China’s economic recovery, powered by its own stimulus package, shows no signs of letting up. The world's fastest growing economy has picked up over the course of the year, with third-quarter GDP growth expanding to an annual 8.9 percent from 7.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.1 percent in the first, virtually assuring China of reaching its 8 percent full-year target. PetroChina (PTR), the largest listed Chinese oil company by market capitalization, offers potential opportunity to participate in the country's economic recovery. PetroChina is an integrated oil and gas company whose operations include oil and gas exploration and production, refining, and the marketing and transportation of oil, refined products, natural gas, and other petrochemicals. PetroChina is the largest oil and gas producer in China and the second largest company in China in terms of revenue. PetroChina, with a market cap of $234.4 billion, is the world's most valuable company after Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). Sales of refined products accounted for 80 percent of PetroChina’s revenue in 2008 and oil exploration the rest.Complete Story »

  Ira Stoll submits: The New York Times has a news article running under the headline "New Consensus Views Stimulus as Worthy Step" that is ridiculous even by New York Times standards.Says the Times:Complete Story »

  Greentech Media submits: by Jeff St. JohnThe South Korean government has declared its intention to help its home industries win 30 percent of the global smart grid market, Reuters reported Friday. But to start, the government will spend a relatively small 37 billion won ($32 million) to test smart grid systems from a consortium including SK Telecom (SKM), LG Electronics (LGERF.PK), Hyundai Heavy Industries (HYHZF.PK) and national utility Korea Electric Power Corp., or KEPCO (KEP).Complete Story »

  Greentech Media submits: by Michael Kanellos Nearly two months after its successful initial public offering, A123 Systems (AONE) seems headed back to its roots.Complete Story »

  Greentech Media submits: by Michael Kanellos Tesla Motors is preparing to move forward with an IPO, according to unidentified sources at Reuters.Complete Story »

  David Hunkar submits: Platts, the highly respected energy consulting company, released its Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings for 2009 this week. One of the sub-sectors of this ranking is the Fastest Growing Energy Companies in Asia. The Top 20 Fastest Growing Energy Companies in Asia:Complete Story »

  On November 13, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) reported some positive Q3 results. Sales of their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) drug, Zevalin®, which made up more than half of the revenue generated during the quarter, continue to improve significantly.Over the past several months, many have argued that a Zevalin comeback was impossible. The drug has been ignored by doctors for several years. For this reason, many argue it’ll never sell today. I will not deny it, changing previously held beliefs and perceptions isn't always easy. Without question, the Zevalin turnaround is a tall order and especially for a small drug maker like SPPI. So, I can appreciate and understand why most have not shared my view and enthusiasm for SPPI.Complete Story »

  IndexUniverse Europe submits: by Paul Amery There’s been a lengthy discussion on other blogs this week about how ETF Securities’ new currency ETCs work. In my view, the blogs’ authors, Felix Salmon of Reuters and Izabella Kaminska of FT Alphaville, have missed one key subject – collateral costs.Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: China’s economy appears to have pulled itself out of the global recession at a steady clip, but will related shares and ETFs be able to maintain the gains?The Year of the Ox may be the Year of the Bull instead. Among the reasons to like China as an investment opportunity include:Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: Actively managed ETFs are still a relatively new player on the market, but already some providers and investors may have already written them off. Is it premature to do so?Actively managed ETFs are still in their infancy, and the segment is still growing. Last week’s launch of two actively managed funds – one apiece from PIMCO and iShares – is proof of that. On top of that, there are several more of these ETFs planned.Complete Story »

  Michael Fitzsimmons submits:As a follow-up to my last article, here are some interesting facts about Brazil gleaned from this week's The Economist magazine's special report on the country: Brazil is the world's fourth largest democracy.Brazil has the world's largest freshwater supplies, the largest tropical forests, and land so fertile that some farmers can harvest three crops a year. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of coffee, sugar, chickens, beef and orange juice. Brazil exports large amounts of soya and iron ore and is a major source of the world's pulp. If other countries would open up their markets, Brazil would supply them with ethanol to fuel their cars. Sao Paulo's futures and options market is one of the world's top 5 by volume. All of the "big 3" rating agencies classify Brazilian government paper as investment grade. Brazil recently announced it would lend money to the IMF. It was only a decade ago that the IMF was lending money to Brazil under strict conditions. In 2008, despite the whole world seemingly headed into the deep freeze, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil was up 30% year-over-year even as (FDI) in the rest of the world was down 14%. Since 1999 the Brazilian government has been required to run a primary surplus (before interest payments on public debt), a target the government has met every year since though it may miss this year. This policy has enabled the Brazilian government to shed most of the dollar denominated debt that caused such instability in the past every time the economy wobbled. Brazil has suffered horrendous inflation in the past. However, a series of banking and currency reforms has tamed inflation. Still, the central bank's headline interest rate is 8.75% - one of the highest rates of any country in the world. During the recent financial crisis, Brazil was one of the last countries to turn down and one of the first out. It was able to cut interest rates and the value of the real currency held its value. Dilma Rousseff, Lula's hand picked preferred successor, is quoted as saying: "We respect contracts - we are part of the West", explaining that she would honour the terms on which foreign oil firms currently operate in Brazil. Rousseff describes herself as a "Brazilian democratic socialist". Most of these developments are the result of Brazil's tumultuous economic past and the policies put in place by President Cardoso (Lula da Silva's predecessor) and others to combat them. For instance, the oil shock of the 1970's crippled Brazil. They saw a sharp increase in dollar denominated foreign debt to pay for oil (sound familiar? this is what I have been warning US policymakers about since the US imports 65% of its oil). Since that time, Brazil adopted strategic energy policies to leverage ethanol and natural gas transportation. Here is a strategic energy policy the US should adopt before it too will see the inflation problems that ravaged Brazil in past years. Ahhhh, but no one listens to me (or learns from Brazil).Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: As billions go into updating and fixing the nation’s aging infrastructure, investors now have the opportunity to capitalize on the ambitious “smart grid” revolution with the use of a new sector-specific ETF.A new “smart grid” industry is coming about and First Trust/Clean Edge Smart Grid ETF (NasdaqGM: GRID) aims to be the first to target the emerging sector, according to Maureen Brody for Ignites. GRID seeks to reflect the NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index, which includes companies engaged in all components of the smart grid.Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: Poland may be one of the lucky few economies that has evaded the recession this year. A major ETF provider has also taken notice and a Poland-specific ETF could be coming out soon.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that Poland’s “limited reliance on exports, flexible exchange rate and contained external and internal balances” allowed the country to avoid a recession this year, reports Meena Thiruvengadam for The Wall Street Journal. The IMF estimated that Poland’s economy may expand 1.1% this year and 1.9% in 2010.Complete Story »

  ChinaBio Today submits: In late October, when PPD, Inc. (NSDQ: PPDI) acquired fellow CRO Excel PharmaStudies, we suggested more CRO consolidation might follow. However, it was both a surprise – and not a surprise – when the news broke that PPD would follow up its Excel transaction with another major CRO acquisition, BioDuro LLC (see story). The 660 employees of BioDuro, which is based in Beijing, focus on drug discovery. As Greg Scott, our Executive Editor, points out, the acquisition was interesting because it gives PPD a pre-clinical capability in China, and it shows the company is deeply committed to building a major China presence. The two deals put PPD on a par with, or even possibly ahead of other major western CROs – Quintiles, Covance (NYSE: CVD), Charles River (NYSE: CRL) – that have expanded into China. We expect more M&A activity will occur in China’s highly fragmented CRO industry.Complete Story »