You wanna see ugly? Ok, here it is:
That’s what it looks like on a one-day chart when fear turns into panic in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. And that’s what happened today as the blood from Greece’s debt crisis washed over the North American markets.
“It’s chaos. Some historic moves in the markets today,” is how one trader summed up the feeling for me a few minutes ago, as he dealt with the massive swings in equities, currencies and commodities.
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Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
This matters to you the farmer not just indirectly in terms of the general mood of the world’s economy, but because the price of canola was sucked right down along with the Canadian dollar – which hit 95 cents – and crude oil – which is back down to $77 per barrel.
Canola fared better than most commodities, which makes sense because it is listed in Canadian dollar terms so when the Canuckbuck slumps – as happens in panics like these – that lends a parachute to canola prices. So canola ended up only slipping a little today.
But boy, fear and volatility are back in the markets, and the calm of recent weeks is gone.
