Monday, July 19, 2010

Hugh Hendry Wants to Short Obama; UK Home Prices to Crash; Mystery Trader Corners the Cocoa Market; China Passes US as World's Largest Energy Consumer

There has been a lot of interesting news over the last few of days so let's do a "quick hits" roundup.

Cornering the Cocoa Market

The Telegraph reports Mystery trader buys all Europe's cocoa http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/mark ... cocoa.html

Even Willy Wonka might struggle to use this much chocolate. Yesterday, somebody bought 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans. The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City.

It is unclear which person, or group of traders, was behind the deal, but it was the largest single cocoa trade for 14 years. The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City.

Analysts said it was very unlikely that a chocolate company, such as Nestle or Kraft, or even their suppliers, would buy such a huge order in one go and that is was probable that one or a number of speculators, possibly hedge funds, had attempted to corner the market. By doing this, they would have control of the entire supply in Europe, forcing the price yet higher.

Eugen Weinberg, an analyst with Commerzbank, said: “For one buyer it would likely be a little bit too large. It would be a crazy number. That said, if you’re cornering the market ...â€