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Weekly Commodity Update
Market activity this past week has primarily been driven by the U.S. earnings season and the wait for the outcome of the European bank stress test.

Corporate USA generally delivered Q2 results at or above market expectations which in turn kept stock markets supported. On the flip side FED Chairman Bernanke said that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain, but was ready to act. With midterm election coming up continued soft US numbers could trigger some additional policy action.

Meanwhile in Europe the long awaited release of the European bank stress test kept the market guessing about the outcome. Skepticism about the usefulness of the report emerged as the important questions might not be asked: how banks will perform should a weak nation be forced to realign its debt and what would happen if the recession deepens. A credible number of failures among the 91 banks being tested needed to be the result, otherwise the whole exercise would suffer the risk of backfiring leading to renewed risk aversion.

Commodities had a generally quiet week with the Reuters Jefferies CRB gaining one percent primarily on the back of a strong rally in copper, crude and sugar. Sell offs in Cocoa, coffee and corn limited the upside gains. The index has now rallied eight percent to 267 from the May low but will be finding resistance towards 270.

The International Energy Agency, who is an energy adviser to most of the world’s biggest economies, said that China had overtaken the US as the world’s largest consumer of energy. In their calculation all forms of energy such as crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources were used. Just ten years ago Chinas total consumption was just half the size of the US and it highlights the phenomenal speed of the economic progress of that nation but also how important a factor they are in determine the cost of various energy sources

When it comes to crude oil demand the U.S. is still well ahead as they consume an average of 19 million barrels a day compared to Chinas 9.2 million barrels a day. Chinas power production relies heavily on coal which accounts for 80 percent of its production. Still Chinas oil demand rose to a fresh record high in June and is ten percent above the same period last year.

Crude Oil has gone into a summer lull trading inside a relative tight range and primarily taking direction from outside markets such as the dollar and stock markets with the above China story also having a bit of positive impact.

Meanwhile in the US crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose last week increasing the doubt about a recovery in consumption. Inventories at Cushing, the delivery hub into NYMEX rose to 37.1 million barrels, less than 1 million barrels short of the previous record at 37.9 back in May. Demand for VLCCs (Very Large Crude carriers) has picked up again after recent surplus of tonnage has been putting charter prices under pressure. Operators of super tankers are still complaining about little or no profit being made at current subdued prices.

Crude oil have now spent the past couple of weeks trading sideways as the speculative long position remains pretty small at 35,000 which is s

When I got started in my network marketing business, I literally was in the dark. The funny thing is, for some crazy reason I just wouldn't quit. I got started with the same advice that most of you did - and it goes something like this:

"Make a list of EVERYONE you know, call 'em up, and pound them to death until they either join or die..."

Lol.

OK - maybe it wasn't that bad - but it kind of was... For some reason - for the next 5 years, I hung around in this business and just kept on doing the same thing over and over again - 'WISHING' that it would work.

Five years later - it didn't work any better than it did when I started doing it in the first place. It's funny a lot of times how we get in this industry and we try and do things that massive, huge companies with 10 million dollar advertising budgets do. Small business IS NOT large business, and it needs to be treated differently.

So what's the difference between marketing for a small business? What you do has to be created with one goal in mind - responsiveness. How does the right market respond to what you're doing - and does the response end in profit or loss?

Looking at it like an intelligent business person who is in a 'for profit' enterprise - Network Marketing really only has 3 goals.

1.To sell products, services, and marketing tools.
2.To recruit distributors to sell products, services, and marketing tools.
3.To help your team sell products, services, and marketing tools.

A week spent speculating which banks might fail their ‘stress tests'
Overview

A week spent speculating which banks might fail their ‘stress tests’, and whether these were worth doing at all, indices alternating between fairly large up and down days to end the week in positive territory. Jakarta, Mumbai and Thailand set new highs for 2010. The Japanese stock market closed near the lowest levels in two years, pressured by a strong yen (86.27) and dragged down by the banks index. The US dollar has lost ground against all major currencies this week, the Australian dollar leading at $0.8972 (a ten-week high) and the Swiss franc at 1.0400, best this year. The Hungarian forint weakened to 292.00 per Euro because of new PM Viktor Orban’s refusal to implement IMF-suggested austerity measures. Top-quality Treasuries remain well bid, those of weaker Eurozone countries still all too close to their records over Bunds. US asset-backed securities the first casualty of new financial regulation, so the SEC has had to allow a 6-month grace period for implementation. [Rating agencies can now be sued for fraud and reckless behaviour so they are not allowing their ratings to be published in prospectuses]. ICE Sugar rallied to 18.66 cents per pound, its most expensive since March though a fraction of February’s unsustainable 30.40 peak. Most Baltic Freight rates are at their lowest in a year or more.

Understanding the online business world can help you build value for your business. From the founding of your company, and every day thereafter, you should be thinking about maintaining a presence online and building relationships that will be of value. Each move you make can make your company more or less valuable. This advice applies to both local businesses and those wishing to operate in the global market.

Advancements in technology have effectively removed the borders and barriers to global commerce. Nonetheless, to compete effectively you need to leverage new social media, perceive and manage your risks, and act decisively and confidently in legal matters. To do this, you should have a trusted legal team and other advisors to help adapt and protect your business.

The legal issues affecting online business are significant, and can include federal, state, and local taxation, corporate and securities law, liability insurance, copyrights, and trademarks. Keeping your legal affairs in order can help save the high costs of future litigation. By implementing policies and procedures designed to protect your property rights and information, you will be one step ahead of those that do not. Good practice would include implementing the following:

1) Implementing a process to copyright or trademark your business and its work
2) Verify appropriate use of copyright, trademark, and patents.
3) Plan and document network security measures for Internet and mobile systems. Engage consultants to test system vulnerabilities.
4) Perform regular backups of computer data
5) Establish a database system containing every customer, and others with whom you have a commercial relationship with.
6) Establish controls on who is able to access certain sensitive information
7) Maintain employee confidentiality and noncompetition agreements
8) Maintain and monitor employee activity on social networking sites to avoid defamation lawsuits
9) Monitor and review website content for compliance
10) Audit of companies policies and procedures regarding computer use once a year

By protecting your company's identity online you will feel better prepared to compete and better capable of developing strategies that protect the value of your company. Since technology changes very rapidly, these policies may have to be reevaluated and updated every year. Once these policies are in place every employee of your business should be trained and understand these policies. In addition, those in charge of training should be familiar with new technology and updates to existing equipment. It is an ongoing process that, when implemented effectively, can make or break your business.

Forex: EUR/USD remains capped below 1.3000
Downside correction from Friday's high at 1.3005 found support at 1.2870 ahead of Monday's European opening, and the Euro bounced up during the session to be capped at 1.2995, right below Friday's high, and eased to 1.2960 area afterwards.

The pair is expected to remain bid over the coming sessions, according to the Swiss e Trade Technical Team, with the possibility of reaching levels above 1.3000 again: "We expect the bidding to be more or less intact today, especially from a 1.2930 intermediate down correction mark being reached. Levels slightly above 1.3000 are possible.

Resistance levels remain at 1.3000/05 (Jul 16 high) and above here, 1.3050/65 and 1.3095 (May 10 high). On the downside, immediate support lies at 1.2940 (hourly low), and below here, 1.2870 (session low) and 1.2800/10.