| Cost of corn pinches plants
High corn prices have created a cash-flow problem for a South Dakota ethanol plant.
Poet Biorefining in Chancellor has borrowed $6.3 million from its partner, Poet, in response to an increase in the price of corn futures that shows little sign of abating.
On Jan. 14, the Chancellor ethanol company and Poet agreed to a short-term loan to be repaid Feb. 13, including interest at an annual rate of 9.25 percent. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the money was needed to cover margin calls triggered by a price increase in the corn futures market at the Chicago Board of Trade. "We did not have the necessary funds from operations to cover the margin calls," General Manager Rick Serie wrote in the filing.
The plant, which produced about 51 million gallons of ethanol last year, was securing grain with plans to distill 100 million gallons this year.
Dollar Rallies on Strong Empire State and Hawkish FOMC Minutes
The Bank of Japan is expected to leave interest rates unchanged tonight at 0.25 percent. No surprises are expected from Fukui who only recently confirmed his hawkish stance. The BoJ will also be releasing their monthly report. It will be interesting to see if the central bank has any comments on the Q3 GDP release. For the time being, short yen carry trades are still working, but policymakers are increasingly concerned. The Japanese government is specifically afraid that a massive carry trade unwind would send the yen skyrocketing, which in turn would cause a big blow to their export sector. Commodity Currencies (CAD, AUD, NZD) - The Commodity Currencies were all down for the day on the back of weaker economic data. Australian wages rose by a less than expected 0.8 percent in the third quarter while house price growth slowed from 3.5 percent to 2.2 percent.
Andy Oram Reports
This principle places all communication at the mercy of financial considerations. Taken to its conclusion, the principle would eliminate any communication that lacks a financial justification. And that goes, of course, for communications that have no business model yet, but could have one in the future. With apologies for restating the familiar, I have to remind readers that the Internet and the World Wide Web started as noncommercial initiatives. Sidak's written testimony pretty baldly indicates that the value of each communication (an online chat, a file transfer, etc.) should be determined by the company providing the connection. What legal or economic doctrine, I ask, justifies that assertion? Sidak also explains, through a principle known as "Ramsey pricing," that companies should use their control over highly desirable content - such as tv broadcasts - in order to lower prices for infrastructure.
Walking, Talking iRobot
Alas, the farther I read, the more obvious it became that we'll have to settle for walking, because that's pretty much the pace iRobot set. As it previously advised (twice, actually), iRobot beat expectations in 2007. Helped by beaucoup sales through retail outlets such as Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Target (NYSE: TGT), and Sears Holdings' (NYSE: SHLD) stores, Roomba unit sales boomed last year, rising 24% for the 12 months. Unfortunately, as quickly as sales grew, gross profit rose a mere 18%, and gross margins contracted to 33%, well below the fiscal 2006 level. Part of the problem was higher costs for components. As for the margin contraction, you can look to the same actors who helped drive sales higher -- the retailers. Given its druthers, iRobot prefers to sell Roombas directly to consumers.
How BI can help IT win over the board
But analysing the information to throw out new insights will be a relatively new activity for most IT shops. Nevertheless, applying analytics to IT logs can provide useful insights, says Frank Buytendijk, vice president of corporate strategy at business intelligence tools vendor Hyperion. One example: administrative software throws up detailed reporting on the memory and processing loads of various servers. Many companies might simply check the logs to ensure that no critical overloading occurred but with business intelligence tools, they could find out how much capacity was left unused on average across the entire range of servers. This information could be used as the basis for a virtualisation and consolidation strategy, for example. That's fine in theory but "in many cases the cobblers' children go barefoot", says Buytendijk.
Constitution ready for May referendum
MILITARY-ruled Burma has finished drafting its proposed constitution, which the junta plans to bring before voters in a referendum in May. "The state's constitution drafting commission has confirmed that the draft of the state constitution has been agreed upon by all commission members, after repeated discussions," Supreme Court chief justice Aung Toe said. "All members signed the draft of the constitution," said Aung Toe, who headed the drafting commission. The military earlier this month announced that it would bring the charter before voters in a referendum in May, which the junta says will set the stage for democratic elections in 2010. The opposition National League for Democracy has warned that Burma's rulers must first respect the results of 1990 elections, won by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, in order to move toward democracy.
James Mound's Weekend Commodities Review
After just barely penetrating the $100 mark crude oil has setup a bearish pattern that could have some legs to it. While it is logical to think that $100 was psychological and not a rational long term price top, keep in mind that much of the last $30 run up has been lacking fundamental support. Market hysteria, fund interest and spec buying have all helped to bring oil prices way out of proportion with supply and demand fundamentals. So it would seem only logical that a psychological resistance point would actually cause a trend reversal. Look at some long term put plays and get on the short side in a hurry. If we break back to new highs then leave some powder dry to double up because it is not a matter of if but a matter of when this market will go adios ga-bye-bye to the downside.
Financials
Economic fears and a doom and gloom speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has the stock market in a bit of tailspin.
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