29 Mar
Media Quotes

Adam Sarhan Hong Kong Standard Quote: Weak durable goods data temper Dow

The Standard- Hong Kong

The Standard- Hong Kong


Weak durable goods data temper Dow
Thursday, March 29, 2012
US stocks were flat as a weaker- than-expected reading on durable goods orders offset hopes that high oil prices could fall, removing a headwind to the economic recovery.
US crude oil futures fell nearly 2 percent after a French newspaper reported several governments, including the United States, are considering the release of oil reserves to ease high prices at the pump, which are seen as an obstacle to an economic recovery.
New orders for US manufactured goods rose less than expected in February and a gauge of future business investment also missed forecasts, casting a shadow on the manufacturing sector’s support of the recovery.
“The miss in durable goods took the enthusiasm out of the market, since they’re usually seen as a signal of economic growth,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.21 points, or 0.01 percent in late morning trade.
Across the Atlantic, data showed Britain’s economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, raising the prospect of another recession.
REUTERS
URL: http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=2&art_id=121158&sid=35897897&con_type=1&d_str=20120329&fc=4

07 Dec
Media Quotes

Adam Sarhan Reuters Copper Quote 12.6.11

Reuters

Reuters


Tue Dec 6, 2011 2:39pm EST
* Copper off over 1 pct as euro zone worries persist
* “Greater downside risks” for Asian economies adds weight
* Markets cautious ahead of EU summit, ECB meeting
* Coming up: German Oct industrial output on Wednesday
By Chris Kelly and Susan Thomas
NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Copper fell over 1 percent on Tuesday, hit by Standard and Poor’s recent downgrade warning for the euro zone and fears Chinese growth could slow further, limiting demand prospects from the world’s top metals buyer.  Down for the first time in three days, copper fell in tandem with other risk assets like global equities and the euro, after Standard & Poor’s warned late on Monday it could cut credit ratings of 15 euro zone countries, including the top-tier ratings of Germany and France, the region’s two largest economies.
Further pressure in the red metal stemmed from a warning about emerging East Asian economic growth, fanning worries that China’s near 40-percent intake of global copper demand could ease if economic conditions deteriorate.    “It’s a question mark about the outcomes in Europe and in China,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital.  “Regarding China, we’re continuing to dance back and forth between whether or not they have a hard landing or a soft landing.”
London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper shed $105, or 1.3 percent, to end at $7,835 per tonne. Open interest grew over 5,700 lots to 298,590 lots on Monday — its highest level since April.    In New York, the key March COMEX contract fell by 4 cents to settle at $3.5755 per lb, after dealing between $3.5250 and $3.5830.    Futures volumes remained on the light side at the start of the week. A little more than 40,000 lots traded late in New York – a third below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters Data.
Technically, copper’s price behavior was “semi-constructive”, analysts said, consolidating in the upper end of the range from last Wednesday’s breakout. Copper has fallen more than 20 percent from a record high of $10,190 per tonne and $4.60 per lb in February, but has risen almost 18 percent since late October. It rose nearly 10 percent last week. “Copper is slightly down because of the S&P threat to downgrade euro zone countries and because of little traction on equity markets, but the sentiment is still cautiously optimistic,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital.
A summit of EU leaders will try to put together a convincing agreement on Friday. The S&P warning hurt the euro, but the currency recovered after a surprise jump in German industrial orders. The dollar gave up most of its earlier gains but remained in positive territory against a basket of currencies . A stronger dollar makes commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.
“Until we see a structural solution for the euro zone debt problem, we will not change our bearish view on metals,” said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, a partner at metals consultancy T-Commodity. “But we are flexible. The situation is very fluid, and can change from one day to the next.”ASIAN RISK
The ADB said in its Asian Economic Monitor that Emerging East Asia’s economic momentum remained robust, but the region faced greater risks than just three months ago as Europe’s debt problems and the fragile U.S. economy could worsen into another global crisis.
“We are still in an economic slowdown and latest economic data from the U.S. such as factory orders were weaker than expected,” Credit Suisse said in a note. “We also think that the $8,000 mark for copper will be difficult to break.” Three-month tin , was untraded at the close but was last bid at $20,300 per tonne up from $19,900 at the close on Monday. But the metal is still down around 40 percent since a record high $33,600 hit in April.    Smelters in Indonesia’s main tin-producing region of Bangka island stopped shipments from Oct. 1 in a self-imposed bid to push benchmark tin prices above $23,000 a tonne. But some smelters started to flout the ban last week.
Tin stocks rose 230 tonnes to 12,395, and tightness in the market has been eroding since last week. Canceled warrants, or metal earmarked for delivery, have almost halved to 11 percent from 20 percent last week.
Metal Prices at 1920 GMT
COMEX copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T
Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2010   Ytd Pct
move
COMEX Cu       357.50       -4.05     -1.12     444.70    -19.61
LME Alum      2112.00      -18.00     -0.85    2470.00    -14.49
LME Cu        7834.00     -106.00     -1.34    9600.00    -18.40
LME Lead      2125.00        5.00     +0.24    2550.00    -16.67
LME Nickel   18400.00     -105.00     -0.57   24750.00    -25.66
LME Tin      20300.00      400.00     +2.01   26900.00    -24.54
LME Zinc      2044.00        4.00     +0.20    2454.00    -16.71
SHFE Alu     16170.00      -50.00     -0.31   16840.00     -3.98
SHFE Cu*     57670.00     -290.00     -0.50   71850.00    -19.74
SHFE Zin     15670.00      -45.00     -0.29   19475.00    -19.54
** Benchmark month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/markets-metals-idUSL5E7N61GL20111206

02 Nov
Media Quotes

Reuters Quote: Copper extends slide as global growth woes mount

METALS-Copper extends slide as global growth woes mount
Tue Nov 1, 2011 7:45pm GMT
* Greek referendum decision rattles risk assets
* Base metals off as global PMIs slow in October
* Strike-hit Grasberg mine limits copper losses
* Coming up: Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting/statement Wed
By Chris Kelly and Susan Thomas
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Copper fell for a second day on Tuesday as a deal to rescue Greece and prevent a wider sovereign debt crisis hit a new roadblock and as softer Chinese data clouded prospects for demand from the top metal consumer.
Metals bore the brunt of further risk aversion, with aluminium , zinc , nickel and lead sinking more than 4 percent as
investors flocked to assets seen to be safer, such as the dollar, after Greece’s shock decision to hold a referendum on its euro zone bailout. The bearish assault gathered momentum after data from several key metal-consuming countries showed slowing manufacturing growth in October and reverberations from Monday’s bankruptcy filing by futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd sapped broader market confidence. Sentiment has turned bearish as the euphoria last week from Europe’s initiatives to tackle its debt problems faded and the growth concerns that were supposed to be addressed remained well in place after the Greek decision, analysts said.
“Even if Greece is off the table and this referendum passes, it doesn’t resolve any of Europe’s broader issues, i.e., the rest of the PIGS countries are broke,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of New York-based Sarhan Capital, using an acronym for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.
“That is the underlying problem which is weighing on the markets collectively, from copper to equities … Nothing that was addressed last week even scratches the surface dealing with their debt.”
London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper sank $270 or 3.4 percent to close at $7,730 a tonne.
In New York, the key December COMEX contract settled down 12.95 cents or nearly 3.6 percent at $3.5025 per lb, near the bottom of its $3.4620 to $3.6570 session range. Futures volumes stood above 58,000 lots late in New York, about 10 percent below their 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data. Europe’s economic troubles were evident in a series of manufacturing reports from China, Britain and the United States — all showing slower rates of expansion. A glimmer of good news was seen within the U.S. data, as the new orders component of the index rose to its highest since April.
“U.S. construction PMIs are not that bad (for copper) … New orders are quite good, it means among all this bad news there is a silver lining,” analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov of VTB Capital said.
LAYER OF UNCERTAINTY
Adding to worries about companies’ exposure to the euro zone crisis, MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection after bad bets on debt from the currency bloc. However, the impact of MF Global’s bankruptcy filing, while an added negative, was minimal, one trader said. “Metals markets are under a lot of pressure, mostly because of the euro zone and MF Global has added another layer of uncertainty,” one LME floor broker said. “Clients are spending their time wondering how to get out of their positions.”
On Monday, London clearing house LCH.Clearnet declared MF Global in default, and the LME suspended the brokerage from trading. Limiting copper’s losses, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc said on Tuesday that production and processing rates at its strike-hit Grasberg mine in Indonesia have fallen below levels needed to meet fourth-quarter sales targets. Also helping the metal was data showing copper inventories fell for the ninth session in a row, losing 4,625 tonnes on Monday to 424,750 tonnes — their lowest levels since early March and down more than 10 percent over the past month.
Metal Prices at 1904 GMT
COMEX copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T
Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2010   Ytd Pct
move
COMEX Cu       350.75      -12.45     -3.43     444.70    -21.13
LME Alum      2111.00     -109.00     -4.91    2470.00    -14.53
LME Cu        7730.00     -270.00     -3.38    9600.00    -19.48
LME Lead      1982.00     -100.00     -4.80    2550.00    -22.27
LME Nickel   18600.00     -975.00     -4.98   24750.00    -24.85
LME Tin      21750.00     -250.00     -1.14   26900.00    -19.14
LME Zinc      1913.00      -87.00     -4.35    2454.00    -22.05
SHFE Alu     16340.00      -40.00     -0.24   16840.00     -2.97
SHFE Cu*     57710.00     -520.00     -0.89   71850.00    -19.68
SHFE Zin     15305.00      -30.00     -0.20   19475.00    -21.41
** Benchmark month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
URL http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL5E7M111N20111101
16 Aug
Media Quotes

Latest Reuters Quote- Stocks End Up For 3rd Day

By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK | Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:20pm BST

(Reuters) – Shares on Wall Street rose with oil prices on Monday as acquisition news and stronger-than-expected economic data in Japan led markets to steadily forge ahead after last week’s wild swings.
News that Google Inc (GOOG.O) offered to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (MMI.N) for about $12.5 billion (7.6 billion pounds) in cash fuelled a rebound in U.S. stocks for a third straight session.
Global equities climbed further out of their August hole on news that Japan’s economy shrank less than anticipated in the second quarter as companies made strides in restoring output following a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
“The Japanese news, while not overly encouraging, was another data point showing things are not nearly as bad as the selloff seemed to suggest,” said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in New York.
“This is an extremely jittery market, just looking to avoid significant bad news,” he said. “I would expect there to be less volatility than we saw last week.”
Hopes that a Tuesday meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will lead to a breakthrough on the European debt crisis added to gains.
“You have the two of the strongest people in a weak environment coming together to do something about this,” said Adam Sarhan, founder of Sarhan Capital in New York. “The markets are pricing in a situation where some of the extreme or Armageddon-type scenarios in the debt crisis will hopefully be elevated or be off the table after they meet.”
Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed up 213.88 points, or 1.90 percent, at 11,482.90. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX was up 25.68 points, or 2.18 percent, at 1,204.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 47.22 points, or 1.88 percent, at 2,555.20.
The S&P 500 fell to a near one-year low last week as markets tumbled initially on the first-ever U.S. credit ratings downgrade and fears that Europe’s debt woes may spread. They then rebounded with almost equal force, rising more than 6 percent over the last three sessions.
“You’re seeing kind of a reversal from last week in financials,” said Thomas Villalta, portfolio manager for Jones Villalta Asset Management in Austin, Texas.
Analysts said strong buying from the corporate sector and a step up in M&A activity — such as the Google offer — aided the recovery. Motorola Mobility, the phone maker, rose 56 percent to $38.13 while Google fell 1.2 percent to $557.23.
As for the U.S. economy, a gauge of manufacturing in New York State fell for a third month in a row in August as factory orders hit their lowest level since November 2010, the New York Federal Reserve said.
Separate data from the U.S. Treasury Department showed foreigners unloaded U.S. assets in June for a second straight month and were net sellers of Treasury securities for the first time in more than two years as concern about a U.S. credit downgrade soured overseas demand.
MSCI’s all-country world stock index .MIWD00000PUS, a broad measure of global equities, rose nearly 2 percent, ratcheting up an 8 percent gain since hitting an 11-month low on Thursday.
The dollar’s drop to a three-week low against the euro, at $1.44779, lent support to commodities. U.S. crude oil settled up 3 percent at nearly $88 per barrel.
The euro was also lifted by news that the European Central Bank spent 22 billion euros to buy government debt last week to stem the spread of the debt crisis to Spain and Italy. It was the most the ECB had spent in a week on such purchases since it began buying debt in May 2010.
Most U.S. Treasuries prices were stable, while long bond prices dropped as stocks recovered and investors looked for signs of stability after last week.
The benchmark 10-year notes were last unchanged in price to yield 2.26 percent.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Gaunt, Atul Prakash and Blaise Robinson in London, Editing by Kenneth Barry)
URl: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/08/15/uk-markets-global-idUKTRE77E0BL20110815

15 Aug
Media Quotes

Adam Sarhan Reuters Quote: Gold/S&P Ratio Rises to 1.6

Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:04am EDT
(Corrects text in graphic to show correlation tightens to near negative 0.7, not postitive; new hyperlink)
* Gold/S&P ratio rises to 1.6, escaping range around 1.1.
* Further economic shocks should help ratio rise further
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Mounting fears about a double-dip recession and a U.S. government debt crisis prompted equity investors to seek refuge in bullion, sending the Gold/S&P 500 ratio to its highest in 23 years this week. The ratio, calculated by dividing the price of an ounce of gold XAU= by the S&P 500 index .SPX, has traded in a range between 1 and 1.2 from January 2010 to June 2011. In the past four weeks it climbed nearly 50 percent, hitting 1.6 on Wednesday, the highest since September 1988.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gold/S&P hits 23-year high:  r.reuters.com/kuv23s
Gold/stocks correlation :    r.reuters.com/cez23s
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Heightened economic uncertainty around the globe suggested the divergence between safe-haven gold and equities —
considered a riskier asset — has room to widen further,analysts said.
 “If we are going to enter another period of massive economic slowdown, one would have to expect risk assets and the S&P to underperform gold as well,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital, a consultant to institutional investors.
The anticipation of dire economic events, such as the Standard & Poor’s downgrade on U.S. Treasury debt last Friday,
default by a euro zone country or problems in the European banking sector, prompted investors to favor gold at the expense
of riskier assets.
“Right now, with the dollar and euro in trouble — people are talking about the euro failing. If you have a ‘black swan’ type event with a major currency, people are going to flock toward gold,” said Sarhan, using a term for a low-probability economic shock that catches markets unprepared.
Some daytraders are reaping big returns from this week’s extreme volatility, by betting on exchange-traded funds such as
the FactorShares 2X: Gold Bull/S&P500 Bear ETF (FSG.P), which ‘double-short’ S&P futures and ‘double-long’ gold prices.
[ID:nN1E77A1CA]
On Friday, the ratio fell back to around 1.5. Daniel Hwang, senior currency strategist at GAIN Capital’s
FOREX.com, said that a possible third round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve could boost both gold and
equities at the same time. “My opinion is for the S&P at that point to outpace gold again as investors pull out of safety and chase higher yields in equities that are being supported by central-bank policy
actions,” Hwang said.
(Editing by Alden Bentley)
 
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/15/gold-sp500-ratio-idUSN1E77B1MA20110815
11 Aug
Media Quotes

Adam Sarhan Reuters Quote: Copper Rallies With Broader Risk Recovery

METALS-Copper ends up with broader market risk recovery

Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:57pm EDT
* Copper posts biggest one-day rally since Nov. 2010
* Base metals markets eye yuan appreciation
* Coming up: U.S. July retail sales data Friday
(Rewrites, updates with closing New York price, adds graphics,
analyst comments, New York dateline/byline)
By Chris Kelly and Pratima Desai
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Copper ended up on Thursday for only the second time this month but posted its biggest daily gain in nearly nine months, as positive economic signals in the world’s top-two consumers powered the rally.
Economic confidence, which has been savaged in recent days from a credit rating downgrade in the United States and concerns over a spreading debt crisis in Europe, was partly restored after an appreciation in the Chinese yuan and relatively positive U.S. labor market data struck a rare optimistic tone in the broader market.
“On a short-term basis, it appears that both copper and equities are putting in what appears to be a short-term low as long as this week’s lows are not breached,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital, a financial services firm based in New York.
But even with the positive close, recent losses have pulled copper down 1.7 percent so far this week and around 7 percent year to date, prompting some additional buying on the view that fundamentals remain strong for the metal.
“Demand from China is significant and we expect that to more than offset the falling demand in western economies,” said Ana Armstrong, chairman of Distinction Asset Management. “The sharp decline that we have seen in copper is a good buying opportunity. Whenever there is a decent sell-off investors should be ready to enter the market because global growth prospects are still quite strong.”
London Metal Exchange (LME) benchmark copper CMCU3 shot up $286, or 3.3 percent, to end at $8,881 a tonne — its largest one-day rally since Nov. 4, when the contract price surged by 3.35 percent.  In New York, the key September COMEX contract HGU1 jumped 12.00 cents or by 3 percent to settle at $4.0085 per lb, near the upper end of its $3.8560 to $4.0360 session range.
Reuters Commodities Specialist Christopher Henwood said any slowdown in global economic growth will push copper below key support levels as low as $3.40. [ID:nRTV248619]
The rally helped drive COMEX copper volumes up about 40 percent from the 30-day norm, at 66,500 lots, but well away from last Friday’s record 98,079 lots. Copper bulls fed off a strengthening yuan after top metals consumer China moved to fix its mid-point CNY=SAEC to a record high of 6.3991 versus the dollar. [ID:nEAP309B00]
“This suggests to me that Beijing is sufficiently relaxed about allowing the domestic economy to drive growth and being less dependent on the export sector,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citi. “It shows they are confident that the Chinese economy has sufficient momentum.”
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic of copper imports:  link.reuters.com/suh23s
Table for July imports:                    [ID:nEAP307715]
Graphic on week’s winners/losers:
link.reuters.com/xus92s
Graphic on LME stocks, prices: r.reuters.com/hub62s
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
U.S. data later in the day added some support to the rally, with weekly jobless claims falling to a four-month low last week. [ID:nN1E77A099] The data helped cement gains in the base metals and equities, alike. [.EU][.N
“We suspect that equity markets will continue to set the tone for commodities for the balance of the week. Although the two diverged yesterday, it is very unusual for the pair to go their separate ways for long,” Edward Meir, analyst at MF Global, said in a note. (Copper/equities graphic: r.reuters.com/veq23s )
An indication of buying activity is canceled warrants, or material already tagged for delivery on stocks in LME-approved warehouses. <0#LME-STOCKS> MCUSTX-TOTAL Total LME copper stocks were at 463,150 tonnes and canceled warrants at 8,300 tonnes. The percentage at 1.8 percent is the lowest since February 2010.
(LME warehouse graphic: link.reuters.com/neq23s )
Zinc CMZN3 rose $86 to $2,186 a tonne, recovering from key technical support near $2,000. “$2,100 has now established itself as a good level of support for zinc and we’d expect to see further trade interest if the prices dips down towards that level again,” RBC analysts said in a note. “Fundamentally, we still don’t see any major tightness in the zinc markets appearing until late next year as mine closures will begin to constrain supply.”
 
Metal Prices at 1817 GMT
Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2010   Ytd Pct move
COMEX Cu       402.05       13.20     +3.39     444.70     -9.59
LME Alum      2412.00       16.00     +0.67    2470.00     -2.35
LME Cu        8881.00      286.00     +3.33    9600.00     -7.49
LME Lead      2382.00      107.00     +4.70    2550.00     -6.59
LME Nickel   21550.00      575.00     +2.74   24750.00    -12.93
LME Tin      23605.00      860.00     +3.78   26900.00    -12.25
LME Zinc      2186.00       86.00     +4.10    2454.00    -10.92
SHFE Alu     17635.00       45.00     +0.26   16840.00      4.72
SHFE Cu*     66710.00     -380.00     -0.57   71850.00     -7.15
SHFE Zin     16780.00       70.00     +0.42   19475.00    -13.84
 
** Benchmark month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
(Additional reporting by Harpreet Bhal in London; editing by William
Hardy and Marguerita Choy)
 
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/11/markets-metals-idUSL6E7JB0X420110811
 

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