2.9.2007 - Yen and Swiss franc used for speculative bets
The yen and the Swiss franc have been widely used to finance speculative bets on the world’s currency markets, says the Bank for International Settlements. The BIS said in its quarterly review that its international banking statistics showed that global lending in both currencies has risen in recent years. Total yen- denominated lending reached $1,050bn in the first quarter of 2007, while Swiss franc-denominated lending has climbed to $678bn.

3.9.2007 - Southern hemisphere holds wheat supply hopes
A combination of weather damage to crops in Europe and Canada, robust demand from food importing countries such as India, and the threat of export bans in countries such as Russia have propelled wheat prices to all-time highs.

6.9.2007 - The end of the hedge road
Commodities, and not subprime mortgage, woes have prompted the closing of two of Global Advisors’ hedge funds. The end is near for the $60 million Global Advisors Commodity Investment Fund and $4 million Global Commodity Index Plus Fund as a result of “[p]oor performance and external investor redemptions.”

6.9.2007 - UN warns of food price unrest
Developing countries face serious social unrest as they struggle to cope with soaring food prices, inflation that shows no signs of abating, the United Nations’ top agriculture official has warned.

6.9.2007 - Oil price tests an all-time high
The price of oil has risen close to a record level, putting more pressure on Opec to give a positive signal about production levels at its meeting in Vienna next week. The price increase was triggered by claims that Israeli warplanes had penetrated Syrian airspace.

7.9.2007 - Gold surges past $700 level
Gold on Friday surged through the $700-a-troy-ounce level for the first time in 16 months as investors sought refuge from the falling dollar in the wake of weak US jobs data. Spot gold in London hit $707.10 an ounce, its highest level since May 2006, as expectations of a cut in US interest rates pushed the dollar to $1.3798 against the euro.

9.9.2007 - Rough ride for interest rate futures market
Traders in the interest rate futures market are bracing themselves for several days of potentially painful turbulence as they grapple with market distortions that have disrupted popular investment strategies.

10.9.2007 - Dollar Falls to Lowest in 15 Years
The dollar index, which compares the dollar to its six primary peers, fell to its lowest level in 15 years on Friday. The decline followed news that US employment dropped for the first time in four years. Futures showed a 76% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by half a point to 4.75% from 5.25% at its September 18th meeting. Central banks from the UK, euro region, Canada, Australia and South Korea kept rates unchanged. For the first time since 2004, US Treasuries yielded less than German bunds.

10.9.2007 - Rich currency trader becomes a dominant Bear Stearns shareholder
Joseph Lewis, a reclusive billionaire who made his fortune trading currencies, has taken a 7 percent stake in Bear Stearns, snapping up the investment bank's sagging stock to become one of its largest shareholders in less than a month.

11.9.2007 - ABN Develops EM Currency Fund
ABN AMRO has developed a local currency fund in a partnership, designed to offer interest-rate and currency hedges in local emerging markets. The aim of the fund is to provide a form of risk management to support financing in countries that do not have capital markets.

11.9.2007 - Dollar hits fresh 15-year low
The dollar fell to a fresh 15-year low against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as the greenback continued to suffer from the prospect of a cut in US interest rates.

11.9.2007 - Quant hedge funds recover their losses
The majority of computer-driven hedge funds, which were blamed for large-scale market fluctuations that wiped billions of pounds from global stock markets last month, have emerged largely unscathed. Quantitative funds, which use complex algorithms based on historical trends to invest, managed to recover more than 65pc of intra-month losses in August by the end of the month. Data from Hedge Fund Research (HFR) shows that in spite of a lot of the negative commentary surrounding the sector, many hedge funds managed to avoid the horrors that beset some of the prominent casualties.

12.9.2007 - Manduca of Titanium Expects Gold, Oil Prices to Rise  Video news
Philip Manduca, who helps manage about $500 million as managing partner at Titanium Capital Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Rishaad Salamat and Nina de Roy in London about turmoil in financial markets, European interest rates and the outlook for gold and oil prices. Crude oil traded near a record in New York on speculation demand will outpace increased production from OPEC members as the Northern Hemisphere winter approaches.

12.9.2007 - Commodity traders brace for Opec's boost to oil output
For commodities investors, the decision taken by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this week to increase its supply by 500,000 barrels a day may be doubly negative.

12.9.2007 - Treasurys ease on currency and rate concerns
Treasury prices fell Wednesday, their recent sharp run-up interrupted by concerns about the U.S. dollar and the size of anticipated rate cuts.

12.9.2007 - US wheat prices soar to record
US wheat prices soared to record levels after the US Department of Agriculture said global wheat stocks would shrink to their lowest levels for 30 years.

13.9.2007 - Masters of Macquarie Says Carry Trade `Far From Dead'  Video news
Joanne Masters, currency strategist at Macquarie Bank Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Catherine Yang from Sydney about the outlook for global currencies, the so-called yen carry trade and her investment strategy. The yen gained against the dollar, euro and pound after the British Broadcasting Corp. reported U.K. home lender Northern Rock Plc applied for emergency funding from the Bank of England, spurring investors to repay loans in Japan.

13.9.2007 - Red Kite fund tarnished by copper market
The flagship hedge fund of Red Kite, a major London and New York metals trader, plummeted 20 per cent last month amid turmoil in the copper market and poor results from the hedge fund industry.

13.9.2007 - Look Here For An Inflation Proof Currency
I knew it. This headline draws attention these days. As the world wakes up to the fact that all currencies are created out of thin air by a simple entry into the electronic ledgers of the world's central banks investors begin to look for investments whose safety does not depend on an agency rating.

13.9.2007 - Sunny Outlook For Weather Funds
The forecast for weather derivatives goes something like this: mostly sunny returns with a slight chance of making money for only the biggest of players.

14.9.2007 - Crude hits fresh record amid supply concerns
Oil prices hit a fresh record above $80 a barrel yesterday as storm activity closed three refineries in Texas and following Wednesday's news of a huge fall in US crude stocks.

15.9.2007 - Morriss of ANZ Sees Euro Advancing to $1.40 `And Above'  Video news
Tony Morriss, a currency strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Paul Gordon from Sydney about the outlook for Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan monetary policies, and the U.S. dollar, yen and so-called carry trades.

16.9.2007 - Barrett of Commodity Broking Says Wheat May Extend Gains  Video news
Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services, talks with Bloomberg's Paul Gordon from Sydney about the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy, and precious metal, crude oil and wheat markets. Wheat rose to a record last week on concern dry weather would cut output in Australia and as global inventories head for a 26-year low.

19.9.2007 - BGI Snags Commodities Mandate
Barclays Global Investors has won a commodities mandate worth around L32.8 million by the Ernst & Young Retirement Benefit Plan, Global Pensions reports. The L820 million fund awarded the commodities mandate after moving to diversify holdings last summer. Moving away from the 80% equities and 20% bond holding portfolio structure, the fund added real estate, alternatives and emerging market investments.

19.9.2007 - Morningstar Launches Futures Indexes
Morningstar has launched five fully collateralized commodity futures indexes, the Morningstar Long/Short, Long/Flat, Short/Flat, Long-Only and Short-Only Commodity Indexes. Based on a transparent, rules-based momentum methodology, the new indexes use different strategic combinations of long futures, short futures and cash.

19.9.2007 - Ease of forex swaps vanishes in rush for cash
A few months ago, stoking a wider interest in the so-called foreign exchange swaps market was a difficult prospect. The forex swap market – like the money markets – has been taken for granted for many years as a place where many banks and companies carry out standard, daily financial operations.

19.9.2007 - Billions more dollars headed for commodities
Money is still flooding into commodities investments to diversify portfolios despite financial market turmoil, and more pension funds are looking at commodity investments, especially in southern Europe. "I would expect to see several billion dollars of inflows by the end of the year as new funds consider commodities and implement (investment) programmes in commodities," said Daniel Raab, managing director of AIG Financial Products.

20.9.2007 - Martin of DWS Sees Oil Price Falling to $70 by November  Video news
Pierre Martin, a fund manager at Deutsche Bank AG's DWS Investment GmbH, talks with Bloomberg's Nina de Roy and Rishaad Salamat from Frankfurt about the outlook for oil prices, OPEC production capacity and demand from the U.S. and Asia. Oil jumped to $82.51 a barrel yesterday after a U.S. Energy Department report showed the nation's crude oil inventories fell 3.87 million barrels last week, almost twice the decline forecast by analysts.

21.9.2007 - Gartman Sees Dollar at $1.45 Versus Euro Within 2 Months  Video news
Dennis Gartman, economist and editor of the Gartman Letter, talks with Bloomberg's Ken Prewitt from Suffolk, Virginia, about implications of the Federal Reserve's rate cut and the outlook for gold prices and the euro-dollar exchange rate.

21.9.2007 - Weak dollar steals spotlight  Video news
The dollar languished near 15-year lows against the euro. Gold prices traded near 28-year highs on inflation fears.

21.9.2007 - Oil puts Canada's currency ahead of US dollar
The Canadian dollar burst through parity with the US dollar on Thursday for the first time in 31 years, underlining the robustness of Canada’s economy and its importance as an oil producer.

21.9.2007 - Dollar Falls to New Low Against the Euro
The dollar remained at a low ebb today against major world currencies. One euro traded at $1.4090 this afternoon, up from $1.4065 yesterday, the first time in the common European currency’s nine-year history that it has crossed the $1.40 mark. The British pound also rose, trading at $2.0202, after closing at about $2 yesterday.

21.9.2007 - Gold hits 28-year high as oil surges
Commodities prices rose across the board in the week that the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates to prop up the domestic economy. Crude oil surged to an all-time high and gold hit its highest level in almost 28 years.

23.9.2007 - AI Pros Half Of Forbes Newbies
Almost half of the newcomers to the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans made their fortune in hedge funds or private equity.

25.9.2007 - London increases forex dominance
London’s dominance of the global foreign exchange market continues to grow sharply as the share of New York and Japan slips, a survey has revealed. The UK’s share of foreign exchange trading volumes jumped from 31.3 per cent in April 2004 to 34.1 per cent in April 2007, the latest triennial survey from the Bank for International Settlements has revealed.

27.9.2007 - Risk Hedging Impacts OTC Volume
U.K. pension funds continue to use derivatives to hedge risk with the value of over-the-counter transactions tracked by Watson Wyatt this year already surpassing 2006 numbers. According to the firm, this demand is powering the growth of the inflation-linked market for end users and it is likely to almost double in size again this year to reach roughly Ł35 billion.

27.9.2007 - Vermillion Markets Quant Strat
New York-based hedge fund firm Vermillion Asset Management is marketing its latest roll out, a market-neutral, quantitative equity and derivatives trading strategy. The firm?s goal is to increase assets from its current $360 million to $750 million by the end of 2007 and to over $1 billion by the middle of 2008, according to Edward den Dooven in investor relations.

27.9.2007 - Record for wheat as crop forecasts shrivel
Wheat prices hit record levels Thursday while oil prices rose above $81 a barrel amid concerns about possible storm disruptions to production in the Gulf of Mexico.

27.9.2007 - Credit derivatives growth slows
The global market for credit derivatives grew 32 per cent in the first half and increased 75 per cent over the year to the end of June, the slowest rate of growth since 2003. Credit derivatives volumes outstanding rose by almost a third, to $45,460bn at June 30 from $34,420bn at the end of last year, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association said on Wednesday.

28.9.2007 - John Authers: Go back to basics before you buy commodities
The first rule of journalism, some say, is: “Never be afraid to admit ignorance. In that spirit, I will admit that I took over this column without the faintest idea why aluminium prices might behave differently from nickel, or why corn prices diverge from wheat.

28.9.2007 - PowerShares' Smart Decision To Leverage Commodity ETFs
PowerShares is planning to leverage up three of its commodity futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to provide 200 percent of the daily return of the underlying indexes. The company has asked shareholders to approve the change for three funds.

28.9.2007 - Gold rallies to 27-year peak as dollar tumbles
Gold futures rallied to a 27-year high on Friday, receiving a boost from continued dollar weakness which saw the U.S. currency fall to another record low against the euro.

28.9.2007 - Euro hits fresh all-time high against the dollar
The euro hit a fresh all-time high of $1.4197 against the dollar on Friday. The common currency was recently trading up 0.3% at $1.4192. "Further upside may be seen off the back of the U.S. economic data due for release this afternoon if this suggests we'll see a continued run of rate cuts by the Fed into the New Year," said James Hughes, an analyst at CMC markets.

28.9.2007 - AccelorTM - Meeting the Needs of the Algorithmic Trading Community
Accelor is the next-generation foreign exchange ECN for all market participants, developed to meet the needs of the most demanding institutional market participants. It combines anonymous ECN functionality with advanced technical architecture and comprehensive market data.

29.9.2007 - As the Dollar Falls, New Doors Open to Currency Bets
The dollar’s recent swoon is a textbook example of just how volatile foreign exchange markets can be. The new lows for the dollar brought quick profits to many investors, but the “easy money” has already been made, said Ed Yardeni, the president of Yardeni Research.

29.9.2007 - China launches $200 bln forex super-fund
China formally launched its state investment company Saturday which is intended to manage about $200 billion of its massive foreign exchange reserves, Chinese state media reported.

30.9.2007 - Jim Rogers Sees `Skyrocketing' Prices for Commodities  Video news
Jim Rogers, chairman of Beeland Interests Inc., talks with Bloomberg's Betty Liu from Singapore about the outlook for crude oil prices, the Federal Reserve's decision on Sept. 18 to lower its benchmark interest rate by a half point to 4.75 percent and the commodities market.

30.9.2007 - Kassel of ING Financial Says Euro Is `Well Overbought'  Video news
Matthew Kassel, director of proprietary trading at ING Financial Markets LLC, talks with Bloomberg's Catherine Yang from New York about the outlook for the U.S. dollar, yen, euro and so-called commodity currencies such as the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, and his investment strategy.

30.9.2007 - Soros, Bush, Lula's Own Words on Ethanol Industry  Video news
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former labor union leader elected to a second four-year term in October 2006, champions ethanol as a means to create jobs, curb pollution and lessen dependence on fossil fuels. This report includes comments from Lula, U.S. President George W. Bush and billionaire investor George Soros about the future of ethanol as a source of energy.

30.9.2007 - Yoshii of Mizuho Says Gold Is `Most Investable Metal'  Video news
Tetsuya Yoshii, vice president for derivative products at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Catherine Yang from Tokyo about demand for precious metals, impact of the falling dollar on metals, and the outlook for copper and nickel prices.

30.9.2007 - Sasaki of JPMorgan Sees Euro Rise to 170 Against Yen  Video news
Tohru Sasaki, chief currency strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a former chief currency trader at the Bank of Japan, talks with Bloomberg's Catherine Yang from Tokyo about Bank of Japan monetary policy, his trading strategy and the outlook for the yen and euro, U.S, Australian and New Zealand dollars.

30.9.2007 - Oceanic to tap into commodites boom
Boutique fund manager Oceanic Asset Management is to launch a stable of investment funds to tap into booming global commodity prices.