Stock and commodity futures and futures contracts are basically deals made between 2 parties to pay for that stock or commodity at an agreed price and then the payment and exchange can take place in the future. The price agreed upon is payed and the amount of stock or commodity is exchanged regardless of the price in the future, because it was agreed upon in the past.

Dow Jones futures are also used by investors to gauge the strength of the markets into the next day and possibly week. They help to determine the sentiment of the where the market is headed and thus help investors determine how the stock market will perform the next day.

A lot goes into determining the price of futures and the Bloomberg futures website gives all the relevant information on futures prices and the direction of these futures. Typical headlines you may see include, "Stock Futures Signal Lower Open" or "Futures Show Higher Open For Stocks" investors use this information to supposedly get a jump on what will happen in the short future in the markets. Bloomberg Futures also offers a robust trading platform called Bloomberg Tradebook Futures where investors can get real time price information in a professional turnkey trading solution.

The cause of the spike could many analysts believe is from one third of the national oil output of Libya being cut off. That amounts to a little more than 350,000 barrels a day. This is mostly due to foreign oil company workers fleeing the country to get away from the violence. It may also stem from Gadhafi's threat to sabotage his own refineries and oil fields so as to not have this natural resource fall into the hands of his foes. Unfortunately this shows the Libyan leader's true madness and that he is truly unfit to even be running a burger stand, much less an entire nation.

Oil prices could rise further if protests spread into even more oil rich nations such as Saudi Arabia and possible Iran. However, widespread protests in Iran are unlikely since the government shows little restraint on its brutal crackdown on anyone that threatens the regime.

Meanwhile, the US Stock market is seeing a second straight day of deep drops because of high oil prices and the continued Mideast unrest. As of this post the DOW is down 121 points and the DOW transports are down below the 5,000 mark at 4,953. With today's present loss of 133 points that represents an almost 7% loss over the last 2 days in the transports.

I hope you aren't married to your investments because now isn't the time to be in love with what you own.

This past Thursday Feb 9th, the IMF issued a report on a new reserve currency called Special Drawing Rights or SDRs. Their thinking is that since these SDRs are already in use since being created in 1969 they may help stabilize the world financial system. SDRs already represent claims on currencies of some current members of the IMF.

The SDR is priced based on a weighted number of international currencies and then can be converted into whatever currency the borrower need then to be. Currently an SDR is not a real or tangible currency, but a few economists are pushing that they be used since they are based on a wide range of currencies and are therefore less volatile than the US dollar.

Some economists want member nations of the IMF to create $2 trillion worth of SDRs over the next several years to help stabilize the financial system and get away from the dollar being susceptible to wild swings based on commodity prices such as gas, gold and grains. No telling whether the common investor will be able to invest in these SDRs or how much a country or a borrower will be beholden to the issuing party known as the IMF.

It's kind of scary to think of a world central bank and being part of a nation that may owe billions of SDRs to that entity. Does anyone really like the though of the IMF having that much power? Does anyone like the thought of an unregulated non-national power having $2 trillion worth of financial leverage? Not me.

Think about that...

Here are just a few headlines over the last couple of days, with my commentary, that will prove my point that the financial media doesn't have a clue about the economic trends and they're probably better off ignoring. Read on...

August 17th -

STXNEWS LATAM-Mexican stocks rise on US output, inflation data
Oh yea, Mexico is always watching us with bated breath as well. There are plenty of problems in Mexico that probably affect the stock market, I don't think they're sitting around looking at our economic figures for the most part.

Wal-Mart, Home Depot lift retail sector
Great, Wal Mart and Home Depot all of a sudden made all retail stock much more valuable. Just because investors may react to news such as this, it doesn't mean that the retail sector is just like magic, doing better. People have to buy stuff and companies have to earn a profit to make them more valuable.

Stocks gain on Wal-Mart profits, deal talk
Well, well, Wal Mart did better than lift the retail sector, it seems as if their profits boosted the entire stock market. How do you suppose that happened. Has Wal Mart been going to the gym again?

August 18th -

Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Target is getting in on the action as well. Apparently they now control the futures market.

But just 3 hours later...

Indications: Stock futures flat as bid for Potash goes hostile
What? What happened to Target lifting futures? I guess since it was morning they hadn't fully woken up yet. Maybe they should get a Starbucks in the lobby of more of their stores. A little cup of joe might help futures next time?

Then 3 more hours later...

Indications: Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Futures have been on a wild ride and it's only 9:30 in the morning. Pay attention to these ridiculous headlines and you won't know whether Target is coming or going. Maybe Target should paint all their stores black as opposed to "being in the red" since they are responsible for all this good economic news.

Retail stocks edge lower; Target, BJ's fall
See the nature of the schizophrenic financial media? Apparently investors didn't pay attention to Target's profits. In a normal world, profits would be good, but when it comes to stocks just flip a coin and you'd probably do better than most financial analysts and reporters.

Corrections: Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Wait, here we go again. Futures are up once again thanks to the almighty Target.

Stocks Pare Losses; Exxon, Chevron Fall
Oh no, we're falling.

But just 6 minutes later we read this headline:

US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall St gains ground on consumer shares
All is well again.

This compilation is brought to you courtesy of the buffoons at Yahoo Finance. Honestly, if you are an investor, why are you even reading the financial news headlines? As I write this there is about an hour left in the trading day. Have fun!

There are 2 kind of gold coins that may be of interest to particular kinds of investors. The first kind is bullion type gold coins. These coins are primarily for those investors who are looking for their investment to be stable or to follow the price of gold. Most true bullion coins will not have much more of a value than the price of gold. There are some gold bullion coins that do have collectible values, but most are only worth the price of the gold they contain.

The other kind of investment gold coins as what is known as numismatic coins. Coins that fall into this category have a value that is not so much related to the gold they contain but, rather the scarcity, age, quality, strike or some other unique feature. Some of these kinds of gold coins are valued far above the amount of the gold they contain. In fact, they are so valuable that they are usually not affected by the price of gold at all.

Listed below are a few select coins for your shopping. Click on the auctions below to have a look or place a bid on the coin of your choice:

US Auctions Australian Auctions Austrian Auctions Belgian Auctions Canadian Auctions French Auctions German Auctions Indian Auctions Irish Auctions Italian Auctions Dutch Auctions Polish Auctions Spanish Auctions Swiss Auctions UK Auctions

Best Match Time: ending soonest Time: newly listed Price: lowest first Price: highest first Price + Shipping: lowest first Price + Shipping: highest first

1908 $20 GOLD St Gaudens Double Eagle CHOICE BU NICE LUSTER    US $1,827.00

1924 $20 GOLD St Gaudens Double Eagle CHOICE BU    US $1,851.00

1924 St Gaudens Double Eagle Gold Beautiful Coin NO RESERVE    US $1,675.00

1908 $20 St Gaudens Double Eagle GOLD PCGS MS65 MS 65 No Motto    US $2,307.00

1928 $20 GOLD St Gaudens Double Eagle CHOICE BU Details    US $1,725.00

1924 $20 GOLD St Gaudens Double Eagle NEAR GEM BU BEAUTIFUL    US $1,835.00

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