China Shuangji Cement is a large Chinese cement producer and it is about to double its production when it opens a new high-volume plant. The Chinese government is still spending on infrastructure projects like crazy.
From the monthly archives:
February 2009
Chinese officials think their stimulus plan is working. The Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet’s National Development and Reform Commission, Liu Tienan, said:
“We have set a growth rate of about 8 percent for 2009. I think we have the conditions, the possibility and the confidence to deliver that. Despite the downward pressure on the Chinese economy [...]
There was more interesting market action today. The S&P 500 closed at a 12-year low, with other key indices (transports, utilities) also falling sharply. Despite that selling, long bonds couldn’t catch a bid. The futures finished down 31/32 at 124 25/32, a fresh low for this bearish move. Meanwhile, the dollar index is finishing the [...]
China Life Insurance Group is interested in purchasing AIG’s Asian Insurance unit, to maintain the stability of their Chinese operations.
My Opinion: We are witnessing a paradigm shift in global economics where it is no longer the traditional North American or Western European nations coming to the aid of Asian economies, as we have grown [...]
We’ll have to see where gold ends, the day, but it started the morning strong. Strong enough that I made new recommendations for Red-Hot Commodity ETFs and Red-Hot Global Small-Caps. Then gold turned lower. Dang!
These positions are small and we’re using stops, so if the market turns against us, it won’t hurt that much. And meanwhile, [...]
While there is a threat Asian companies will emulate their U.S. peers and cut dividends this year, it should not distract serious investors from the huge dividend yields currently available in the region.
Current yields in the region are at their highest levels in almost two decades, offering more bargain opportunities than existed during the 1998 [...]
Every quarter, the FDIC releases a document called the Quarterly Banking Profile. It provides a wealth of data about banking industry losses, loan performance, failed banks, and more. The latest report (PDF Link) just hit the tape, and here are some of the details:
* The banking industry as a whole lost $26.2 billion. That was [...]
The Obama administration has released its big-picture budget outlook for 2009 and beyond. The big headline: The U.S. government is on track to record a deficit of a whopping $1.75 TRILLION in fiscal 2009. That is by far the biggest deficit ever, and almost four times as large as the $459 billion figure for 2008. [...]
In the wake of yesterday’s dismal existing home sales figures for January, we received awful new home sales figures today. The details can be found below …
* New home sales collapsed 10.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 from 344,000 in December. That was worse than the average forecast of economists surveyed by [...]
In an article I just turned in for Dow Jones Marketwatch (it will be published in March) I wondered about the safety of Caribbean Banks — the ones that promise “ultimate privacy” for discerning clients. Basically, they’re banks where you go if you …
A) think you’re going to get sued and want to shelter some [...]
