Commodities Investing: Bring in profits no matter what the market does

Posted February 22, 2008

"Overall it looks pretty bad. There is, however, an opportunity that’s just starting the next leg of what I like to call a ‘baby bull market.’" — Andrew Mickey

by Andrew Mickey

Baltimore – (TFN): It’s all starting to happen. We’ve entered the tumultuous period when the markets are up one day, down the next two, up one day, down two more days, and so on. It’s not a fun time to be watching the overall markets.

The Conference Board Index of Leading Economic Indicators is at its lowest point since 2001. The rolling four-week average of new filings for jobless benefits has surged to more than 360,000. Consumer confidence (although a highly questionable tool for predicting economic growth) is hanging near its lowest levels of the decade.

Overall it looks pretty bad. There is, however, an opportunity that’s just starting the next leg of what I like to call a “baby bull market.” What I consider a baby bull market is a highly specialized sector in which profits can be had regardless of how bad the overall markets get.

Commodities Investing: Sectors to watch

For instance, the agriculture sector has been one of the best-performing sectors around in the past few months. Leading the way has been Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT:NYSE). This $50 billion behemoth in the fertilizer industry has done nothing but go up over the past few years.

Everything — and I mean everything — agriculture has been doing extremely well. Deere (DE:NYSE) and Monsanto (MOS:NYSE) have now been featured in all the financial media. We’ve got agriculture ETFs (normally a sign we’re nearing a top) now, too.

I’ve even overheard some overzealous analysts saying, “Wheat is the next uranium.” Don’t get me started about statements like that, but it does go to show there is always some sort of opportunity in a baby bull market. Learn where to find the best gains in this baby bull market.

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