The world according to CNN

by Tony Sagami on May 14, 2012

This is a very interesting look at where the world’s largest economies are headed. This CNN page shows how the 10 largest economies have performed since 2000 and what they are expected to do each year up to 2017.

Take a look. It will help you decide whether to include Asia or not in your portfolio.

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China moves dissident to luxury resort

by Tony Sagami on May 10, 2012

Hey, maybe I should step up my criticisms of the Obama administration to get a free vacation at a luxury resort. It worked in China.

China has moved a prominent ethnic Mongolian rights activist to a “luxury resort.”

Hada, who like many ethnic Mongolians in China uses a single name, was tried in China’s vast northern Inner Mongolia region in 1996 and jailed for 15 years for separatism, spying and supporting the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance, which seeks greater rights for ethnic Mongolians.

He was released in December 2010 and then had to serve a separate sentence, “four years of deprivation of political rights”, Tao Jian, the deputy Communist Party boss of Inner Mongolia’s law and order committee, said in March.

Hada has since been transferred to the resort in the Chifeng municipality of Inner Mongolia, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) said in an emailed statement, citing Hada’s uncle, Haschuluu.

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China’s Asian neighbors slowing down?

by Tony Sagami on May 10, 2012

This factoid about China’s trade numbers worries the heck out of me. This is one of the first data points that I’ve seen about the economies of China’s neighbors slowing down.

Shipments to emerging economies experienced a drop alongside well-flagged European weakness.

 

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Trade data points to a slowing China

by Tony Sagami on May 10, 2012

Exports grew by 4.9% but imports only increased by 0.3%. That puts a big question mark on how strong China’s domestic economy/domestic consumption really is.

China’s exports and imports both grew considerably more slowly than expected last month, the Chinese government announced on Thursday, in one of the clearest signals yet of lingering and possibly worsening weakness in the world’s second biggest economy.

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I talked to Phil at HoweStreet.com, and our talk covered a range of topics.  You can listen here:

http://talkdigitalnetwork.com/2012/05/good-news-on-gas-prices/

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China gobbles up U.S. pork

by Tony Sagami on May 8, 2012

The Chinese love their pork and there is money to be made by investing in the right companies.

US pork exports will jump 23 percent or more this year because of surging demand and prices in China, the world’s top consumer.

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Indonesia GDP grows by 6.5%

by Tony Sagami on May 8, 2012

Indonesia is one of the strongest growing economies in the world and expanded by 6.5% in the first quarter.

Indonesia’s economy has grown at an annual rate exceeding 5% in seven of the past eight years, thanks largely to its increasingly affluent middle class. The sprawling archipelago’s population of more than 240 million ranks fourth in the world, behind only China, India and the U.S. And a growing number of Indonesians are seeing their incomes rise to a level that allows them to spend more on everything from motorcycles to instant noodles.

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Calculated Risk points out that gasoline prices are now down 15 cents per gallon year over year, and offers this chart from GasBuddy.com …

gasbuddy

In just the past two weeks alone, gasoline prices are down 6.75 cents a gallon.  Now, part of the reason for lower gas prices may be previously high gas prices choking economic activity.  The Bonddad Blog calls it “the oil choke collar,” and says that the lackluster jobs numbers we saw last week are directly related to higher gas prices tightening their grasp on the throat of the economy.

So if higher gas prices hurt the economy, lower gasoline prices should help it.  According to an analyst from Cameron Hanover, for every penny the price of gasoline increases, it costs consumers an additional $4 million per day. That equals $1.4 billion over an entire year. So it follows that for every penny the price of gasoline goes down, consumers get an extra $1.4 billion a year to spend.

We’ll need to see if lower gas prices lead to more hiring.  If so, that could send gasoline prices higher again (as economic activity picks up).  And I think the next Presidential election could depend a lot on whether gasoline prices are higher or lower.

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A global look at the worst debt abusers

by Tony Sagami on May 6, 2012

 

Go to http://www.johnmauldin.com/frontlinethoughts to read the entire article.

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Ugggh. Only 115,000 new jobs

by Tony Sagami on May 4, 2012

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