smaller than the GDP of most U.S states, portfolio managers have expressed serious concern over the euro zo

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, will include Skype Technologies SA’s Internet- calling software on phones to stave off competition from AT&T Inc., according to two people familiar with the matter.

The service will let customers make Skype calls over the company’s 3G data

Here at Indiana Grain we have definitely noticed Chinese Equity markets trending downward as of late and perhaps the so called "Chinese New Year Effect" is coming to fruition.

Martin Roberge with Dundee Capital Markets, says the downward trend is nothing but what he calls the "Chinese New Year Ef

Former President Bill Clinton is said to be in good spirits after two stents were placed in one of his coronary arteries this afternoon.

"President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts," said advis

The Delta Farm Press is out with an interesting report highlighting the bulls vs. the bears when it comes to where soybean prices may be headed.

Bearish news: The Chinese government is selling over 200,000 tons of soybeans from state reserves. Chinese soybean crushers have thin margins or negativ

We at Indiana Grain would like to congratulate Stuart Staley.

Citigroup Inc. named Stuart Staley head of global commodities, succeeding John Casaudoumecq, who plans to retire.

Staley is currently deputy head of commodities and takes over immediately, according to an internal memo, a copy of wh

Although we often say Trading is dangerous, it is by no means as dangerous as the day to day lifestyle of an Alaskan Crab Fisherman.

Phil Harris, whose life as a captain off the Alaskan coast was documented on the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch", died Tuesday night at the age of 53.

Th

As if more than a foot of snow wasn't enough, Illinois also got hit with an Earthquake very early this morning.

Around 4 A.M, people of Kane County Illinois and the surrounding area's started to feel their homes shake, and watch fixtures fall off the wall.

Per the New York Times:

"Sarah

Corn rose for a second day Tuesday after the U.S. said demand from ethanol producers will be more than expected last month, eroding domestic inventories left over from the biggest crop ever.

Demand for corn to make ethanol will jump 17 percent this year, leaving 1.719 billion bushels in storage a

Katie Couric and the CBS evening news are scheduled to air a 2-part investigative report focused on antimicrobial use in food-animal production.

A CBS production crew has filmed organic and conventional pork production systems, as well as a Pennsylvania organic turkey grower among many other faci

Just as they begin to dig out from another epic snowstorm, road crews and utility workers across the mid-Atlantic states may be facing another monster storm.

Heavy snow is also expected in DC, but perhaps all the hot air from the Democratic party will cause the snow to melt before it hits the gro

Our good friend Gordon Linn from the Linn Group, said a quote over the Futures Line Friday that seemed as if he was trading from the floor at Indiana Grain personally.

"Now is the time when you must keep your head when others are losing theirs".

The worst thing a trader can do is panic when a

When I think about my Trading career and what has influenced me most, it comes down to one important aspect.

Who I have surrounded myself with.

In sports this theory is used often. "If you want to become a better tennis player, surround yourself with players that are better than you".

As commodities traders here at Indiana Grain, our Futures Line audio feed is crucial. Futures Line also provides "Futures Line Ag", which focuses on exclusive commentary regarding grains, weather, meat/dairy, technical analysis etc..

Another valuable aspect

If not familiar, Alternative Minimum Tax was set forth to essentially assure that high income earners do not utilize special tax benefits to pay little or no tax.

AMT is basically just another tax system, like the "regular" system. Once you are at a certain income level, your taxes are calculat

There is the old saying- "Don't trip over dollars to pick up Nickels".

Many who venture out to become a trader, want to be the best and make the most. Some tend to forget the amount of time, effort, risk, and Money it takes to reach such high aspirations.

Those who know us well at Indiana G

People and society have somewhat become accustomed to action being stalled or side-tracked when it comes to important questions such as how to revive economies, create jobs, deal with pandemics etc.

But yet when it comes to technology, the idea of "instant gratification" has become more and more

We at Indiana Grain are watching closely as the CME Group has emerged as the frontrunner in a bid to buy the Dow Jones & Company’s index business.

Acquired as part of News Corp.’s $5.2 billion purchase of Dow Jones in 2007, this is the same business that owns the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

An increasingly hefty stronghold of British funds that invest in commodities (including everything from coffee to pigs) are coming under the scrutiny of regulators who fear they could be the next financial bubble to burst.

Industry insiders have warned the Bank of England that some funds may not

Citi is said to be planning a sale of its hedge fund and private equity businesses, according to Bloomberg.

Its private equity concern has about $10 billion under management, while its hedge fund group is a $14 billion operation.

Citi entered private equity in 2000, and it paid $800 million fo

An investors biggest advantage sometimes is the ability to remain calm and collect during times of despair. When others are fleeing and running scared, having the confidence to trust your instinct and experience can make the world of difference.

Always maintaining a quality image, Toyota unfort

The big tech buzz this week has been Apple's release of the new tablet product the "ipad".

Reviews have been somewhat mixed on the launch of the ipad, with many stating their not sure if it's really necessary to own one. If you have an iphone, and a macbook, the ipad just seems a little over i

It's still a Pig right?

Last nights State of The Union address by President Barack Obama may have left many with a warm fuzzy feeling regarding the economy, job creation, health-care etc. But judging from the markets reaction this morning, perhaps we are just putting lipstick on a pig.

As

Ask any professional trader how they became successful, and the answers generally always remain the same.

Discipline and Good Habits.

Prior to making the plunge into the markets, many traders start out paper trading or on simulators. Many also fail to take into consideration the bad habits

China has officially implemented an increase in required reserves for some banks today. This led to a large sell-off of Asian stocks, and this reiterated how closely global markets react to Beijing's monetary policy.

According to Bloomberg, the Bank of China, and China Construction Bank Corp. w

While the rest of Indiana is busy celebrating the Indianapolis Colts winning their second Super Bowl appearance in four years thanks to another brilliant performance from quarterback and reigning MVP Peyton Manning, we at Indiana Grain are busy celebrating a touchdown partnership with Kramer & Leona

Barack Obama's speech this week on the proposal to "curb" banks risk-taking, sent over an interesting message to investors.

The reaction was heavily noticed at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, where the Volatility Index ended the week up 22.6%, trading at 27.31. The VIX is an index design

Prior to announcing it's 4th quarter earnings, and employee compensation packages, banking giant Goldman Sachs had both police barricades and bomb sniffing dog's on the premises.

The very elaborate extra security setup was thought to be brought on mostly by the intense scrutiny GS has come unde

Goldman Sachs has publicly commented on President Obama's recent speech, where he states his new proposal to put up "fire walls" between commercial banking and proprietary trading operations.

"Goldman finance chief David Viniar on a call with journalists said it would be “impractical” to resu

He is most well known as a Software Icon, richest man in the world, and philanthropist. But now, Twitter user can be added to that list. Long after Twitter, the social media phenomenon has swept the nation, Mr. Gates has signed on and the account has the "Verified" seal.

Although he is not "fo

The Caribbean is not among the world’s tectonic hotspots, but the region has now been struck by two powerful earthquakes in just over a week.

A quake struck the hedge fund haven of the Cayman Islands yesterday morning. The tremor, which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale, shut down telephone lin

We at Indiana Grain have learned that Lumix Capital AG is gearing up to launch an agricultural hedge fund later this quarter.

The Lumix AgroDirect Fund, which has been incubated since June 2008, invests in the production of soft commodities and in commodity trade finance in Uruguay, Argentina, Br

China's continued solid growth has helped boost along the global economy, but the possible slowing of Chinese growth is leaving many investors with an uneasy feeling.

Bank of China has brought all new yuan loans to a stop, this was due to much-to-fast lending growth for January. China is very c

The market seems to be taking into consideration that very few sugar factories have refineries that are producing in the off-season. All white sugar must be imported to meet demand.

India, the worlds largest sugar consumer may import some 2 million metric tons this year. This number is up som

A longtime boss at SAC Capital in Europe and a onetime Tudor Investment Corp. partner have teamed up to launch a hedge fund.

Former Steven Cohen cohort Kenneth Ginsburg and Tudor Investment veteran James Harpel registered their Althea Capital with the FSA, the chief market regulator in Europe.

Nebraska corn producers raised an estimated 1.58 billion bushels in 2009, up 13% from last year. That's a record high, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field Office.

Yield of 178 bushels per acre is 15 bushels above last year and also the highest of record. F

Hedge funds soared more than 24% in 2009, fueled by enormous gains posted by convertible arbitrage and emerging markets funds, BarclayHedge said.

The Barclay Hedge Fund Index added 24.14% last year. By BarlcayHedge’s measure, convertible arb. funds enjoyed an average return of 53.83% on the yea

Japan Airlines Corp, Asia's most indebted carrier, filed for bankruptcy. JAL, has received four government bail-outs to date, but still decided it was necessary to seek protection from creditors.

The company is going through a complete restructuring, focusing on cutting unprofitable routes, cu

Before we at Indiana Grain enjoyed watching the Vikings play the Cowboys, we enjoyed the courtroom battle that put DuPont on the defensive this weekend.

A legal ruling says DuPont violated it contract with rival Monsanto by developing genetically modified soybeans created with Monsanto's technolo

Archer Daniels Midland Company has named Steven J. Cassady the new vice president of procurement.

In this newly created position, Cassady will oversee all ADM non commodity purchasing functions and manage key supplier relationships. He will report to John Rice, executive vice president, Commerci

Bunge is currently mulling over the possibility of selling its Brazilian fertilizer division to the raw material giant Vale, for an estimated 3.8 billion dollars.

This is the most recent news of a series of "shake-ups" at the U.S based agribusiness giant.

Six months ago Vale, the worlds large

The big story in commodities trading this week was Tuesday the 12th's crop report. Many were shocked and caught off guard when the USDA announced that crop production had increased to 300 thousand harvested acres.

The report set off one of the most volatile commodity trading days in a long time

Film-maker James Allen Smith's tale of the life and and times of the Chicago Board of Trade, trading pit, has finally came to fruition after three years.

Instead of focusing on the high rolling, heavy hitters of global finance, Smith turns the camera on the many traders who somewhat "lost" thei

Yesterday we posted an article about how the CME Group was launching an investigation into 200,000 E-mini contracts that were traded allegedly by a market participant as both buyer and seller.

The trade was a hiccup in a mid-morning rally as the E-mini S&P 500 price was rising from a morning low

Speculation that the US Economy is recovering slower than expected, has cut the demand for the fiber in Cotton.

Retailer sales declining in December unexpectedly and March futures for cotton delivery fell $0.0082 (1.1 percent) to $0.7261 per pound as of 11:22 on ICE.

Crude Oil prices are als

CME Group is looking very closely into 200,000 trades that took place last night Jan 13th at 11:03-AM. According to the CME “A market participant appears to have inadvertently traded approximately 200,000 contracts as both buyer and seller".

The news was released this morning to the exchanges

A study released by the Internation Journal of Biological Sciences, allegedly shows Monsanto's genetically modified corn is linked to organ damage in lab rats.

The IJBS wrote:

"Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in deta

When the January 12th crop report revealed the much unexpected data that the U.S corn production had grown nearly 9%, the commodities market turned bearish quickly.

Perhaps Ag stocks are next? Ag Stocks followed the bearish trend after the January 12th crop report was released.

Just to ta

"Soybeans are transitioning from a period of Shortage to one of Surplus." - Joe Victor of Allendale Inc.

Soybean futures for March delivery fell to 11.5 cents yesterday at the Chicago Board of Trade. This was the fourth straight decline.

“With record South America crops expected to be har