iShares MSCI Global Agriculture Producers Fund (NYSE: VEGI) targets the front end of the production chain (fertilizers or agricultural materials) while excluding exposure from companies at the end of the production chain (packaging and marketing). This is a bit similar to but nowhere near identical to the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO).
 
iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers Fund (NYSE: FILL) tracks the MSCI ACWI Select Energy Producers Investable Market Index.  This is similar to the ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas (NYSE: DIG), but without the leverage.

iShares MSCI Global Select Metals & Mining Producers Fund (NYSE: PICK) aims to track the MSCI ACWI Select Metals & Mining Producers Ex Gold & Silver Investable Market Index. This one is not identical to but has overlaps with the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (NYSE: XME).

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners Fund (NYSE: RING) aims to track the MSCI ACWI Select Gold Miners Investable Market Index.  We consider this an alternative to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX).

iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners Fund (NYSE: SLVP) aims to track the MSCI ACWI Select Silver Miners Investable Market Index.  We would consider its an alternative to the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL).

As far as why these are different from some other ‘production’ ETFs, iShares explains that these include only companies at, or near, the initial phase of production of the commodity. Investors can target the front end of the production chain instead of including the back-end of the production chain to focus on the aspects more sensitive to fluctuations in the underlying commodity price.  Companies further down the production cycle are impacted by a number of factors in addition to commodity prices.

An ETF for just about anything… now competing ETFs for many more strategies.

JON C. OGG

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Maintained Buy but cut target to $700 at Canaccord Genuity.
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
ICICI Bank Ltd. (NYSE: IBN) Cut to Underperform and named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Hold at Kaufman; Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $35 at Credit Suisse; Maintained Hold with $24 target at Canaccord Genuity.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
NCI. Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. Co. (NYSE: TNP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) Cut to Hold at Needham.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $92 at Argus.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 price target at Argus.
Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) lowered targets and estimates by Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 46 points to 12,625.19 (0.37%), the NASDAQ rose more than 18 points (0.67%) to 2,788.33, and the S&P 500 rose 0.5% or more than 6 points to 1,314.52.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) maintained ‘sell’ at Argus; Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) maintained as ‘buy’ with target price of $130 but lowered estimates at Argus; and Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed yesterday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is up nearly 4% at $31.55; Sealy Corp. Inc. (NYSE: ZZ) is down nearly -18% at $1.51; Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is down -0.75% at $186.39; Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is up 2.65% at $6.98; Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) is down -3.51% at $14.02; Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) is down -0.22% at $44.37; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is up 5.42% at $18.29; and Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is up 3.33% at $9.32.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is up more than 26% at $4.30. The telecom services company reported much better-than-expected earnings for its third fiscal quarter.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is down more than -15% at $8.32. The solar panel maker is falling following Germany’s announcement that it will begin lowering its solar subsidies.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -15% at $$1.80. This Chinese solar panel maker is suffering from the German subsidy cut as well.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is down -14% at $3.18. Another Chinese solar maker hit by the cuts to German subsidies. The list could go on, but you get the idea.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales

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American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Reiterated Buy with $60 target at Argus.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Maintained Buy but cut target to $11 at Canaccord Genuity.
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Started as Buy at UBS.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Maintained Outperform but cut earnings estimates at Credit Suisse.
Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) Cut to Hold with $79 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
France Telecom SA (NYSE: FTE) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LECO) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
MarkWest Energy Partners (NYSE: MWE) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Maintained Outperform but cut target to $34 from $35 at Credit Suisse; Maintained Hold and lowered estimates at Argus.
Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS) Cut to Hold with $32 target at Canaccord Genuity.
SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) Maintained Neutral but cut target to $7 from $10 at Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $46 price target at Argus.
Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Reiterated Buy with $40 price target at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) downgraded to Hold at Benchmark; Raised targets at boutique firm Global Equities Research.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Maintained Underperform and cut estimates at Needham.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse (full summary).
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) Raised to Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE: TRN) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Started as Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VWM) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

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JON C. OGG

Iron ore purchases have seriously begun migrating to the spot market, which is particularly hard on small miners, though less of a problem for BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale. These giant miners can take a longer view of market conditions, and all are spending to expand production to meet growing demand. And demand remains strong to some extent because spot prices are, in many cases, lower than contract prices.

If customer demand continues to be strong, and the iron ore miners are unable to negotiate advantageous quarterly contracts as spot prices decline, then expanded production hardly seems the answer. That is especially the case if production costs continue to rise.

The situation in copper production is similar. China, which is the world’s largest consumer of copper, has been slowing down its copper refining industry and pulling materials from inventory rather than buying more. At some point, the refiners will have to restock, but that day could be some time off. Volatile copper prices are, so far at least, keeping Chinese buyers from making large purchases.

Copper prices have risen from near $3 per pound at the beginning of the month to around $3.40 per pound today, though still well below late July prices of around $4.40 per pound. But unlike the case with iron ore, demand is not as strong and a strike at Freeport’s Peruvian and Indonesian mines is lowering production goals. BHP has delayed some deliveries originally scheduled for the second half of 2011 to next year as it recovers from strike at its Chilean copper mine.

BlackRock’s claim that the big miners are undervalued appears to have merit based on the current state of the market and on expected demand from China. The real question might be one of timing. Iron ore and copper prices are currently low and may still be searching for a bottom. When that bottom is reached is anybody’s guess, but there is little reason to believe that it will happen very soon.

Demand for iron ore and copper remains strong in India and Brazil, while demand from developed countries is steady at best. Without a demand spike from China, though, India and Brazil together will not push prices significantly higher. Increased production and lower customer acceptance of quarterly contract pricing could continue to weaken, if not erode, prices further.

All these mining company stocks posted a new 52-week low earlier this month, although all have begun to climb back. For the past 12 months, BHP is down the least, at 6.5% and Southern Copper is down the most, at 31%. And today, when the DJIA is down about 1.2%, all these miners, except Southern, are down nearly twice as much. BlackRock has not made many converts today.

Paul Ausick

Read America’s Most Overpaid CEOs

24/7 Wall St. obtained the list of companies with the 100 highest paid CEOs from GMI, an independent governance ratings firm. The CEOs’ total compensation includes base salary, perks, cash bonuses, equity awards and any increase in pensions and other retirement benefits. We then looked at the stock performance of these companies during 2010. We got the stock performance data from Capital IQ. Our list is comprised of those companies whose CEOs were among the highest paid during 2010, yet their stocks performed the worst and had the largest price drops that same year. We excluded chief executives who are no longer with their company, like Mark Hurd of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), who might have otherwise made the list.

Once again, this list makes it clear that shareholders who cannot effectively vote to have management removed are saddled not only with those ineffectual executives, but also with their pay packages. The notion of “pay for performance” is still not applied systematically among America’s largest public companies. There is no sign that the SEC or any other regulator is likely to change the method by which CEOs at public companies are compensated, so next year, there will be another 24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEOs.

The largest bank in the U.S., for now, is one of 17 financial firms being sued by the the Federal Housing Finance Agency for failing to disclose risks of mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It appeared Moynihan had settled one of Bank of America’s most other critical challenges. The bank reached an agreement with large mortgage investors, which included Pimco and Blackrock (NYSE: BLK), over mortgage values. The cost of the settlement was to be $8.5 billion. The agreement was effectively blocked in federal court by a number of homeowners. There is a likelihood that more suits about Bank of America’s mortgage practices will be filed between now and year end.

No matter what Moynihan does, the market remains skeptical, which is why the bank’s board is increasingly likely to replace him. Even after Buffett’s investment and the China Bank of Construction sale, Bank of America’s shares are barely above $7. It traded for over $19 a year ago last April.

The number of people qualified to run a huge international bank is relatively small. The number that Wall St. would approve of is much smaller. Based on skills and recent accomplishments, these are the six people most likely to be approached for the job.

Heidi Miller was one of Jamie Diamond’s long-time senior operating executives. Miller has been named American Banker’s most powerful female bank executive. Miller has also been on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women list . More important than the praise are her success at JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and her availability. Miller “retired” recently as the head of JPMorgan International. She ran the bank’s Treasury and Security Services, and sat on the bank’s 15-person operating committee.

Susan Wagner is the Vice Chairman of Blackrock, arguably the best-run publicly traded financial company in the U.S. Wagner is also a member of the corporate Risk Committee at Blackrock. Blackrock is the world’s largest money manager and oversees $3.6 trillion. Her mentor has been Wall St. legend Laurence Fink. Wagner may be able to rely on her relationships with several powerful members of the Blackrock board, which includes the head of Barclays and former CEO of Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America bought during the credit crisis. Her risk management background is critical.

Michael L. Corbat is CEO of Citi Holdings, which is the “bad bank” created in 2009 to wall off some of Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) less desirable assets. Corbat’s management experience is as broad as anyone’s in the bank business. He was an investment banker for most of his career. He then ran the huge Global Wealth Management division at Citigroup. And he took on Citi’s weakest portfolio companies — the CitiFinancial and CitiMortgage finance operations, Primerica insurance unit, and, in addition, $300 billion of distressed assets.

Richard K. Davis is the CEO U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), which is the sixth largest bank in the U.S. U.S. Bancorp has been considered one of the best run American banks for years. It did not get into many of the risky businesses that its larger peers did, and its stock was not nearly as badly hurt as those of other large banks during the credit crisis. Research firm Morningstar recently wrote, “U.S. Bancorp is in a league of its own. Its large fee-based businesses, conservative underwriting, and management’s ability to recognize opportunity during crisis set the company apart from its peers.”

Frank P. Bramble, Sr., is the former vice chairman of MBNA, and is a current Bank of America board member. He held the vice chairman’s job when Bank of America bought the company in 2005 for $35 billion. When the federal government orchestrated a restructuring of the Bank of America board, which included the addition of four new members, Bramble was well-regarded enough to be retained. Bramble has been head of the U.S. operations of Allied Irish Bank Group and chairman of Allfirst Financial. Perhaps the thing that recommends him the most to be head of Bank of America is his experience as a long-time board member.

John Mack is the best candidate to run Bank of America and the least likely to take the job. He is the chairman of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and was its CEO during the credit crisis. He is widely credited with actions that kept the investment firm independent when bank stocks collapsed. Mack has been co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) and chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mack is the current dean of Wall St. leadership. If he were to take the CEO job at Bank of America, it would be viewed even more positively than Warren Buffett’s investment.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Maintained Buy with $255 target at BofA/ML.
Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTE) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Reinstated as Buy with $216 price target at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) lowered target to $3.15 at BofA/ML.
Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack Inc. (NYSE: PBY) Maintained Buy but cut target to $13 at Argus.
Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Saks, Inc. (NYSE: SKS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Skullcandy Inc. (NASDAQ: SKUL) Started as Buy with $22 target at BofA/ML; Started as BUy at KeyBanc.
Universal Technical Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) Reiterated Buy and $20 target at Argus.
Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

2.21 PM In the midst of the chaos of the market Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) passed Exxon Mobil (NASDAQ: XOM) as the most valuable company traded on any US exchange. It’s market cap–$339 billion

2.13 PM Stocks have trimmed half of their gains before the Fed comments. The DJIA is now only up .85%

12.37 Market flattens ahead of Bernanke comments. Traders appear to be avoiding the risk of a sharp move when the Fed makes its comments on the economy and any remedies it might offer to a slowing economy. These comments are due at 2.15. The Nasdaq is steady up 3.7% to 2,444. The DJIA holds its own at 11,400 up 2.1%

12.04 PM Europe exchanges closed higher except in Germany which reported a drop in exports for July. The FTSE rose 1.9% but the Dax ended down .1%. Banks, the victims of the collapse in EU market yesterday, helped mold the recovery

11.58 AM Pressure on oil price rise today should ease. OPEC said it cut if forecast for the balance of 2011 by 150,000 barrels a day. Cartel expects lax demand in US and China

11.47 AM Breaking Bloomberg data shows majority of economists believe that Fed will ease monetary policy this years. If bank stocks continue to fall, central bank may have to option to help money center banks to raise capital

11.45 AM The Dow has backed down modestly and is now less than 200 points higher–1.6%. The Nasdaq has not clawed back most of its horrible losses from yesterday, but is up 3%. Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the prime drive of the tech recovery.

11.25 AM Vix “fear index” (The CBOE Market Volatility Index) is down to 41.73 from near-record 48 yesterday, extraordinarily high. The Vix is not low enough for investors to believe the roller coaster is not over

10.59 Oddly, oil and gold are each higher, crude up .7% to $81.83, and gold up 1.9% to $1,734, near a record. Move to gold is a sign that the markets are still rattled enough to keep cash out of equities. Oil rally continues after massive sell off

10.37 AM The market has rallied 2% on the DJIA and 3% on Nasdaq. Perversely, safe haven stocks are not rising as money moves back into risk. Altria (NYSE: MO), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Cablevision (NASDAQ: CVC) have shown no movement

10.05 AM   Famous bank analyst rates Bank of America a buy, a strange call for a researcher who has disliked the bank. Shares rallied 8%.

9.40 AM The market did not soar up as expected. The DJIA is only up .7% and the Nasdaq up 1%. Part of the reason is a sell off of safe haven stocks like Altria (NYSE: MO) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)

9.23 AM Gallup showed a sharp drop: Americans’ economic confidence plunged to -53 in the week ending Aug. 7, down sharply from -43 two weeks ago and -34 a month ago to a level not seen since the recession days of March 2009. Seventy-seven percent say the economy is “getting worse” and 55% rate it “poor.”

8.40 AM In the latest sign that markets are in a broad recovery, oil moved above $80. Several economists believe oil is oversold and that demand will remain strong. Also, productivity declines in the second quarter by .3%. This may be an indication companies will need to hire. The market had little reaction to the news

8.15 AM The odds of a solid open grew as non-bank shares indicated higher. Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) was higher by 4.5% in the pre-market and US Steel (NYSE: X) was higher by over 3%.

8.04 AM In an early sign that Wall St. may view bank shares as oversold, FBR ungraded Well Fargo (NYSE: WFC) to “buy”

7.44 AM Bank shares, the major victims of the sell-off are up in pre-market. Bank of America (NYSE BAC) higher by 4%. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) up 2%

7.42 AM Europe got healthy as indexes moved to up slightly. US currently indicated to open up 100 as market waits for Bernanke.

7.08 AM Shares in Europe have begun to recover and the FTSE is now down only 1%. The Dax is off over 3% as German exports softened in June

6.53 AM Blackrock (NYSE: BLK) management said it will use profits from it gold and fixed income portfolios to buy equities, according to Reuters.

6.23 AM The market’s attention turned toward Bernanke and whether he will announce something called “QE3″ later today as a means to steady the market. European markets steadied but US futures continued to ride wildly up and down.

5.56 AM Oil has plunged to $79 on concerns about a worldwide recession. The price was close to $100 just a month ago. The precipitous drop has pressured energy shares with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) and BP (NYSE: BP) off sharply.

5.24 AM There was some hope that Europe markets would be a firewall against the global sell-off as they opened down only slightly. That has not continued. Indices in German, France, and the UK are down an average of 4% as concerns about a dying global economy rise.

4.03 AM Stocks in Europe quickly sold down so that the FTSE and Dax are off over 2%. US future gave up almost all gains

3.23 Asia trades off lows with the Hang Seng down 2.9% and improvement from a 6% drop at the open. Most Europe exchanges open flat to slightly down. US futures rally sharply with Dow futures higher by 300 points.

3.25 China inflation surges with CPI up 6.5% for July. The central bank may tighten which would tend to slow the economy

Douglas A. McIntyre