Details are in the works for the launch of the first aluminum-backed exchange-traded fund, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Though Glencore International, the world's biggest commodity trader, and Credit Suisse Group are still looking for both an ETF provider and regulatory approval, the new ETF is said to reflect growing interest in physically backed commodity products in the face of looming stricter U.S. regulation in the futures markets.

Abundant supplies of aluminum following a drop in demand associated with the economic downturn is also encouraging the creation of the ETF as a way to help soak up some of that supply and keep prices firm.

Recently, the price of aluminum on the London Metal Exchange has soared, trading some 50 percent higher than the seven-year lows it hit earlier this year, and though some analysts see further growth ahead, the massive inventory overhang could pose a threat to those gains. In fact, LME

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Instead, they’re also a commodity trader’s best friend.

FT laid out the case nicely on Thursday for why tea–which is already trading at an all-time high–may indeed have further to go:

“Traders now fear that the poor monsoon in India [one of the world's top exporters along with Kenya and Sri Lanka] and scanty rains in Kenya’s Rift Valley will cut output in the second half of the year.”

Meanwhile, raw sugar futures, which have surged some 90% this year already, may also have more upside given a global supply deficit (due to drought in India and excess rain in Brazil), growing demand as well as El-Nino related weather effects hitting India, the second largest producer.

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Washington University Professor James Morley on typical recession shapes and why they suggest we might see a strong recovery.

Harvard Professor Lucian Bebchuk on how to buy troubled assets while avoiding some of the problems pointed out by many analysts.

Oil 101 looks like a useful new book by commodity trader Morgan Downey.

And the Shadow Open Market Committee is back in business.

Martin Armstrong

Some interesting comments regarding the 1998 silver price manipulation made by Martin Armstrong in Look Behind the Curtain, April 9, 2009. During the late 1970s, the silver market was claimed to be “cornered” by the Hunt Brothers. That was far from true, for what they failed to understand, was that the attitude of the major brokerage houses was not that you were a pure trader-customer, but someone to pick - off for profit. During the 1980s, I had to take on some hedging projects that were awesome. One was in platinum. When you are the largest trader in a narrow market, they watch everything you do. If I was to sell, they assume the whole lot is ...