WOOD News and Press, iShares S&P Global Timber & Forestry Index Fund From 03/25/23

2023-03-25 15:03:23 ET The S&P 500 Materials sector index was up +2.12% this week and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLB ) +1.72% , as fears over the banking sector and hopes of the Federal Reserve pausing rate hikes lingered. Mounting market uncertainty, fue...

2023-03-21 15:06:57 ET Summary Lumber prices are stable - a new contract makes lumber hedging more versatile. Lumber remains highly illiquid, increasing the chances of explosive and implosive price action. Interest rates are critical for wood prices - new home building decline...

2023-03-18 14:39:34 ET The S&P materials sector index was down -3.51% , and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLB ) -3.42% this week, weighed down by the worst financial crisis in 14 and a half years. During the week, two U.S. regional banks - Signature Bank ( ...

2023-03-11 11:38:07 ET The S&P materials sector index fell -7.64% this week and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLB ) -7.59% . Sentiment was dampened by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's hawkish testimony to the Senate and the House, and hot jobs market ...

2023-03-04 12:25:30 ET The materials sector had a dismal week, with the S&P Materials index down -3.49%, and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLB ) -3.33%. The wider market grappled with stronger-than-expected inflation data in the form of the PCE price index report fo...

Summary Remember, just last year, the world was going to have a shortage of lithium carbonate, one of the key raw materials for EV batteries. The price of Chicago lumber futures went through epic gyrations during the pandemic, spiking by 350%, then plunging, then spiking all over again,...

Summary Canada led the world in the most egregiously inflated home prices in the past few years, but New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden were other top-risk contenders. As spending retracts under the weight of debt and evaporating home equity, commodity demand and global GDP are on the c...

Summary The credit cycle and the economic cycle are excellent leading indicators of volatility. Both are likely to continue deteriorating in the months ahead. As such, expect high stock market volatility to be a mainstay for 2023. High Volatility Set To Continue Eq...

Summary We called it again with the Russia risk in timber markets back in February. Russia is retaliating against sanctions by stopping the export of Russian birch. Paper and packaging companies that buy pulp are going to struggle as pulp prices rise even beyond the goods mani...

Summary Over the last two weeks Federal Reserve officials delivered 37 speeches, all of the speakers competing to see who could be the most hawkish. The big problem with the Fed’s plan to kill inflation by reducing economic growth and raising the unemployment rate is that t...