Hot dry weather in Argentina.

Argentina like most of her neighbours of South America is currently experiencing a dry weather spell which started early in the Southern Hemisphere.Average daily temperature is between 93 to 101 degree farenheit suitable to boil an egg without the gas stove.

The extreme heat is affecting most of the agriculture crops in most of the major growing areas as agricultural goods whether raw or processed still earn half of Argentine's foreign exchange.
Major agricultural produced were maize,soyabean and corn.
Argentina is one of the world's greatest food-producing exporting countries of the world.
It has a huge topography of arable land and the socio economy is largely dependent on the agrobase industries.

The geography of Argentina include 5 major regions, starting with the rain forest areas of the far-northeast along its border with Brazil; the swampy and flat Chaco plain; the fertile (almost treeless) grasslands of the central Pampas; the lengthy plateau of Patagonia that stretches to Tierra del Fuego, and the Andes Mountains along its western border with Chile.

The Pampas, one of the largest fertile plains in the world, covers almost one third of Argentina's land area. Bordered by mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, the legendary landscape of Patagonia displays huge forests, sizeable mountains valleys, and many cold-water lakes.

The Andes in Argentina contain advancing glaciers including the Perito Moreno glacier, as well as Cerro Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America.

Argentina is also home to impressive Iguazu Falls, and over 250 additional waterfalls of size.

Major rivers include the Colorado, Negro, Paraguay, Parana, Salado and Uruguay. The Uruguay and Parana flow together before meeting the Atlantic Ocean, forming the basin of the Rio de la Plata.

Buenos Aires,Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces account for nearly 4.8 million hectares (42%) of total soya bean acreage planted in Argentina.

Corn growing areas were 25 de Mayo and Pehuajo in northwestern Buenos Aires Province,Rio Cuarto and Marcos Juarez,Corral de Bustos in Cordoba,Santa Fe Province (Casilda and Canada de Gomez).

Corn is also roughly twice as expensive crop to grow as soybeans. Producers need hybrid seeds and more of fertilizer, especially urea, to grow higher yielding corn. Costs are approximately US$200 per hectare to grow corn compared to US$100 per hectare for soybeans. When farmer’s use saved seed for soybean, soybeans costs of production decrease by another US$30-40 per hectare.


Analysts said dry conditions in some areas of the country, especially in the south and west of the wheat region, might prevent planting intentions from being fully realised.

Dry weather has already cut hopes for crops in the European Union, Western Australia and, in particular, Kazakhstan and Russia, sending wheat prices jumping on international markets.

Fears are brewing for the coming of a so-called La Nina weather pattern, associated with cooler-than-normal Pacific water temperatures, and typically associated with dry weather in Argentina.
Drought was a big factor in a slump of more than 30% in Argentina's wheat area last year, with farmers also blaming government export curbs, which have been partly relaxed this year.

However, rain in many parts of Argentina's wheat belt has raised hopes among some analysts that the country can avoid significant La Nina damage this year, with the government blaming sowing delays largely on "constant rains" in the province of Buenos Aires.

The Argentine warnings came as analysts revealed further rises in prices of Russian wheat last week, with the grain, free-on-board, attracting $210 a tonne, compared with $198 a tonne a week before.

Russia and Kazakhstan, and potentially eastern Ukraine, are set for further hot and dry weather, with some areas forecast to receive temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius.

Tracking the Dow on Friday,06/01/12.
Dow Index Futures 10 marketdays to expiry.
Economic report:Employment situation.
Chinese New Year:23-24January (Dragon Year)

9:30am:--Bearish 50.0 points gap down.
Spillover of weakness in European stocks due to weak economic data.
10:30am:--First hour retracement to resistance from early low.
11:30am:--Breakout into bullish zone ending with a hangman.Better than expected employment data in the United States.
12:30noon:--Shooting star with a hammer.Usual pullback for morning session.
1:30pm:--2nd session started with a low near bear pivot support.
2:30pm:--Resistance breakout but were held back at the bull pivot.Bearish graveyard dojis.
3:30pm:--Day's support breached,spinning doji bull trap.
4:00pm:--Bearish selldown to bear pivot support.
The year started with good news that U.S. jobless rates is now at three years low.The economy is now on track to recovery but the euro zone is putting a brake as caution stepped in again ahead of next week bond sales by Spain and Italy.
There were worries over the rising borrowing costs in some euro zone countries.
The Dow's weekly ending candlestick is still in a bullish inverted hammer mode.
Thursday bearish hangman is hoovering above the weekly support line and was completely filled on Friday.
Despite the volatility,the overall Dow index is holding comfortably in the bullish zone.

Patagonia Plains of Argentina.(BPAT.BA)

Near the southern most portion of South America and near to Falkland Islands,lies the great rolling steppe like plains of Agrentina called the Patagonia.

The Andean cordillera lies towards the west facing the Pacific Ocean while the Patagonian plains faces the Atlantic Ocean.

Patagonia physical landscape is just a plateau rising in a succession of abrupt terraces covered with an enormous bed of shingle almost bare of vegetation.

In the hollows of the plains are ponds or lakes of fresh and brackish water.

Patagonia seems to be a portion of the Antarctic continent, the permanence of which dates from very recent times, as is evidenced by the apparent recent emergence of the islets around Chiloe, and by the general character of the pampean formation.

The region of Patagonia was first noted in 1520 in European accounts of the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, who on his passage along the coast named many of the more striking features—Gulf of San Matias, Cape of 11,000 Virgins (now simply Cape Virgenes), and others.

Patagonia is populated primarily by people of European descent.The official language of Argentina is Spanish.
There are five provinces on the Argentinian side of Patagonia. They are Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tiero del Fuego. Patagonia also touches on the Chilean regions of Los Lagos, Aysen, and Magallines. The borders of the areas in Patagonia between Chile and Argentina have sometimes been in dispute. The Chilean Patagonia is considered very remote and, like the Argentinian side, is sparsely populated with people but abounds with many unique species of animals.

Agriculture, ranching and tourism are the main economic activities in the Argentinean side of Patagonia. There is an abundance of natural resources such as timber, mighty rivers, and deposits of gold, silver, copper and lignite still mostly undeveloped. A series of dams on the Limay and Neuquen rivers produce hydro power in Neuquen province. Irrigated areas of the Negro and Colorado River valleys make it favorable for ranching and farming. The province of Chabut produces the high quality wheat of the Argentine Republic. Oil and natural gas production center on the area around Comodoro Rivadavia.
Argentine Banking:-

During the 1990s, marked by President Carlos Menem's policies of liberalization, Argentina's financial system saw a significant consolidation and strengthening, in large part through foreign investment.

The banking system suffered a fatal flaw: it lent dollars and took deposits in Argentine pesos. By early 2001, deposits had reached $87,000 million, but when the economy took a second dip, capital started flowing out of Argentina, and deposits started to move away from the weaker players of the financial system, namely provincial banks and large local banks.
This eventually led to a run on all banks in the system, a freeze in deposits, and a currency devaluation, which included an asymmetric devaluation of loans and deposits. Banks were forced to collect their dollar loans at a conversion rate much lower than the rate applied to its dollar deposits. This made many banks technically bankrupt and destroyed the confidence of the public in the financial system, which was held responsible for many of the economic ills of the country
Banco Patagonia S.A.(Buenos Aires:BPAT.BA)

Banco Patagonia Sudameris S.A. operates as a bank in Argentina. It provides a range of financial solutions for individuals, corporations, small and medium sized companies, private banking, and institutional customers. Banco offers loans and deposits. The company was formerly known as Banco Patagonia S.A. and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It is Argentina's third largest private financial institution.
The balance sheet as at 31 December 2009 :-

Total Assets =10,054,000
Total Liabilities =8,200,000
Common Stock =965,000

Retained Earnings =889,000
Net Income=449,000

The shareholders at 31 December 2008:-
Jorge G. Stuart Milne= 24,92%

Ricardo A. Stuart Milne 24,92%

Emilio Gonzalez Moreno 9,24%

Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. 9,99%

Acciones en Cartera 3,06% Mercado 24,83%

Provincia de Rio Negro 3,04%

News in brief:-

15Sep2010== S&P ups Banco Hipotecario, Banco Patagonia, Caja de Valores

02November2010== Brazil's central bank BCB has authorized federally controlled Banco do Brasil (BB) to increase its stake in Argentina's Banco Patagonia to 75%.

04November2010== Patagonia rises 16% on Raymond James(NYSE:RJF) outperform recommendation.

09November2010== Banco Patagonia sees BB tender offer unsuccessful on higher current stock price.

25January2010== Financial services firm Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) has downgraded Argentina's Banco Patagonia to market perform from outperform on relative valuation.
Banco Patagonia S.A. is listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.(Buenos Aires:BPAT.BA)

It has such a small capital paid up and held tightly by the major shareholders.

The latest candlestick suggest that it is a bearish hangman.That's for sure as you have a promoter downgrading it for their own benefit.

Look to buy when they short sell below the lower shadow as it is currently near to the bull pivot resistance but failed to touch it.

The past 2 months candles have been hoovering within the upper shadow of November's range.

Tracking the Dow on Tuesday,(3 market days to index/options expiry)
9:30am:--Bearish 50.0 points gap down opening.January retail sales rose less than expected, while the February reading on New York manufacturing came in above forecasts.

10:30am:--Dip lower,no sign of recovering the opening gap.Bears hammer.Inflation remains a key factor to watch for investors.

11:30am:--A retracement to MAV resistance line with bearish shooting star.

12:30noon:--End of morning session holding at the MAV resistance line fro the second time.Bearish spin.

1:30pm:--Failure to hold at the MAV line,Bearish spike down.Energy stocks are pulling down the market.

2:30pm:--Intraday new low.Bullish engulfing.

3:30pm:--Holding at the bear pivot.

4:00pm:--A runaway bull.
A disappointment that retail sales in December weren't as strong as many had thought coupled with the U.S. import prices soaring 1.5 percent mad investors a bit nervous.

Inflation is the U.S. will take center stage later this week when the government releases figures on producer prices on Wednesday and consumer prices on Thursday. In the U.K., consumer prices surged 4 percent in January, double the Bank of England’s target, which will force the U.K. central bank to consider a hike in interest rates.

For the past 6 months the Dow has been trending upwards,finding higher levels along the way.Its a volatile upward trend with no real bulls as seen by the many doji stars all along the way.Each monthly session will either have a bullish or bearish spike midway and then continue spinning with the quantitative easing liquidity.

The mid-term US election last November pulled the Dow to find a pivot low.The Dow will presumbly advance further till the Presidential Election schedule in 2012.

Gold/Silver Discovery at Dos Calandrias - Argentina

Mariana Resources Ltd, the AIM quoted exploration and development company focussed in Argentina and Chile, is pleased to announce asignificant new gold-silver discovery at its 100% owned Dos Calandrias Project ('Dos Calandrias') located in the prospective Deseado Massif region in southern Argentina. The discovery was confirmed following results from the first eight holes of a 16 hole diamond drilling programme at the Calandria Sur prospect.

This is the first mineralisation of its type to be found in the Patagonia region,

Leading geological consultant and epithermal specialist Dr. Richard Sillitoe, on a two-day site visit to appraise the significance of the Dos Calandrias drilling results conclude that the Calandria Sur prospect is a low-sulphidation epithermal discovery located along the margin of an extensively hydrothermally brecciated rhyolite dome ('HBD').The mineralisation appears to possess bulk tonnage potential in being disseminated and not reliant upon identifiable veins.

Tracking the Dow,Monday 16/11/09.(4 market days to Index futures Expiry)
9:30am:--Bullish 60.0 points spike up.

October retail sales up 1.4%,booster.

1o:30am:--First hour high shooting star pullback(Broad-based buying)

11:30am:--Bullish engulfing to second hour high.(Business inventory data for September showed a 0.4% decrease)

12:30pm:--Usual time for pullback to MAV or bull pivot point.(the Dollar Index extends its slide)

1:30pm:--Holding at opening noon session high with bullish inverted hammer. (focusing Fed Chairman Bernanke at the Economic Club of New York.)

2:30pm:--Bearish hammer,hangman.(Fed says labor market is getting worse more slowly.)

3:30pm:--High of the day with pullback fall short of reaching the MAV.(influential analyst Meredith Whitney during a CNBC interview said that she expects banks to raise another round of capital...so powerful speech to affect market move)

4:00pm:--Bullish tone still on.
A new high for the month and any slight pullback is minimal within a small range.Daily volume has also picked up.

Meanwhile,the central bank will monitor the sliding U.S. dollar but pledged anew to keep interest rates at record-lows to nurture the economic recovery.