Joseph Trevisani submits:President Obama’s trip to Asia is one part introduction, one part diplomatic dialogue and eight parts competitive economics. Whatever agreements are met with leaders of Japan, and South Korean or communiqués are issued from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference (APEC) in Singapore, it is the visit to Beijing that matters. The American President would like China’s cooperation on the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, a more flexible currency policy for the yuan, open trade and continued Chinese purchase of American debt. He is likely to obtain only the last, the price for which will be all the others.Complete Story »

  Joseph Trevisani submits:The Peninsula Hotel in Beijing has far more staff than its counterpart in New York. Squads of doormen hail cabs, busboys compete for baggage, water glasses are filled in the restaurant without asking. In the department stores nearby dozens of sales clerks idly rearrange merchandise and getting there is simple, Beijing may be the easiest major city in which to find a cab. Service positions are more than plentiful in the Chinese capital. Which raises a question about Chinese business, does it not value efficiency? The obsession with maintaining or increasing employment represents the peculiarities of the Chinese economy and the political and social necessities of governing China. The overriding goal of the government is to provide jobs and consequently enough wealth to obviate political disenchantment and dissent. Complete Story »

  Maybe Fed chairman Bernanke’s mention of the level of the dollar was unconventional when he addressed the Economic Club of New York on Monday, but it was very much in line with what treasury secretary Geithner has been saying all along. On the one hand the government understands the fact that the nation and its international fan base benefits when the dollar is potent. On the other hand the cataclysmic events of the past two years have been a real game-changer. In order to address the consequences of those events exceptional measures must be taken in order to create a return to somewhere near what we considered normal. Acceptance of a weaker dollar in the short term as a result of an abandonment of the price of money will be countered in the medium to long term by a return to growth. Complete Story »

  Copper has had one hell of a run. On October 20th, I wrote a post for Seeking Alpha arguing that even if copper did not break through the $3/lbs. level, mining stocks would be able to fair just fine. My argument is relatively simple and straight forward: with copper prices significantly above even the producers with the highest marginal cost of production (somewhere between 90 cents to 1.50/lbs.), copper miners can earn an excellent return on invested capital. So long as copper prices remain strong (notice I did not say 'keep climbing'), copper mining companies should continue to drift higher and I would expect them to outperform the general market.Some recent data put out by Barclays indicates that the supply of copper is expected to increase by 8% in 2010. This would undoubtedly be a significant headwind for the price of copper to overcome, if it were only true. Complete Story »

  This is a follow up to my earlier post regarding the news that promising Pompe disease drug, Lumizyme, received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA. I defer the reader to that post for full details and analysis regarding my views on the Lumizyme Complete Response Letter and the recent manufacturing setback at the Allston plant. However, below the reader will find my views on how this news has impacted my valuation of the company. Negative impact to valuation:Complete Story »

  Diane Mermigas submits:Monaco--Advertising will not pay the freight for digital media, like it has for newspapers and television, as it morphs into an interactive experience riveted ontransactions, according to Publicis Groupe (PUB) Chairman and CEO Maurice Levy. "Advertising cannot cover the cost of everything in the new digital media world. Other sources of generating revenues will have to be created, such as having consumers pay for some content. It cannot all be free or paid for with advertising," Levy told me in a weekend interview at the Monaco Media Forum, co-sponsored by Publicis.Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: Typically small-cap shares and exchange traded funds [ETFs] lead the way out of recessions. This time around, though, large-caps have swooped in and regained favor among risk-averse investors. The broad market rally that began March was initially led by small-caps, but a shift has given large-caps a place in the spotlight. What happened?Complete Story »

  Jim Delaney submits: With much, if not all, of the responsibility for pulling the U.S and the world out of its slump sitting squarely on the shoulders of the venerable American consumer, yesterday’s news of Advance Retail Sales beating expectations by 0.5% rang the right bells for investors as we head into the all-important Holiday shopping season. If brighter prospects were not enough, news after the close yesterday that the Oracle from Omaha had upped his ante in Wal-Mart (WMT) might be interpreted as another Buffett bet on a resurgent recovery. WMT’s CEO, Michael Duke, said “The economy remains challenging for customers and Wal-Mart sales, but we are encouraged by increased traffic and our market share gains,” when announcing earnings recently.Complete Story »

  Petrohawk (HK) is speaking at the Merrill Lynch Energy Conference on Wedneday.They put out a new presentation with a few interesting tidbits on Monday, November 16th.Complete Story »

  Gary Gordon submits: Remember the day when an exchange-traded fund was as easy to grasp as the sunshine is bright? No longer! On Monday, 11/16/09, iShares launched the Diversified Alternatives Trust (ALT). Its stated objective? Well… that’s too long for a gifted speaker to say aloud on a single breath of air. (Go ahead… try it for yourself!)Complete Story »

  Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) filed their 13-F that details their portfolio holdings. It is well documented that Warren Buffett likes to look a company's earnings yield relative to bonds to determine how attractive it is. The 10 year yield is currently at 3.33%.Below we analyze the earnings yields (EPS/Stock Price) for Berkshire Hathaway’s current holdings:Complete Story »

  Zacks.com submits: The effectiveness of Merck’s (MRK - Analyst Report) cholesterol lowering drug Zetia has been put to question following the release of data from a clinical trial comparing Abbott’s (ABT - Analyst Report) Niaspan (niacin extended-release tablets) plus a statin with Merck’s Zetia. Although data are not encouraging for Merck, the company expressed its confidence recently at the American Heart Association meeting. Results from the ARBITER 6 - HALTS study showed that patients at high cardiovascular risk showed significant reduction in atherosclerosis after 8 and 14 months of therapy with Abbott's Niaspan plus a statin, the study's primary endpoint. The study met its secondary endpoint too. It was observed that treatment with Niaspan plus statin resulted in significantly fewer major adverse cardiac events (or MACE, a composite endpoint consisting of heart attack, myocardial revascularization, admission to the hospital for an acute coronary syndrome, and death from coronary heart disease), as compared to Zetia. However, the results are not very conclusive as the patient population has been very small (363). In addition, the study was stopped prematurely after just half the number of intended patients completed the full study period.Complete Story »

  ETF Daily News submits:Natural gas prices have been dropping as of late which we have found is a direct result of new technologies opening up previously inaccessible domestic natural gas reserves. Gas prices rose a few years back over concerns that domestic natural gas reserves were being depleted and the gap was going to have to be filled with more expensive imported sources, but the rising prices led to new technologies that opened up previously unaffordable domestic natural gas reserves. As the supply of natural gas rose, prices fell. The pitfall to the current low natural gas prices is the sustanability of these low prices to continue. As the higher prices lead to the new technologies allowing for drillers to tap into non conventional natural gas resources, lower natural gas prices limit the money available to tap into future gas deposits. We have found that unconventional shale gas wells deplete very rapidly, paying out 60 to 90% of their production in the first year. It takes a great deal of drilling to maintain overall production rates, and in a low-price environment like today's, the prospects for additional drilling are dubious. The longer prices remain too low to sustain increased drilling, the more tension there will be for the price to slingshot. Combine that with the government's push to offer credits towards natural gas vehicles, and a recovery in manufacturing, and the demand could well exceed the current natural gas reserves.Complete Story »

  Nicholas Cavallaro submits:(This is a follow-up article to The Next Recession) Whether or not the US has emerged from the The Great Recession of 2008-2009 is not of much interest to me since The Next Recession of 2010 appears similarly fearful. The economic doom and gloom of deleveraging, housing, and regulation are all still in play. Since I last discussed these themes in last month’s article, The Next Recession, unemployment continues its ascent, home-buyer tax credits have been significantly extended, and legislation has moved forward to limit fees that credit cards may levy. With the economy continuing to suffer, the US dollar is looking similarly downtrodden as foreign central banks in resource rich countries have increased interest rates (Norway once, Australia twice). Further, India made a massive purchase of gold, 200 metric tons worth (about $7.5 billion), even though gold is at an all-time high. The fact that one of the world’s most populous countries chose gold over US Treasuries as a safe, multiyear investment, is quite telling.Complete Story »