Cloud Hosting

The battering the markets have taken from oil isnt doing much for its popularity or that of any commodity. But theres an out-of-this world reason why its worth taking another look.

Crude is down 4.5% for the week, failing miserably to climb out of a bear market. Its brought down stocks, too, as supply panic (again) gripped investors.

Never fear the oil doom and gloom will all be over soon, says veteran macro-economic analyst Yves Lamoureux. He argues the news flow is now so utterly bearish on oil, that its time for a complete reversal.

And thats not all. The entire commodity sector is heading into a five-to-seven year bull market, with agricultural produce in particular ready to make a sharp move higher, the market observer says for our call of the day.

We believe that we have arrived at the turning point again, where commodities will outshine an investment in stocks. The next bitcoin might as well be cocoa, oil or coffee, says Lamoureux, who way back in February predicted the bitcoin rally.

His call on soft raw materials comes even after cocoa CCU7, +1.81% slumped close to a 10-year low this week, and coffee KCU7, +4.46% fell to levels not seen in more than a year.

So why the optimism? It comes down to something as unexpected as sunspots dark spots on the surface of the sun that reappear on an 11-year cycle.

The level is going down, and it creates less illumination, resulting in poor harvests, Lamoureux explains in an email to MarketWatch. That means demand for agricultural produce is likely to outstrip supply, which usually pushes up prices.

Investing on the basis of sunspots might seem crazy, and the correlation has been questioned regularly (see here for an explainer). But Lamoureux is happy to cite British astronomer Wilhelm Herschel the discoverer of Uranus who observed back in 1801 hat when there were fewer sunspots, the price of wheat soared.

Dow ESU7, +0.15% and Nasdaq ESU7, +0.15% futures YMU7, +0.05% are falling, but S&P futures ESU7, +0.15% are perking up a bit. Thats as crude CLU7, +0.72% is still struggling to push back above $43 a barrel, swinging between gains and losses.

Europe SXXP, -0.35% , however, is looking more downbeat this morning, following a mixed session in Asia ADOW, +0.23%

Metals GCU7, +0.00% are on the rise, but the dollar DXY, -0.29% is pulling back against all other major currencies.

Read the latest in Market Snapshot

Airlines anyone? A few months ago when the United scandal raged on social media, investors duly shied away from shares in the industry. But its time to dive back into the sector, says J.C. Parets of the All Star Charts blog, who says the industry will take off as part of an inevitable rally in industrials.

If you want to look inside of industrials to see what could possibly take the broader sector higher, look no further than airlines and railroads, he said in a blog post.

To me, this looks like an upside resolution in the AMEX Airline Index $XAL that is about to make a run towards those former all-time highs in the 1990s, he added, pointing to this chart of the NYSE Arca Airline Index XAL, +0.06% .

Well get a snapshot of how well (or poor) the economy has done in June at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time, when the flash manufacturing and services PMIs come out. Home sales for May at 10 a.m. will be closely watched, too.

A trio of Fed speakers are also likely to keep investors on their toes, with St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Fed governor Jerome Powell all speaking after the market opens.

See: MarketWatchs economic calendar

Nobody is perfect, but I fundamentally believe he can evolve into the leader Uber needs today and that hes critical to its success Michael York, a product manager at ride-sharing service Uber, who started an employee petition to get Travis Kalanick back as chief executive.

Kalanick resigned earlier this week after a shareholder revolt.

15% Thats how much the pound GBPUSD, +0.3706% has lost in the year since the shock Brexit vote, getting no break as the uncertainty dragged on.

Read: Brexits impact on markets and the U.K., one year after the vote in charts

Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY, -12.05% is getting crushed after a disappointing earnings report.

Whirlpool Corp. WHR, -2.14% is also getting a little squeezed. London police said it was a fridge of Whirlpools Hotpoint brand that started the deadly fire in Grenfell Tower last week. The police are also considering manslaughter charges following the blaze.

Tesla TSLA, +0.45% is considering building a car factory in China to build electric vehicles for that market.

U.S. banks are strong and would be able to survive a severe recession, according to the Feds stress test of 34 of the nations biggest banks.

Biotech IBB, -0.28% and health care shares XLV, -0.17% are on track for their strongest weekly gain since November last year, after Republicans released a draft of their health-care overhaul bill.

It doesnt pay to be president. Donald Trumps net worth has dropped below the $3 billion mark, according to the most recent Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

And then theres good news for EU citizens living in the U.K. British Prime Minister Theresa May has offered permanent residency for the blocs citizens, post-Brexit.

Tonight Danes burn witches on bonfires to mark midsummer

Israeli airline El Al can no longer ask female passengers to change seats

Sand its actually rarer than you think

Qatar must meet 13 demands if it wants four other Arab states to lift sanctions

How to avoid sexual assault taught by Bill Cosby

The U.S. has banned imports of Brazilian beef

You can take your dog to work every day at these pet friendly companies

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

Follow MarketWatch on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Excerpt from:
Where to look for the next bitcoin-like rally if the sun shines right - MarketWatch