10/5/06 Reality In The U.S.
Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
October 3, 2006
A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.
Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.
According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible," or words to that effect, then walked on.
Ten minutes later, according to Howards' lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had "assaulted" the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail.
The lawsuit states that the Secret Service agent instructed that Howards should be issued a summons for harassment, but that on July 6 the Eagle County District Attorney's Office dismissed all charges against Howards.
The lawsuit filed today alleges that Howards was arrested in retaliation for having exercised his First Amendment right of free speech, and that his arrest violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful seizure.
Barry Ritholtz: "Cash has outperformed the Dow since January 2000; Even considering reinvested dividends; cash STILL out performs the Dow. The Dow's Real (inflation adjusted) performance, even with dividends reinvested, is significantly below breakeven.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new orders were basically unchanged in August at $403.6 billion following a 1 percent decline in July. The weakness in August reflected big declines in demand for computers and commercial aircraft. The ISM nonmanufacturing index fell to 52.9% from 57.0% in August. New orders rose to 57.2% from 52.1%. The employment index rose to 53.6% from 51.4%. The price index plunged to 56.7% from 72.4% in the previous month.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Wednesday it has lowered its estimated increase in September sales at stores open at least a year to 1.3 percent from 1.8 percent.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its market composite index, a measure of loan application volume, rose 11.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted 633.9 from a week earlier.
The American Petroleum Institute said crude supplies rose 2.7 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 29. The Energy Department had reported a climb of 3.3 million barrels. Motor gasoline supplies inventories were down 2.8 million barrels, the API said, contrary to the 1.2 million-barrel climb reported by the government. Distillate stocks fell by 3 million barrels, the API said, vs. the Energy Department's reported 200,000 million-barrel rise.
Marsoft:"The dry bulk rally continued over the past month, with freight rates climbing steadily across the board. The Baltic Dry Index gained about 10% over the past month, topping 4.200 for the first time since early 2005. The Panamax sector was the star performer over the past month, with the Baltic Panamax TC index climbing from $28,000 per day in mid-August to $33,000 per day in mid-September. The other sectors also saw relatively healthy gains. Cape rates, as measured by the Baltic Cape TC index, averaged about $55,000 per day in late August and early September, before jumping above $60,000 per day in mid-September. Likewise, after hovering near $27,000 per day in late August and early September, the Baltic Supramax TC Index rose to $30,000 per day during the second half of September.
Most signs continue to point to booming global steel production as the catalyst behind the dry bulk market’s latest surge. After growing at a 15% annual pace in July, global steel output slowed only slightly in August, growing at a still-impressive 11% pace. The gains continued to be broad-based with European output rising by 9% and North American output up by 10%. But Asian production once again led the way, increasing by 13% compared to a year ago.
Meanwhile, Chinese steel production grew at a 17% pace in August, down from the 19% growth registered in the first seven months of 2006. But this mild slowdown did not prevent Chinese iron ore imports from leaping to a new record-high in August. They totaled nearly 33 million tonnes during the month, about 20% above the average monthly level so far this year. This surge in Chinese iron ore imports has been a key factor in lifting dry bulk freight rates recently, although it is likely that iron ore imports into the rest of the world have also been relatively high.
In addition to a robust iron ore trade, the grain trade appears to have also contributed to the recent runup in the dry bulk freight rates. In particular, U.S. corn and soybean exports in the first half of September were running at nearly twice the year-earlier pace, with shipments to Asia especially strong.
Port delays in Australia have also been rising again recently, contributing to the increase in freight rates. In particular, demurrage at Newcastle has increased due to a combination of strong demand and poor weather conditions."
November crude rose 73 cents to close at $59.41 a barrel. November natural gas added 23.6 cents to close at $5.995 per million British thermal units.
Bernanke: "I think I would estimate that slowing housing construction will probably take about a percentage point off growth in the second half of the year and probably something going into next year as well."
December gold fell $13.50, or 2.3%, to $568 an ounce Wednesday. December silver fell by 29.5 cents to $10.75 an ounce. December copper lost 8 cents to $3.2025 a pound.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
Prospects
10/4/06 Prospects
From Bloomberg: Michael Hoover, who manages $475 million at U.S. Trust Co.'s Excelsior Energy and Natural Resources Fund, which gained an average 20 percent a year during the past five years. ``China is going to be the engine for growth. It's the second-largest consumer of oil and the faster grower, and they import 23 percent of the world's copper. We think it's going to stay very strong.''
Oil will rise 10 percent to average $75 a barrel next year as China buys more fuel to keep its economy from slowing, says James Gutman, senior commodity analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A weaker dollar will spur U.S. inflation and send gold up 15 percentto $700 an ounce in the next 12 months, says Michael Lewis, head of commodity research at Deutsche Bank AG.
With Ford Motor Co. eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, U.S. corporate layoff announcements surged by 54% to 100,315 in September, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas released Tuesday. The 100,315 figure for layoff announcements was the most seen since January.
Banta Corp. said Tuesday it's rejecting an unsolicited buyout offer of $47 a share from Cenveo Inc. The Menasha, Wis. printing firm said it's hiring UBS to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. Cenveo Inc. after Tuesday's closing bell said it has increased its offer for Banta Corp. to $50 a share.
December gold dropped $15.60, or 2.6%, to $587.70 an ounce in early Tuesday morning trading, the contract's weakest level since Sept. 21. December silver fell by 44 cents, or 3.7%, to $11.21 an ounce and December copper traded at $3.31 a pound, down 11.95 cents, or 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude traded down to $59.70 a barrel.
The comparative cost advantage of taking your business to low-wage countries such as China or India, where unit labor costs in manufacturing are 20 percent lower than in the U.S., are often not the bargain they seem when wages are adjusted for low productivity, according to a report released today by The Conference Board.
This is also true of decisions to locate in Mexico, Central and Eastern Europe rather than in North America and Western Europe.
Conoco's Highlights - Third-Quarter 2006 vs. Second-Quarter 2006
-- Exploration and Production
-- Crude oil prices similar to second quarter.
-- Lower U.S. natural gas prices.
-- Lower worldwide production.
-- Results negatively impacted by recent tax legislation and
revised depreciation, depletion and amortization rates.
-- Refining and Marketing
-- Significantly lower worldwide refining margins.
-- Significantly higher worldwide marketing margins.
-- Improved refining capacity utilization rate in the
mid-90-percent range.
-- Significantly lower turnaround activity.
-- Loss from impairment of certain assets held for sale.
-- LUKOIL Investment
-- Ownership of approximately 19 percent at quarter end.
-- Midstream and Chemicals
-- Midstream and Chemicals results expected to be improved
from the previous quarter.
-- Corporate and Other
-- Corporate expenses anticipated to be lower than the
previous quarter.
-- Debt balance of approximately $27.8 billion.
-- Benefit from hurricane-related insurance impacts.
With the shares trading around the $57 level, I continue to believe they offer an
extraordinary value for intermediate and long-term investors. It's well to remember that you should consider buying straw hats in the winter and not in the summer.
Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday reported a 4.7% rise in September U.S. sales, with mid-size sedans like the Ford Fusion along with a bounce in its flagship F-Series pickup driving the improvement. GM posted a 3.1% decline in September U.S. light vehicle sales and car sales fell 6.4%. GM also cut its fourth-quarter production target by 2% to 1.11 million vehicles.
December gold fell $21.80 to close at a nearly four-month low of $581.50 an ounce. December silver dropped 59.5 cents, or 5.1%, to end at $11.045 an ounce and December copper fell 14.7 cents, or 4.3%, to end at a three-month low of $3.2825 a pound.
November crude dropped $2.35 to close at $58.68 a barrel Tuesday. The contract marked its weakest closing level since late July 2005. November natural gas bucked the trend in energies to close 11.6 cents higher at $5.759 per million British thermal units.
One new name I added yesterday was Hugoton Royalty Trust. The stock is selling under $25 near the 52 week low of $24.30. It yields 6.6% and there has been consistent insider buying all year with no sales. The most recent purchase was only about 3 weeks ago at 8% higher levels.
OPEC President Nigeria called on its fellow OPEC countries to make deeper output cuts on Tuesday as prices tumbled to an 8-month low below $59 a barrel and the tide showed no sign of turning.
Nigeria and Venezuela have already made voluntary reductions to their production from October 1 but the cuts, representing less than one percent of OPEC supply, have failed to halt the steepest drop in oil prices in 15 years.
Valero Energy Corp. after Tuesday's closing bell said it expects to report third quarter earnings of $2.25 to $2.35 per share, a record for the period. Valero said the outlook excludes a $132 million pretax gain on the July sale of 40% of the company's interest in Valero L.P. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial currently expect the company to report, on average, earnings of $2.44 per share. In August, Valero projected third-quarter earnings would come in above second-quarter results and "substantially higher" than analysts' estimate.
"Despite the recent weakness in gasoline margins, distillate margins and sour crude discounts remain very good," said Chief Executive Bill Klesse, in a statement. "The seasonal fall in gasoline margins was more severe than we had expected. However, we believe that with the commencement of fall maintenance in both the U.S. and Europe, and with the falling retail pump prices supporting continued strong gasoline demand, the picture for gasoline margins is improving." The company also noted it bought back 10 million shares during the quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57 points surpassing its previous all-time closing high of 11,722.98 made on Jan. 14 2000. One might note that the Dow then and now do not have the same composition of 30 companies.
The summer of 2006 was the second warmest in the continental U.S. since records began in 1895, according to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Despite some rainfall last month in parts of the country, moderate to extreme drought conditions continue in about 40 percent of the country.
From Bloomberg: Michael Hoover, who manages $475 million at U.S. Trust Co.'s Excelsior Energy and Natural Resources Fund, which gained an average 20 percent a year during the past five years. ``China is going to be the engine for growth. It's the second-largest consumer of oil and the faster grower, and they import 23 percent of the world's copper. We think it's going to stay very strong.''
Oil will rise 10 percent to average $75 a barrel next year as China buys more fuel to keep its economy from slowing, says James Gutman, senior commodity analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A weaker dollar will spur U.S. inflation and send gold up 15 percentto $700 an ounce in the next 12 months, says Michael Lewis, head of commodity research at Deutsche Bank AG.
With Ford Motor Co. eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, U.S. corporate layoff announcements surged by 54% to 100,315 in September, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas released Tuesday. The 100,315 figure for layoff announcements was the most seen since January.
Banta Corp. said Tuesday it's rejecting an unsolicited buyout offer of $47 a share from Cenveo Inc. The Menasha, Wis. printing firm said it's hiring UBS to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. Cenveo Inc. after Tuesday's closing bell said it has increased its offer for Banta Corp. to $50 a share.
December gold dropped $15.60, or 2.6%, to $587.70 an ounce in early Tuesday morning trading, the contract's weakest level since Sept. 21. December silver fell by 44 cents, or 3.7%, to $11.21 an ounce and December copper traded at $3.31 a pound, down 11.95 cents, or 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude traded down to $59.70 a barrel.
The comparative cost advantage of taking your business to low-wage countries such as China or India, where unit labor costs in manufacturing are 20 percent lower than in the U.S., are often not the bargain they seem when wages are adjusted for low productivity, according to a report released today by The Conference Board.
This is also true of decisions to locate in Mexico, Central and Eastern Europe rather than in North America and Western Europe.
Conoco's Highlights - Third-Quarter 2006 vs. Second-Quarter 2006
-- Exploration and Production
-- Crude oil prices similar to second quarter.
-- Lower U.S. natural gas prices.
-- Lower worldwide production.
-- Results negatively impacted by recent tax legislation and
revised depreciation, depletion and amortization rates.
-- Refining and Marketing
-- Significantly lower worldwide refining margins.
-- Significantly higher worldwide marketing margins.
-- Improved refining capacity utilization rate in the
mid-90-percent range.
-- Significantly lower turnaround activity.
-- Loss from impairment of certain assets held for sale.
-- LUKOIL Investment
-- Ownership of approximately 19 percent at quarter end.
-- Midstream and Chemicals
-- Midstream and Chemicals results expected to be improved
from the previous quarter.
-- Corporate and Other
-- Corporate expenses anticipated to be lower than the
previous quarter.
-- Debt balance of approximately $27.8 billion.
-- Benefit from hurricane-related insurance impacts.
With the shares trading around the $57 level, I continue to believe they offer an
extraordinary value for intermediate and long-term investors. It's well to remember that you should consider buying straw hats in the winter and not in the summer.
Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday reported a 4.7% rise in September U.S. sales, with mid-size sedans like the Ford Fusion along with a bounce in its flagship F-Series pickup driving the improvement. GM posted a 3.1% decline in September U.S. light vehicle sales and car sales fell 6.4%. GM also cut its fourth-quarter production target by 2% to 1.11 million vehicles.
December gold fell $21.80 to close at a nearly four-month low of $581.50 an ounce. December silver dropped 59.5 cents, or 5.1%, to end at $11.045 an ounce and December copper fell 14.7 cents, or 4.3%, to end at a three-month low of $3.2825 a pound.
November crude dropped $2.35 to close at $58.68 a barrel Tuesday. The contract marked its weakest closing level since late July 2005. November natural gas bucked the trend in energies to close 11.6 cents higher at $5.759 per million British thermal units.
One new name I added yesterday was Hugoton Royalty Trust. The stock is selling under $25 near the 52 week low of $24.30. It yields 6.6% and there has been consistent insider buying all year with no sales. The most recent purchase was only about 3 weeks ago at 8% higher levels.
OPEC President Nigeria called on its fellow OPEC countries to make deeper output cuts on Tuesday as prices tumbled to an 8-month low below $59 a barrel and the tide showed no sign of turning.
Nigeria and Venezuela have already made voluntary reductions to their production from October 1 but the cuts, representing less than one percent of OPEC supply, have failed to halt the steepest drop in oil prices in 15 years.
Valero Energy Corp. after Tuesday's closing bell said it expects to report third quarter earnings of $2.25 to $2.35 per share, a record for the period. Valero said the outlook excludes a $132 million pretax gain on the July sale of 40% of the company's interest in Valero L.P. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial currently expect the company to report, on average, earnings of $2.44 per share. In August, Valero projected third-quarter earnings would come in above second-quarter results and "substantially higher" than analysts' estimate.
"Despite the recent weakness in gasoline margins, distillate margins and sour crude discounts remain very good," said Chief Executive Bill Klesse, in a statement. "The seasonal fall in gasoline margins was more severe than we had expected. However, we believe that with the commencement of fall maintenance in both the U.S. and Europe, and with the falling retail pump prices supporting continued strong gasoline demand, the picture for gasoline margins is improving." The company also noted it bought back 10 million shares during the quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57 points surpassing its previous all-time closing high of 11,722.98 made on Jan. 14 2000. One might note that the Dow then and now do not have the same composition of 30 companies.
The summer of 2006 was the second warmest in the continental U.S. since records began in 1895, according to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Despite some rainfall last month in parts of the country, moderate to extreme drought conditions continue in about 40 percent of the country.
Well To Remember
10/3/06 Well To Remember
John Hussman: "The total amount of bank reserves in the U.S. banking system is just $43 billion, and that's all the FOMC is responsible for controlling. In an economy with a GDP of $13 trillion and a public debt of over $8 trillion, the Fed Funds rate is based on $43 billion of dough...the Fed is a lot like a little boy who waves his arms whenever he hears music playing, so people come to believe he's actually conducting the band...Except in times of financial crises, when people are trying to convert their deposits into cash and the Fed has a truly legitimate role as a “lender of last resort,” the Fed's moves are essentially irrelevant...To believe that the Fed's actions control the economy is just plain superstition. The only reason to pay attention to the Fed is that other investors are not rid of this superstition."
Harrah's Entertainment Inc. said its board has received a $81-a-share buyout offer from Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group. Harrah's said its board established a special committee consisting of all nonmanagement directors to review the proposal. The committee hired UBS Securities LLC as its financial adviser and Kaye Scholer LLP as its legal adviser. Harrah's said there is no assurance that it will enter into this or any other transaction.
Wal-Mart's September same store sales rose 1.8%. This was slightly below their forecast for a 1% to 3% increase.
Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to acquire Myogen Inc. in a cash deal valued at about $2.5 billion or $52.50 a share. This works out to about a 50% premium over the Friday close. Myogen's ambrisentan is a late-stage product candidate for the potential treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Factory activity in the United States decelerated in September, the Institute for Supply Management reported Friday. The ISM index fell to 52.9% in September from 54.5% in August. This is the lowest level since May 2005. New orders unchanged at 54.2% in September. The employment index dropped to 49.4% from 54.0%. The price index dropped sharply to 61.0% from 73.0%. This is the lowest level since July 2005.
Pending sales of U.S. existing homes rose by 4.3% in August. Pending-home sales are down 14.1% in the past year. The pending-sales index rose 9.2% in the West, 4% in the South and 3.6% in the Northeast. The index was flat in the Midwest.
Gary Lammert: "The world is now entering the natural macroeconomic cycle's time frame of limits and feedback and abrupt asset devaluations marked by discontinuity and non linearity. This disruption is caused by a likewise natural generational consumer saturation - consumers saturated with assets and debts - amplified by excessively, albeit
transiently, Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and, more so, by an unregulated lending industry trapping unwary consumers into too-good-to-be-true debt contracts."
The Commerce Department reported that construction spending rose by 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.20 trillion. It followed a huge 1 percent decline in July and represented the best showing in five months.
The Mogambo Guru: "Paying a dollar for a single McDonald's hamburger seems like a lot to me, since I can remember when you could get a McDonald's hamburger for 15 cents in 1966.
So, class, put down your books and take out a clean sheet of paper for today's Mogambo Pop Quiz (MPQ). The question is, "If in 1966 I had started to save for my retirement, how much money would I need to save, per day, to buy one hamburger, per day, in the future, knowing that the hamburger is currently selling for 15 cents, but would cost a dollar in 40 years? Since everyone in the class is moaning and whining and scratching their heads, I kindly provide the hint, "Firstly, we note that inflation in the price of the burger has been 670% over 40 years. That's comes out to 4.9% inflation, per year, compounded."
247wallst.com on Marvell Technology: "The lowered sequential revenues of Q2's $574 million down to -10% on a sequential basis, which brings the net down to $516.6 million. Unfortunately, that is shy of the $582.4 million consensus estimate.
The anticipated decline in net revenue is largely due to lower than expected demand from a number of the Company's hard disk drive customers. The Company believes the shortfall of demand is primarily due to a combination of weaker than normal seasonal shipments in the personal computer market as well as excess inventory held by some of its significant storage customers. It also expects a significant increase in its general and administrative expenses in its third quarter of fiscal 2007 due to higher than expected costs related to its previously announced and ongoing internal review by a special committee of its Board of Directors relating to the Company's historical stock option practices and related accounting matters."
John Hussman: "The total amount of bank reserves in the U.S. banking system is just $43 billion, and that's all the FOMC is responsible for controlling. In an economy with a GDP of $13 trillion and a public debt of over $8 trillion, the Fed Funds rate is based on $43 billion of dough...the Fed is a lot like a little boy who waves his arms whenever he hears music playing, so people come to believe he's actually conducting the band...Except in times of financial crises, when people are trying to convert their deposits into cash and the Fed has a truly legitimate role as a “lender of last resort,” the Fed's moves are essentially irrelevant...To believe that the Fed's actions control the economy is just plain superstition. The only reason to pay attention to the Fed is that other investors are not rid of this superstition."
Harrah's Entertainment Inc. said its board has received a $81-a-share buyout offer from Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group. Harrah's said its board established a special committee consisting of all nonmanagement directors to review the proposal. The committee hired UBS Securities LLC as its financial adviser and Kaye Scholer LLP as its legal adviser. Harrah's said there is no assurance that it will enter into this or any other transaction.
Wal-Mart's September same store sales rose 1.8%. This was slightly below their forecast for a 1% to 3% increase.
Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to acquire Myogen Inc. in a cash deal valued at about $2.5 billion or $52.50 a share. This works out to about a 50% premium over the Friday close. Myogen's ambrisentan is a late-stage product candidate for the potential treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Factory activity in the United States decelerated in September, the Institute for Supply Management reported Friday. The ISM index fell to 52.9% in September from 54.5% in August. This is the lowest level since May 2005. New orders unchanged at 54.2% in September. The employment index dropped to 49.4% from 54.0%. The price index dropped sharply to 61.0% from 73.0%. This is the lowest level since July 2005.
Pending sales of U.S. existing homes rose by 4.3% in August. Pending-home sales are down 14.1% in the past year. The pending-sales index rose 9.2% in the West, 4% in the South and 3.6% in the Northeast. The index was flat in the Midwest.
Gary Lammert: "The world is now entering the natural macroeconomic cycle's time frame of limits and feedback and abrupt asset devaluations marked by discontinuity and non linearity. This disruption is caused by a likewise natural generational consumer saturation - consumers saturated with assets and debts - amplified by excessively, albeit
transiently, Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and, more so, by an unregulated lending industry trapping unwary consumers into too-good-to-be-true debt contracts."
The Commerce Department reported that construction spending rose by 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.20 trillion. It followed a huge 1 percent decline in July and represented the best showing in five months.
The Mogambo Guru: "Paying a dollar for a single McDonald's hamburger seems like a lot to me, since I can remember when you could get a McDonald's hamburger for 15 cents in 1966.
So, class, put down your books and take out a clean sheet of paper for today's Mogambo Pop Quiz (MPQ). The question is, "If in 1966 I had started to save for my retirement, how much money would I need to save, per day, to buy one hamburger, per day, in the future, knowing that the hamburger is currently selling for 15 cents, but would cost a dollar in 40 years? Since everyone in the class is moaning and whining and scratching their heads, I kindly provide the hint, "Firstly, we note that inflation in the price of the burger has been 670% over 40 years. That's comes out to 4.9% inflation, per year, compounded."
247wallst.com on Marvell Technology: "The lowered sequential revenues of Q2's $574 million down to -10% on a sequential basis, which brings the net down to $516.6 million. Unfortunately, that is shy of the $582.4 million consensus estimate.
The anticipated decline in net revenue is largely due to lower than expected demand from a number of the Company's hard disk drive customers. The Company believes the shortfall of demand is primarily due to a combination of weaker than normal seasonal shipments in the personal computer market as well as excess inventory held by some of its significant storage customers. It also expects a significant increase in its general and administrative expenses in its third quarter of fiscal 2007 due to higher than expected costs related to its previously announced and ongoing internal review by a special committee of its Board of Directors relating to the Company's historical stock option practices and related accounting matters."
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Around The Bend
10/2/06 Around The Bend
"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports any effort by OPEC members to strengthen the oil market and return oil prices to an acceptable and logical level," he told Iran's official news agency IRNA. He did not say what an that acceptable level was.
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said last month that he wanted to see OPEC's basket of crude hold above $60 a barrel, which would equate to about $65 a barrel for U.S. crude.
"Some OPEC members, by decreasing production, are trying to prevent the slide of oil prices," Kazempour Ardebili noted.
Nigeria and Venezuela, both OPEC members, have pledged to cut production.
"I expect growth between 2 percent and 2.5 percent for Germany," Economy Minister Michael Glos was quoted as saying in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
George Soros: "With American influence at low ebb, the world is in danger of sliding into a vicious circle of escalating violence. We can escape it only if we Americans repudiate the war on terror as a false metaphor. If we persevere on the wrong course, the situation will continue to deteriorate. It is not our will that is being tested, but our understanding of reality. It is painful to admit that our current predicaments are brought about by our own misconceptions. However, not admitting it is bound to prove even more painful in the long run. The strength of an open society lies in its ability to recognize and correct its mistakes. That is the test that confronts us."
From earthfiles.com: James Hansen, Ph.D., Atmospheric Physicist, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, New York City, states in the most recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Earth is now reaching and passing through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period. That means that further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today. But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know. The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today."
Oil Daily stated "after more than three years of war, Iraq's oil sector -- the country's primary source of revenue -- is still plagued by attacks, criminal activity and aging infrastructure. Those problems have cost Iraq about $16 billion in potential export revenues in the last two years alone, according to a US audit report."
Mike Burk: "It is often noted that October is the month of "crashes".
October 87 was the worst single month in OTC history, down 27.9%.
October 78 was the only other October with a double digit decline, down 16.6%.
Over all years the OTC has been up 57% of the time with an average gain of 0.8%.
The best Octobers of all occur during the 2nd year of the Presidential Cycle; up 70% of the time with an average gain of 3.1%.
On average the low for the Presidential Cycle occurs in October of the 2nd year...
Most short and intermediate term indicators are moving downward.
I expect the major indices to be lower on Friday October 6 than they were on Friday September 29."
The central bank says China's economy should grow by 10.5 percent this year, state media reported Sunday, even stronger than the 10 percent predicted last week by the National Bureau of Statistics. The People's Bank of China also projected growth for the first half of 2007 at 9.5 percent, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China's economy grew 10.2 percent in 2005 and surged by 10.9 percent in the first half of 2006. In my view, with the on-going strong growth in China and India, there will be significant demand in the energy and precious metals sectors.
To think otherwise flies in the face of reality.
I would recommend that all Americans visit the following website: http://loosechange911.com
"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports any effort by OPEC members to strengthen the oil market and return oil prices to an acceptable and logical level," he told Iran's official news agency IRNA. He did not say what an that acceptable level was.
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said last month that he wanted to see OPEC's basket of crude hold above $60 a barrel, which would equate to about $65 a barrel for U.S. crude.
"Some OPEC members, by decreasing production, are trying to prevent the slide of oil prices," Kazempour Ardebili noted.
Nigeria and Venezuela, both OPEC members, have pledged to cut production.
"I expect growth between 2 percent and 2.5 percent for Germany," Economy Minister Michael Glos was quoted as saying in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
George Soros: "With American influence at low ebb, the world is in danger of sliding into a vicious circle of escalating violence. We can escape it only if we Americans repudiate the war on terror as a false metaphor. If we persevere on the wrong course, the situation will continue to deteriorate. It is not our will that is being tested, but our understanding of reality. It is painful to admit that our current predicaments are brought about by our own misconceptions. However, not admitting it is bound to prove even more painful in the long run. The strength of an open society lies in its ability to recognize and correct its mistakes. That is the test that confronts us."
From earthfiles.com: James Hansen, Ph.D., Atmospheric Physicist, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, New York City, states in the most recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Earth is now reaching and passing through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period. That means that further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today. But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know. The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today."
Oil Daily stated "after more than three years of war, Iraq's oil sector -- the country's primary source of revenue -- is still plagued by attacks, criminal activity and aging infrastructure. Those problems have cost Iraq about $16 billion in potential export revenues in the last two years alone, according to a US audit report."
Mike Burk: "It is often noted that October is the month of "crashes".
October 87 was the worst single month in OTC history, down 27.9%.
October 78 was the only other October with a double digit decline, down 16.6%.
Over all years the OTC has been up 57% of the time with an average gain of 0.8%.
The best Octobers of all occur during the 2nd year of the Presidential Cycle; up 70% of the time with an average gain of 3.1%.
On average the low for the Presidential Cycle occurs in October of the 2nd year...
Most short and intermediate term indicators are moving downward.
I expect the major indices to be lower on Friday October 6 than they were on Friday September 29."
The central bank says China's economy should grow by 10.5 percent this year, state media reported Sunday, even stronger than the 10 percent predicted last week by the National Bureau of Statistics. The People's Bank of China also projected growth for the first half of 2007 at 9.5 percent, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China's economy grew 10.2 percent in 2005 and surged by 10.9 percent in the first half of 2006. In my view, with the on-going strong growth in China and India, there will be significant demand in the energy and precious metals sectors.
To think otherwise flies in the face of reality.
I would recommend that all Americans visit the following website: http://loosechange911.com
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