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Surging oil prices have often sent stock markets tumbling this year when, according to one view, investors should embrace rising energy costs because they boost the bottom line of many large-cap U.S. companies. The energy sector is now the largest earnings contributor to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX, Wall Street's benchmark for corporate America's profitability, said David Bianco, head of U.S. equity strategy at investment bank UBS in New York. Many investors see the rise in crude prices as a negative because of its potential impact on economic growth and the wallets of American consumers. That view, however,...

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2008 – The support Chrysler LLC offers the military is “an investment in freedom,” the company’s chief executive officer said today. Bob Nardelli, Chrysler chairman and CEO, talks with Marian Watt of Operation Quiet Comfort on May 16, 2008. Nardelli was at the Pentagon to talk with senior defense officials regarding his company's military-support initiatives. He visited representatives of some 38 troop-support groups who were participating in the 4th Annual America Supports You Salute to Our Military Men and Women. Defense Department photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Bob Nardelli, Chrysler’s top official,...

No substance of value has held its allure longer than gold. It is found in prehistoric burial sites, in jewelry designs the world over and in modern-day electronic circuitry. Gold can also be found in recent investment reports noting that it topped out at more than $1,000 an ounce in mid-March, up from about $680 a year ago. Although it dipped to just under $900 late in April, it has had a tremendous run, up from $350 five years ago. What has driven these price gains? What does gold tell us about the economy's future? Should ordinary investors buy it?...

Vast amounts of money are flooding the world's commodities markets, driving up prices of staple foods like wheat and rice. Biofuels and droughts can't fully explain the recent food crisis -- hedge funds and small investors bear some responsibility for global hunger. Not long ago, Dwight Anderson welcomed reporters with open arms. He liked to entertain them with stories from the world of big money. Anderson is a New York hedge fund manager, and as recently as last October he would talk with enthusiasm about his visits to Malaysian palm-oil plantations and Brazilian grain farms. "You could clearly see how...

Starbucks, the coffee house chain, on Wednesday blamed a “sharp weakening” in the consumer economy for an unexpected decline in its US sales, sending its shares plunging more than 10 per cent in after-hours trading. Howard Schultz, who returned to the role of chief executive in January, said “the current economic environment is the weakest in our company’s history”, citing the housing slump and rising energy and food costs. The company said conditions were particularly bad in California and Florida, which account for 32 per cent of its retail revenues and have been hard hit by the slump in the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators on Tuesday said placing tougher restrictions on agricultural commodity trading will not alleviate high and volatile prices in those markets, and could make matters worse. Farmers, ranchers and grain processors met with regulators in Washington to discuss the causes behind turbulent markets and historically high prices for wheat, corn and other foodstuffs. Farmers and food producers argue speculation by Wall Street investors -- not a supply-demand imbalance -- is what's driving up prices and volatility, making it harder for commercial buyers and sellers of grain to use the exchanges as a tool for limiting the...

OTTAWA -- Employees at Dell Canada's Ottawa operation learned Wednesday morning that the customer contact centre - once one of the city's fastest growing employers - will close its doors. More than 1,100 employees will lose their jobs. Only about 100 of the site's employees walked out of the morning's meeting with a job. They will remain in Ottawa to support the computer maker's sales division. "It's surreal, but there have been signs along the way," said one employee, who did not want to give his name. Some of the job cuts are immediate, while others will be phased out...

Alaska is seeking bids to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of the state’s oil and gas infrastructure to prevent a repeat of the corrosion and spills suffered in recent years at the Prudhoe Bay oilfield, the largest in the US. The engineering analysis, for which bids are due by April 28, is being conducted on the instructions of Governor Sarah Palin. She ordered the audit – to take two years and cost $5m – after the biggest spill at the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay in 2006 revealed corrosion in the pipelines and forced the closure of half the oilfield. The state...

Russian oil output in 2003 was increasing at such a swift pace even Saudi Arabia worried about upstart energy companies – including Yukos and Sibneft – then posting production gains of more than 20 per cent. But from 2004 the Moscow government changed its tax regime and began to take over privately held assets, including Yukos, and so Saudi Arabia’s fears proved short-lived. As a result of these and other policies, average production growth in Russia has slowed to 2.5 per cent from a high point of 12 per cent in 2003. The problem has become so severe that Russian...

The under-30 crowd may be saddled with college loans, scratching for jobs and living on plastic, but they have one thing their elders can only envy: time. Time to get their finances in order and let the magic of compound interest turn a quail-size nest egg into a honking stash that will see them through their later years. Now, if Lesley Scorgie can just get their attention and change some habits -- like overspending and undersaving. "Our generation is the have-to-have generation, and we are not willing to wait -- to save for things -- anymore," said Scorgie, a frugal-minded...

The US Federal Reserve has sent staff into some of Wall Street’s biggest firms and its New York branch is gathering evidence on key traders’ activities as America’s central bank raises its scrutiny of risk to an unprecedented level. Fed staff have set up shop in Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns to monitor their financial condition just days after Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, proposed that the Fed become the financial industry’s “risk czar”. This is the first time in more than a decade that the Fed has put staff in securities firms...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Big Wall Street investment companies are borrowing a bit more from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending window. The Federal Reserve reports that those firms averaged $38.1 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending program. That compared with $32.9 billion in the previous week and $13.4 billion in the first week the lending facility opened.

NEW YORK (AP) - Commodities prices fell in a broad sell-off Monday as profit-taking on the last day of the quarter and a bearish U.S. agriculture report battered everything from precious metals to grains and energy futures. Relentless global demand for agricultural coupled with dwindling world stockpiles has exacerbated the supply crunch for wheat, soybeans and corn, which have spiked to historic levels in the past year. Hoping to capitalize on the boom, U.S. farmers are expected to plant about 75 million acres of soybeans and nearly 64 million acres of wheat in 2008, year-to-year increases of 18 percent and...

It has been almost 160 years since the first California gold rush but, with prices hitting record highs, prospectors are once again flocking to the state’s rivers and deserts in search of the precious metal. Gold’s ascent – prices crossed the $1,000 an ounce barrier this month and remain well above $900 – has sent sales of mining equipment soaring. “There’s been a dramatic change . . . our sales have risen four-fold in the last three months,” said Harrigan McGregor, owner of GoldFeverProspecting.com, an equipment retailer in northern California. “This is the second big California gold rush. We’ve had...

The word "INFLATION" covers two very different concepts, and it's important to keep them separate, writes David Galland for Casey Research. The first concept is monetary inflation, which is when the supply of money increases faster than the supply of goods and services. The other concept is price inflation, which refers to an increase in the overall level of prices for goods and services. The relationship between the two is the relationship of cause and effect. Monetary inflation causes price inflation, because an excess of money reduces the value of each monetary unit. But while almost everyone sees price inflation...

KARBALA — Boosting agribusiness, tourism and private investment by way of social venture capital were the top issues discussed at a March 12 meeting at Iraqi Police Headquarters in Karbala. Iraqi government officials, local businessmen, Multi-National Division - Center leaders and provincial reconstruction team members participated in the meeting. Security in Karbala is steadily improving, said Karbala provincial governor Aqil al-Khazali, as evidenced by the millions of pilgrims who safely commemorated Ashura in the holy city. “Karbala is ready for investment,” al-Khazali said. Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, MND-C deputy commander for support, agreed safety has improved and Iraqis are doing...

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street fluctuated Wednesday as investors sorted through a downbeat Federal Reserve assessment of the economy and were also disappointed by a plan to bail out troubled bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. The Fed's Beige Book report on regional economies indicated growth at the start of the year was sluggish and accompanied by rising price pressures. The report also cited tighter credit standards. Meanwhile, Ambac said it plans to issue more than $1 billion in common stock to help shore up its battered balance sheet. Investors had hoped for a contribution from global banks to...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that some small U.S. banks might go under during the current stress prompted by housing market problems, but the U.S. bank system overall remained solid. "I expect there will be some failures," Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee, referring to smaller regional banks who became heavily invested in real estate. "Among the largest banks, the capital ratios remain good and I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large, internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system," he said in response to a...

“Energy independence from foreign sources.” A mantra repeated over and over again by Al Gore, by the Hollywood elite and by candidates running for the 2008 Presidential nomination. But rarely is it ever pointed out how this phrase is but an oxymoron with respect to United States energy policy, which becomes ever more vulnerable, not just as the result of its failing infrastructure, but from misguided public policy decisions. And never is the topic broached publicly in how much of the US energy infrastructure and lines of transmission have been consumed by a constant stream of foreign direct investors and...

I am not in the habit of posting vanities, but I consider this an important topic, and I have not seen any articles in the MSM or alternative media about it. As an investor, I try to consider the probability of various outcomes happening, and plan accordingly. Rather than react when it is too late, I prefer to plan well ahead and consider contingencies. I regard the potential change in power in DC in 2008 as a distinct threat to individual financial security, and perhaps even to individual liberty. First, although McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, claims that he will...

Brazil offers redemption from the credit crunch By Elaine Moore Published: January 25 2008 17:37 | Last updated: January 25 2008 17:37 Lowering inflation, a stable political situation and a raft of interesting mid and small- cap companies is driving increased investor interest in Brazil – making it one of the more attractive emerging markets for 2008. Those who put their money into emerging markets such as Brazil enjoyed a profitable year in 2007. But uncertainty about wider economic markets has made it more difficult for analysts to predict the performance of emerging markets over the next 12 months. At...

Investing in stuff develops into a fine art Carl Mortished Stuff you can burn, stuff you can eat and stuff you can hoard. The world is going back to basics. We knew about oil in three digits and gold beating its record and now silver is getting a polish. In Britain, we had forgotten about coal - and the price of the ugly, polluting fuel is riding the up escalator. Banks that invest in whizzy things such as credit card receivables and mortgage securities are yesterday's cold turkey. Instead, the moneymen are buying something to stave off the chill, to...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of people in northeastern China have protested on the streets and surrounded government offices demanding help recovering money from a get-rich-quick scheme to raise ants to make an aphrodisiac tonic. Hundreds of anti-riot troops and police in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, were deployed to stop protesters reaching the provincial government and Communist Party headquarters, residents said on Wednesday. ...

From Russia With Love? by: Emmanuel Opati, October 25, 2007 Contrary to popular perception, Russia is said to be seeking public-private partnerships with western experts to invest vast sums of Russian savings, Charles Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank (Russia) said at the Heritage Foundation last week. He said today Russia has over half of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in cash yet 25 million people in Russia live in poverty. The reason, according to Ryan, is that that institutions in Russia are still weak and the Russian bureaucracy is not trusted to invest that money wisely. “Therefore there is...

New Swedish companies are bursting with ideas in IT and biotech. It's time for international investors to sit up and take notice, says leading entrepreneur Johan Staël von Holstein.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has entered a recession, according to highly-regarded investor Jim Rogers, who told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday he was switching out of the dollar and into yen, the yuan and the Swiss franc. The veteran investor, who predicted the 1999 commodities rally, also said he was still bullish about surging Chinese stock markets despite worries over a bubble. Fears are growing over the health of the U.S. economy after the fallout from the subprime mortgage market crisis and the global credit crunch it triggered. The U.S. Federal Reserve has already slashed borrowing costs...

The Chinese government launched a company Saturday to invest $200 billion from its vast foreign reserves, creating one of the world's richest investment funds at a time of rising scrutiny of such state-run entities. Financial analysts are watching to see where the new company invests and the impact on financial markets, especially demand for U.S. Treasury securities, in which Beijing holds a big share of its reserves. Beijing announced plans for the fund in March in hopes of earning higher returns on its $1.3 trillion in foreign reserves, which are the world's largest. The China Investment Corp. will start out...

After pretending an unwonted firmness for a few weeks, the central banks in both Britain and the United States caved this week, accepting financial sector bailouts and in the Fed’s case lowering interest rates. Moral hazard has thus been made immoral certainty; financial market participants who indulge in grossly speculative activity can be “highly confident” (in the words of the old Drexel Burnham commitment letters) that they will be bailed out by the public sector, i.e. ultimately by the taxpayer. Rarely has there been such an obvious subsidy of the overpaid by the beleaguered. It raises the question: what if...

<p>The housing downturn, credit crunch, gloomy employment data and a parade of maudlin financial forecasts have been enough to send some investors scrambling for bubble gum and beer.</p> <p>While economists jawbone about whether the U.S. will sink into recession, investors already are thinking of ways to prepare their stock portfolios for a downturn.</p>

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's financial secretary has ordered regulators to study how to reconcile Muslim financial rules with local laws in hopes of launching a market for Islamic bonds, according to a speech transcript reviewed Tuesday. Secretary John Tsang said he hopes to promote Hong Kong, a popular stock market for Chinese companies, as a gateway for Middle Eastern investment in China, according to transcripts from a Monday speech at a financial conference. "Islamic finance is an important element of the global financial system," he said. "For Hong Kong to be a major international financial center — not just...

Sodo landlord Henry Liebman, that area's largest single landowner, says he couldn't have amassed as much property and wealth without money from foreigners. Those investors use a little-known government program to gain citizenship in exchange for their money, with which Liebman is buying up industrial real estate. The EB-5 visa program, launched in 1990, grants foreigners conditional citizenship upon their investment of either $500,000 or $1 million in an American business venture. The smaller investment is sufficient if the venture is in a high-unemployment area, defined as one with 1.5 times the national average unemployment rate. Areas in which EB-5...

"The preliminary estimates show there is effectively no value left for the investors in the Enhanced Leverage Fund and very little value left for the investors in the High-Grade Fund as of June 30, 2007," according to the letter. A copy of the letter was obtained by Reuters.

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

Sweden is in the European top three and probably one of the world’s best when it comes to attracting Venture Capital. In relation to GDP, Swedish companies are the best in Europe According to the EVCA (European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association) 71 billion euro was invested in last year by Venture Capital companies. That is an increase with 50 percent compared to 2005. Among the European countries Swedish companies are the top receivers in relation to GDP. 1,44 percent of the GDP was invested by Venture Capital in Sweden last year. Great Britain is second with 1,26 percent...

China sells more US T-bonds By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2007-06-19 15:23 China sold more US treasury bonds in April than any time in at least seven years, a signal that the nation may be diversifying the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves, Shanghai Securities News reported today. Statistics from the US Treasury Department show that China sold a net US$5.8 billion of T-bonds, the first drop in holdings since October 2005. Japan remains the largest holder of US T-bonds, with its holdings reaching US$614.8 billion in April, according to the statistics. China remained the second-largest holder of US T-bonds, as its...

The nation’s transportation experts have identified the top three priorities: a national freight network; urban congestion; and connecting new urban centers with the interstate system. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, meeting in national conference last month, heard futurists predict that the cost of meeting the transportation needs would be $3.1 trillion over the next 25 years. State and local governments are turning to "public-private partnerships" (PPP) to produce the funding. The City of Chicago was happy to partner with a Spanish-Australian group that paid $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease to operate the Chicago Skyway. The...

The Chinese government is to use $3bn of its vast foreign exchange reserves to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in Blackstone, the US buy-out fund, in an unprecedented move that underlines Beijing’s desire to tap into the private equity boom. The investment will coincide with Blackstone’s landmark $40bn stock market listing, expected in the next few months, and will allow the private equity group to nearly double its original target of raising $4bn. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chief executive, hailed the deal – the first time Beijing has invested its foreign reserve in a commercial transaction – as an “historic...

The Barents region is probably one of the most exciting places around the world to invest in today. More and more people and companies are getting aware of this. In fact, even Swedish politicians are beginning to realize it. Like so many times before in European history, the light comes from the North. Today however, it's not about securing the position of Protestantism or rebuilding a European continent struck by a world war with the resources of Swedish industry. In our time, it's about making ALL of Europe aware of what treasures lay in Capitalism and traditional work ethics. ALL...

President Hugo Chávez wants the private sector to invest in Venezuela, by arguing that the government is not at odds with businesses. "Are you willing to invest in Venezuela? Here, we are. This government is not an enemy of Venezuelan businesses. We are ready to give them a stake, as we are doing it in different ambits." "Nevertheless, domestic businesses should not lend themselves to attack their own homeland, as it was the case five years ago, to cause the collapse of the government and the democratic system," the ruler clarified.

What is your experience with either the newsletter, or Weber Asset Management? Thanks. http://www.fidelitymonitor.com/ http://www.weberasset.com/

Al Parish, a prominent economics professor at Charleston Southern University and a flamboyant fixture in the local business community, was accused Thursday of securities fraud by the federal government, which said perhaps tens of millions of dollars are missing. Parish and his Parish Economics LLC, a company owned by Parish and his wife that has invested on behalf of an estimated 300 individuals and companies, were sued for five counts of civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Russian Ministry of Regional Development is going to introduce a twenty-year program covering expansion development of Russian constituent territories to the government. In case the program is ratified, eight urban agglomerations with multimillion populations will be created. Analysts suppose these new mega-cities will yield to neither Moscow, nor St. Petersburg in size and population. However, there are opinions of incredulous origin, as implementation of the project requires immense funds to be invested in. The idea of long-term development of Russian regions has been worked out since the summer of 2005; then the first draft of the project was represented...

Checking interest in the financial markets and investments ping list at Free Republic. While many folks often discuss various economy and financial news here, there doesn't seem to be a ping list (per my recent search). Being an active participant in the markets and Free Republic, as well as very interested and delighted in discussing/debating the above with others, I volunteer to maintain a new Financial Markets, Economy and Investments ping list, where all the Boeing vs Airbus, capitalism vs socialism, DOW up 250pts, DOW down 416pts, and various other market-related items (such as, equities derivatives, naked short selling, corporate...

Viacom Once Again Displays its Anti-Christian Position The Timothy Plan Mutual Fund Group Condemns Upcoming Show MAITLAND, Fl., Mar. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- Comedy Central, a wholly- owned division of MTV Networks, whose parent company is New York based VIACOM, preparing to rebroadcast the ‘Naughty hottie’ episode of the “Sarah Silverman Program” tonight at 10:30pm EST, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/staticarticles/article54607.html has drawn the ire of America’s Pro-Life/Pro- Family Mutual Fund Group – the Timothy Plan. “To air, and rebroadcast a program, comedy or not, that depicts the main character having sex with God brings VIACOM’s anti-Christian vitriol to an all time low”, said...

Less than two months after ascending to the United States Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies whose major investors included some of his biggest political donors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that was starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu. In March 2005, two weeks after buying about $5,000 of its shares, Mr. Obama took the lead in a legislative push for more federal spending to battle the disease. The most recent financial disclosure form for Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, also shows that he bought more...

Markets: China's stock dive, triggered by news that communist leaders plan to recalibrate output, should serve as a reminder to U.S. investors that China still runs a command-and-control economy. And it's anything but transparent. The West has no way to confirm the numbers the Beijing apparatchiks feed us, even as we hitch our fortunes closer to theirs. We accept unblinkingly China's reports of 10% GDP growth at our own peril. Sure, it's "red hot." But how real is it? How much is just inflation? What share is military spending? No one bothers to ask. (Isn't it amazing how Chinese growth...

Paris is less attractive for international financial companies than London partly because of French attitudes to business, according to a leading US investment banker. “London made it very attractive for people to come there and work there, and I think in France, quite frankly, attitudes exist that cause people to shy away from that part of the world in terms of being a financial centre,” ... Mr Perella pointed to concerns about “raids” on international companies by the French tax authorities. “There have been a lot of stories ...of raids into people’s homes and offices to seize their computers to...

Chinese officials are trying to deflect blame for the country's pollution onto foreign firms, accusing them of "environmental colonialism," experts say. The move follows government concern over thousands of anti-pollution protests in the past year. In a December 3 opinion piece in The Washington Post, a leading China analyst called the effort a "blame game." Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said that Chinese officials, the press, and some activists have charged multinational corporations with "exporting pollution" by sourcing their products in China and ignoring environmental rules. Economy said the campaign aimed...

Iran's oil minister admitted yesterday that Tehran was having trouble financing oil projects, in a rare acknowledgment of the cost of its nuclear dispute. "Currently, overseas banks and financiers have decreased their co-operation," Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told Shana, the oil ministry news agency. The statement underlined the impact of de facto financial sanctions on the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' second biggest oil producer. As the controversy over Iran's nuclear programme has escalated, the US has applied pressure on European banks and financial institutions to curb dealings with Tehran. The fact that the UN Security Council could soon impose the...

Allocating assets: Your portfolio should be weighted more toward bonds and less toward stocks as you get older. One rule of thumb: Subtract your age from 100 and put that percentage in stocks. For a 60-year-old, that would be 40% in stocks and 60% in bonds. With people living longer, some advisors say this formula is too conservative. Review your situation, perhaps with an advisor, to determine the right mix.