As stocks and commodity prices move higher again in response to another move lower in the US$, at some point there will be some differentiation in stocks between those companies with a large % of overseas exposure (and don’t see a margin squeeze from rising commodity prices) that will benefit from the weak $ and those companies who are more reliant on the US consumer that will get crimped by rising food and energy prices on top of a difficult labor market. Gasoline and crude futures today are rising to a one year high, corn is near 4 month highs, wheat is at a 2 month high, soybeans are near 2 month highs, sugar is near a 28 year high, and cocoa is at a 30 year high. Of course these are just futures prices and there is an obvious lag to when the changes show up in consumer prices but the trends bear watching. The average gallon of gasoline yesterday in particular, according to AAA, is at a 7 week high at $2.60, a .10 away from a one year high.
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