There are many definitions of a commodity, some more elaborate than others. Examples are: (i) A product which trades on a commodity exchange; this would also include foreign currencies and financial instruments and indexes. (ii) A physical substance, which is interchangeable with another product of the same type, which investors buy or sell, usually through futures contracts. The price of the commodity is subject to supply and demand. Risk is actually the reason exchange trading of the basic agricultural products began. For example, a farmer risks the cost of producing a product ready for market at sometime in the future because he doesn't know what the selling price will be. (European Merchant exchange) It is explained within these definitions commodities are often sold in future contracts by investors, which is an agreement to buy or sell a commodity in a designated future period at a price agreed upon at the commencement of the contract by the buyer and seller. Future contracts are standardised according to the quality, quantity, delivery time and location of the commodity. A future contract differs from an option, an option gives one of the parties a right and the other an obligation to buy or sell. While a future contract represents a requirement of parties, one to deliver and the other to accept delivery. A future contract is part of a class of securities called derivatives, named because securities derive their value from the worth of an underlying investment ( Farlex 2011). Like in the case of Ryanair’s Chief executive officer Michael O’Leary, after September 11th he invested heavily in aircrafts as the prices dropped dramatically following the attacks. Airlines are notable for hedging to protect fuel costs. Hedg... ... middle of paper ... ...ilosophic Manuscripts (1844) Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (1999). A golden state: mining and economic development in Gold Rush California (California History Sesquicentennial Series, 2). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 187 (Geisst.C pg 95). And page 134 wheels of furtune (Markham. J 1987) Lewis. M 2009 The story of modern financial insanity Johnson R. 1999 pg 96 McKibbin, W.J., A. Stoeckel (2009), “Modelling the Global Financial Crisis. Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis,” The Australian National University, Working Paper 25/2009. Rose A., M. Spiegel (2009), “Cross-Country Causes and Consequences of the 2008 Crisis: International Linkages and American Exposure”, NBER Working Paper 15358. Chaudhuri, K. [2000], Long Run Prices of Primary Commodities and Oil Prices, Working Papers, The University of Sydney.
The financial crisis of 2007–2008 is considered by many economists the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This crisis resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The crisis led to a series of events including: the 2008–2012 global recessions and the European sovereign-debt crisis. The reasons of this financial crisis are argued by economists. The performance of the Federal Reserve becomes a focal point in this argument.
Rhee, C., & Song, E. Y. (2013). Trade Finance and Trade Collapse during the Global Financial
As most folks do, when I think of the term “Gold Rush”, it conjures up images of the West! Images of cowboys and crusty old miners ruthlessly and savagely staking their claims. Immigrants coming by boat, folks on foot, horseback, and covered wagon form all over the US to rape and pillage the land that was newly acquired from Mexico through the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo… California. But let me tell you about a gold rush of another kind, in another place, even more significant. It was the actual first documented discovery of gold in the United States! Fifty years earlier…in North Carolina!
The gold rush era in the United States began in California in 1848 and ended around the year 1900. (Yukon) Although miners searched for the valuable metal into the twentieth century, the Klondike gold rush, which was around 1897 till 1900, was the last of some of the major rushes to occur. People had flocked to the upper part of the Yukon River in hopes of striking it rich. Many people had traveled from the Canadian and American regions to the center of the Klondike gold rush to fulfill their dreams of one day being rich with gold. (Place 48) The Yukon River Valley of Canada and Alaska was once peaceful and isolated, wild animals and a few white trappers and people. The miners had wandered north after the California fields gave out and fulfilled their dreams on a few dollars in gold they managed to eke out of their mines. This loss of gold in California had made the peaceful Alaska into a rampage of greed and envy that would never make Alaska the same.
There have been many discoveries that have shaped our nation as a whole. Discoveries have allowed our country to thrive and become one of the most powerful nations in the world. When we look back at our nation's rich history, it is clear to see that there was one discovery in particular that had a vast impact on the United States; the discovery was gold in California. It was in this vastly unoccupied territory that the American dream was forever changed and California emerged as a powerful state busting at the seams. The California Gold Rush shaped California into the state that it is today. California is defined by its promise of entrepreneurial success and its acceptance and encouragement of obtaining the American Dream.
California, the place to turn cant’s into cans and dreams into plans. The same situation and scenarios apply to today and even over one hundred and sixty five years ago. Then and now are not so different, people are thriving or failing from the land of plenty, supplying themselves with knowledge, wealth, or skill to either spread their wings and take flight or crash and burn. Each state in the United States of America has a correlating nickname to either why it’s famous or an explanation of its history. California’s state name is The Golden State, and going all the way back to 1849 is why this was such an influential time for California and all of America. This is the period of the Gold Rush. Reasons why this event was so impeccable, to the development of California, are the years leading up to the discovery, the first findings, the journey, and so much more.
The California Gold Rush was discovered accidently. Most of the world’s gold is deep underground and embedded in hard rock. Unlike anywhere else in the world at that time the gold in California was easy to dig up, free for the taking and required little tools to acquire any gold. All that was requires was a pick or shovel and a pan to shift out the gold from the rock, sand and debris. The Gold Rush affected not only California but the outcome of the nation. It created the expansion of our nation into Western America and California. The rush brought hundreds of thousand Americans and foreigners to the Sierra Nevada’s with the hopes of sticking it rich. This impacted the social life and the economy while effected the rest of the country. The
Cooper, Michael L. Klondike Fever : The Famous Gold Rush of 1898. New York: Clarion
...12 million ounces of gold was mined during the gold rush (would be worth around $20 billion using todays prices). The autarkic, audacious spirit that is such a crucial part of California’s economy today is a lasting reflection of the great gold rush in 1849. Disputably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the the mid-1800s.
Mishkin. F. C. (2009). The Financial Crisis and the Federal Reserve. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 24, 495-508
A report compiled by the U.S Financial Crises Inquiry Commission shows that the infamous global crises could have been avoided. It pointed out that failure in different financial institutions including the Federal Reserve accelerated the crises. Lehman brothers; one of the three largest investments banks in the United States has been cited in the financial crises in 2007. The bank went bankrupt and it had to be sold in September 2008 (Currie, 2010). The other two banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs had to become commercial banks where more regulation was done. The collapse of large and significant financial institutions like the Lehman Brothers propagated the economic crises. Investors withdrew over $150 billion from the money funds in the USA in two days after the collapse of the Lehman Brothers. This caused the money markets to get unstable thereby nee...
Bernanke, B. (2009, January 13). The Crisis and the Policy Response. Speech at the Stamp Lecture, London School of Economic, London, England. Retrieved from http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20090113a.htm
Velde,D.K (2008). The global financial crisis and developing countries. Available at: http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/2462.pdf (Accessed: 5th August 2010).
A commodity is technically any type of basic good that is interchangeable for another commodity of the same type. For example, a barrel of oil by one producer is essentially the same as a barrel of oil from someone else. These commodities may be slightly different in quality or type, but they are more or less the same across all of the producers. To be traded on an exchange, these commodities must meet a basis grade or minimum standard.
Warwick J. McKibbin, and Andrew Stoeckel. “The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences.” Lowy Institute for International Policy 2.09 (2009): 1. PDF file.