By SIMON CONSTABLE
This year’s mega-bubble in lumber prices likely won’t stage a repeat performance next year. The problem is the economically sensitive housing sector is set to have a slowdown as interest rates and inflation squeeze would-be homebuyer wallets.
The result will be falling lumber prices, experts say. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Investors seem to have offered little but a shrug to the threat of military conflict in eastern Ukraine. That’s surprising given the growing rhetoric out of the Kremlin.
Thursday Russian troops began a series of military drills near Ukraine’s border less than a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin said NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) should “go to hell,” press reports say. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Anyone wanting a calm commodities market in 2021 would have been disappointed. It produced surprises that would have shocked even the most jaded market veterans.
Wheat, coffee, sugar, lumber, and energy prices all shot up. Perhaps most shocking was that the price jumps were driven by different factors. It wasn’t all upward: gold puzzled some investors, as prices slumped even while inflation surged. Read more here.
