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Two London-based commodities hedge funds have turned the biggest-ever decline in commodities into a gold mine for investors. Cris Levett?s $3 billion Clive Capital returned 44% in the first 11 months of the year. Andurand, who worked for four years at Rotterdam-based energy trading company Vitol Holding BV, will limit his fund to about $3 billion when it accepts new investors in February, and Levett is capping Clive Capital at $3. London-based CF Partners is currently prepping a carbon hedge fund to launch early next year with a ?’?50 million (US$72 million). read more

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Huge global demand for grains, governments hoarding food, climate fears amid droughts, storms and floods — basically every bullish factor one could imagine hit the markets. The psychology of short supplies carried over to other commodities as well, especially industrial metals as China and India drew in a rapidly rising share of materials as their economies raced to modernize and transform. The final element for the “perfect storm” sending commodities to stratospheric heights was the tsunami of Wall Street and other speculative money that, frustrated by stagnant stocks and bonds, finally bought into the commodities story. The index started sliding and by early December fell to a 6-1/2-year low of 208. The global economic crisis tied to dried-up bank credit — the lifeblood of all markets — rocked Wall Street but also rolled over commodities, bursting bubbles right and left. read more

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Huge global demand for grains; governments hoarding food; climate fears amid droughts, storms and floods – the markets were hit by every bullish factor one could imagine. The psychology of short supplies carried over to other commodities as well, especially industrial metals, with China and India drawing in rapidly rising shares of materials as their economies raced to modernize and transform. The final element that sent commodities to stratospheric heights was the Wall Street tsunami that sent speculative money, frustrated by stagnant stocks and bonds, into commodities. The global economic crisis tied to dried-up bank credit, the lifeblood of all markets, rocked Wall Street but also rolled over commodities, bursting bubbles right and left. The credit contagion shows no signs of being solved any time soon, with most investors' hopes pinned to the policies and measures that the administration of Barack Obama says it will aggressively put in place when it takes office in January. read more

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Stocks Gain as Oil Slides – WSJ. Stocks ended a shortened trading session on Christmas Eve with a modest bounce, while crude-oil futures prices continued their decline. Banks and financial stocks, which have been among the worst-performing stocks this year, gained ahead of the Christmas holiday. Your participation access with Journal Community has been disabled due to violation of Journal Community Guidelines. WSJ Spanish Copyright ©2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. read more

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TORONTO, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Toronto’s main stock market index could open mixed on Monday as strong oil and gold prices are offset by more worries over the global economic slowdown. China cut interest rates on Monday and Japan warned it was sliding deeper into a recession encroaching steadily on the global economy, closing factories and throttling trade. Oil rose toward $43 a barrel on Monday, partly inspired by a weak U. Gold climbed more than 1 percent in thin trade on Monday, as the dollar lost ground against the euro while oil’s fall capped gains, traders and analysts said. read more

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TO ) after it issued a rosier than expected outlook. O ) after it delivered a bright outlook for BlackBerry sales over the holiday season. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here . read more

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