Last night, while swooping a fly daughter of a well known Bay Area Tech CEO (parents live in Atherton and all that), a couple of glasses of of 2006 Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier got spilled during the heat of the battle, on my Custom Guayabera from Ramón Puig and some white Irish Linen pants. My white Prada loafers were spared.
Get some 2006 Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier. Very Statement Making. And like heaven on your palate.
The Rest is Up to You…
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Blue Diamond sells for Highest Per Carat Price Ever
“The Game abuse it, its pain in music
But this year, wrist wear remains the Bluest” – Cam’ron
A flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats sold on Tuesday for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs (6.2 million pounds), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby’s said.
The rectangular-shaped blue stone, the rarest to enter the international market this year, went to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone after hectic bidding see-sawed between two callers for 15 minutes.
It was the centrepiece of its semi-annual sale in Geneva, conducted by David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewellery department in Europe and the Middle East, who said the results showed the market’s resilience despite the economic downturn.
“This is already a new world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond and a new world record per carat for any gemstone (at auction),” Bennett told reporters.
“It is fantastic in this market and shows that these rare things are very much in demand,” he said.
The final price includes a commission paid by the buyer to the auction house. The stone sets a record price per carat for any gemstone sold at auction of $1,349,752, (890, 275 pounds) Sotheby’s said.
The previous record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond was $7.9 million, including commission, for a stone weighing 6.04 carats at sale in Hong Kong in October 2007, also by Sotheby’s.
The new owner will have the right to name the stone, which is mounted in a platinum ring. The pre-sale catalogue estimate was 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission. The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
It was put up for sale by London-listed Petra Diamonds, which extracted it last year from the historic Cullinan mine in South Africa, the world’s most regular supplier of blue diamonds of size and quality. Blue are the rarest of the diamond family after reds.
“To have a stone mined last year and cut the early part of this year so it is absolutely virgin coming straight from the mine has never happened before,” Bennett said. “This is one of the extremely rare substances in our universe.”
The sale fetched a total of 39.5 million swiss francs for 266 lots which found new owners, while another 80 pieces were stranded on the block.
“In this general economic environment to see $35 million worth sold in a session shows a lot about the resilience of fine jewels no matter what the climate,” Bennett said.
Fresh stones to the market, including coloured diamonds, fetched good prices, the Briton said.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
The global recession sapped demand for all kinds of commodities — like steel and grain — yet small burlap bags are still arriving by the planeload at Russia’s state-owned diamond company.
Each day, the contents of the bags spill into the stainless steel hoppers of the receiving room. The diamonds are washed and sorted by size, clarity, shape and quality; then, rather than being sent to be sold around the world, they are wrapped in paper and whisked away to a vault — about three million carats worth of gems every month.
Russia quietly passed a milestone this year: surpassing De Beers as the world’s largest diamond producer. But the global market for diamonds is so dismal that the Alrosa diamond company, 90 percent owned by the Russian government, has not sold a rough stone on the open market since December, and has stockpiled them instead.
As a result, Russia has become the arbiter of global diamond prices. Its decisions on production and sales will determine the value of diamonds on rings and in jewelry stores for years to come, in one of the most surprising consequences of this recession.
Largely because of the jewelry bear market, De Beers’s fortunes have sunk. Short of cash, the company had to raise $800 million from stockholders in just the last six months.
The recession also coincided with a settlement with European Union antitrust authorities that ended a longtime De Beers policy of stockpiling diamonds, in cooperation with Alrosa, to keep prices up.
Though it is a major commodity producer, Russia has traditionally not embraced policies that artificially keep prices up. In oil, for example, Russia benefits from the oil cartel’s cuts in production, but does not participate in them.
Diamonds are an exception. “If you don’t support the price,” Andrei V. Polyakov, a spokesman for Alrosa, said, “a diamond becomes a mere piece of carbon.”
How the buy-in price for the stones will be set, and how the company will determine when the price goes up and down, is unclear, Mr. Malinin said.
“We have to tell people that diamonds are valuable,” he said. “We are trying to maintain the price, just as De Beers did, as all diamond producing countries do. But what we are doing is selling an illusion,” meaning a product with no utility and a price that depends on the continued sense of scarcity where there is none.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
The latest advance in stocks and commodities with the fall in treasuries and the US dollar, could in fact be a precursor of what is to come but the pace of the advances and declines is flawed. These spectacular moves in such a short time are irrational and almost always not true. Stocks are moving higher as investors believe we will start to see a recovery in coming quarters and on hope that the worst is behind us. I’m not convinced on either front just yet. Commodities are rallying for the same reasoning and the fact that inflation may be around the corner. It is undeniable that this is a valid concern but perhaps premature. The move in treasuries is justifiable and for the US government to think they can get global investors to bail them out of this mess by issuing long term obligations and paying 3% is ludicrous. The US dollar is dead and will be considerably lower years from now. Day to day the volatility is unpredictable, however even Warren Buffet recently said 5-10 years from now the US dollar could be considerably lower. Markets tend to move irrationally and to extremes when fear and greed is present and this is never been more apparent across all asset classes. The investor that diversifies their portfolio and can differentiate between perception and reality will come ahead in the long run.
To find out exactly how we are positioning our clients in commodity futures and options,
Contact us today at 1-888-920-9997. Don’t forget to tell them The G Manifesto sent you.
Energies
June crude oil closed up $6.01 last week, the highest close in 4 months. What was resistance will now become support between 55.75 and 56.25 with resistance at 60.00. Oil has traded higher 11 of the last 14 days on good volume so it is safe to say this rally is real and most likely sustainable, albeit with periodic setbacks. June heating oil was higher by 14.33 cents. Resistance comes in at 1.5375, support is seen between 1.47 and 1.48. It is not unreasonable to expect a 50% retracement of the recent move taking prices to 1.3525. June RBOB blasted higher by 19.72 cents last week trading to its highest level since 11/4. Resistance comes in between 1.75 and 1.80 with support at 1.63 followed by 1.55. We have advised clients to exit their July and August 20 cent bull call spreads at a profit. We should get a setback being the last 2 weeks we saw a 25% advance.
June natural gas closed up 77 cents at its highest level in 5 weeks. Much of the move is attributed to an expected decline in US production and industrial usage coming back on line. Since bottoming on 4/30 prices have moved $1 higher or 33%. We advised clients to book partial profits on their longs and to tighten up stops. Perhaps one of my best trades ever (Sell August $3.25 puts & buy 6 September $8 calls) was bought for $150 and closed at $3,650. $3.25 should serve as the low; we see support at 3.90 with resistance at 4.50 in June.
Grains
As of last week the USDA said that 33% of the corn was planted, down from the five-year average of 50%. July corn was higher by 13 ¼ cents last week to its highest level since 1/26. Support comes in at 4.15 followed by 4.00 with resistance at 4.25 followed by 4.38. Based on the market, action traders are content being long rather than short into the USDA report as pre-report guesses have a lower ending stocks number due to strong demand and lower South American production. Longs have been in the driver seat but we expect a 30-40 cent correction starting this week and will have clients on the sidelines until this happens or we get a different read.
As of last week the USDA said that 6% of the soybean crop was planted, down from the five-year average of 11%. July soybeans were higher by 23 cents last week. Prices traded within a 40 cent range, we feel this sideways consolidation exhibited exhaustion. First support is seen at 10.90 but we anticipate a break to 10.60 and possibly 10.20. Resistance is seen at 11.20. We sold June $11 calls and have clients positioned in put spreads into the USDA report. We ought to see a correction lower being soybean acreage should come in greater than the previous report and even with a moderate drop in ending stocks the market has already priced in a significant increase in demand for US beans. On drier weather here and in South America perhaps the demand has been overestimated.
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_____________________________________________________________________________________Risk Disclosure: The risk of loss in trading commodity futures and options can be substantial. Before trading MB Wealth recommends that you should carefully consider your financial position to determine if commodity trading is appropriate for you. All funds committed should be purely risk capital. Past performance is no guarantee of future trading results. There are no guarantees of market outcome stated, everything stated above are our opinions. Calculations of profit and loss have not factored in commissions and fees.
