Commodity Insite

It is virtually impossible to find the history of the Big Four: stocks, bonds currency and commodity futures markets to understand why they performed on weekly basis as they did. Yes, there are books about fundamentals, charts, investing psychology and good trading habits for speculators. But the only book that offers a week by week, year by year history of the futures, is my new book, “Haunted By Markets”.

My book is comprised of selected weekly column I wrote and were published in a handful of weekly newspapers since the mid-1980’s. Haunted By Markets is loaded with statistics and stories about what caused the various markets to do what they did. To my knowledge, there has never been a book quite like this one. There is no other book anywhere, past or present to learn about the history of the futures markets what made prices trip the light fantastic.

To understand the futures markets, the Big Four: stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities, one must know history. Without understanding history and how markets respond to events, investors, speculators and agricultural producers are flying blind. If you do not know the history of markets, you know nothing.

Here are the opening paragraphs from the Introduction of, ‘Haunted By Markets.”

“History has always possessed me and I have always been haunted by markets.

“This book is about history. The history of the Big Four: stocks, bonds, currency and commodity futures in the years 1990 to 2015, as I witnessed and wrote about it in my weekly newspaper column, Commodity Insight, or, Commodity Insite. And there is a story behind why there are two different names for my weekly column, but I won’t go there now.

“I have been writing a weekly column for the Illinois Agri News in La Salle, Illinois since the early 1980’s. Cattle Today is located in Fayette, Alabama and has been publishing my weekly ramblings for more than 20 years. Consensus, National Futures and Financial Weekly, located in Kansas City, have also been publishing my work for longer than I can recall. Each is a weekly publication.

“To my knowledge, no one has written for so long about and had published in a weekly or daily newspaper, the history of the futures market and how the Big Four would dance the week away. Dance they did. And dance they still do.”

“I did reach back in time for Haunted By Markets and used a few columns from the1990’s and onward because history is the bridge between the past and the present, in particular where markets are concerned. There are also big gaps that are there on purpose. After all, how big a book would I have if I published each column for the past 30 odd years. As it turned out, Haunted By Markets is 758 pages long!

“Watching the markets dance all these years, there are more lessons to be learned than can be related here. But several lessons to be learned stand out larger than others. For instance, when it comes to forecasting and predictions, “No One Knows For Sure” regardless of the market, the analyst offering the guess, an omen, the cycle of the moon or the Zurich Gnome. The bottom line is clear. “No one knows for sure” when it comes to forecasts and predictions. “

And here are just a few of the various chapters that make up the book. "Dalmatian Break Of 101 Points. When the Tide Rises. President Speaking Did Not Help A Thing. Most Bearish Year Since 1929. Stick A Fork In Deflation. Grains Have Changed To A Bull. Largest One Day Rally In 49 Years. Commodities at New 30 Year High. Another Rogue Trader. Yellin n Sellin n Cryin n Buyin. Soybean Roller Coaster Ride Of 1973. The Pachyderm In The Room. All That Glisters Is Not Gold. Uncomfortably Embarrassed." I could offer the titles of even more chapters but for now, I will leave that for a later date.

I hope you will consider taking a peek at my book that can be found at commodityinsite.com. I do not think you will be disappointed as the book is one-of-a-kind and no other like it. If you are disgruntled by "Haunted By Markets" I will eat a bug. Well, maybe.

And after reading my book, you too may become haunted by markets.