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Futures File

Flour power: Wheat futures up Wheat futures were up across the board this week with a strong move that broke through several technical resistance levels. July KC Wheat futures were trading around $6.50 Friday morning, up 11% on the week. July Chicago Wheat futures were trading near $6.25 and up 10% for the week as well. The wheat market has been stuck in the doldrums since the first of the year, trading sideways to lower, and the rally this week moved prices back to where they started the year. Fundamental reasons for the move carry the triple threat of supply worries, increased ...

Futures File

Markets react to Middle East hubbub Iran and Israel traded missile/drone fire in the last week which could be the beginning of a more serious geopolitical issue with the effects reaching far beyond the Iron Dome, or it could just be another brick in the wall of Middle East scuffles that bring pain and discomfort in the short term for those immediately affected but change nothing fundamentally in the long term for themselves or the rest of the world. What did the markets think? They were apathetic. Crude oil prices jumped higher initially on both attacks but faded the move ...

Futures File

Interest rate daze Inflation numbers reported this past week showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 0.4% in March which was higher than expectations and higher than February’s pace putting the annual rate of inflation at 3.5% above last months reported 3.2%. Core (CPI) was up 0.4% as well, though the annual figure remained unchanged at 3.8%. The Fed’s position is always one of that between a rock and a hard place, but the ability to maneuver through the tumultuous times of the past few years has been somewhat obvious and blameless. Disagree with the blameless part if you ...

Futures File

Gold bugs big day The front month gold future contract reached $2,300/oz this week — a new all-time high and a gain of 11% since the start of the year. To put things in perspective, if you pull up a monthly chart of gold you can see a steady climb in value from the early 2000s that accelerated in 2008 after the home mortgage crisis and the government bailout packages that came with it. Prices peaked in the fall of 2011 at just over $1,900/oz. The price decreased from there over the next two years to trade a range between $1,370/oz to $1,050/oz for the next 6 years before breaking out ...

Minot Real Estate Transactions

February 2024 — 704 5th St. NE, 1920 single family, Panthers Properties to Lucas Knight, $48,000. — 1309 7th Ave. NE, 1964 single family, Kenneth and Debra Nelson to Diamond Prospects, $60,000. — 602 16th St. SW, 2009 single family, Peter Bryan to Buwan LLC, $71,000. — 1000 20th Ave. NW, Unit A9, 1973 condominium, Panthers Properties to LHH Realty, $75,500. — 8 13th Ave. SE, 1920 single family, Sean Pierce to Benjamin Kamm and Sheila Pierce, $115,000. — 1127 32nd Ave, SW, Unit D, 1984 condominium, Foundation for Orthodoxy to Rachel Barthnek, $140,000, — 512 ...

FUTURES FILE

Cocoa can’t stop, won’t stop May cocoa futures traded as high as $8,900/metric ton this week, which is more than double the value of where it started the year – an already historically high level. The short supply due to adverse weather impacting the West African nations of the Ivory Coast and Ghana are well publicized at this point and have been for some time. It was first reported here on Feb. 9, and there was widespread discussion at the time in media spaces that follow commodities. Cocoa futures, like most soft commodities, are a niche market with thin trade volume and few ...