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Now it's coal that's on fire–because of the snow

Bad idea to run out of coal during a cold spell. But that’s exactly what’s happened to China’s utilities. Near panic spot buying has sent the price of thermal coal above $100 a metric ton for the first time in a year. China imported about 50 million metric tons of...

Emerging market debt hits investment grade

Emerging market bonds reached investment grade for the first time ever last week on the January 8 upgrade of Turkey’s government bonds by Moody’s. The average credit rating for the 39 countries that make up the benchmark JPMorgan Embi Global Diversified Index moved up...

Alcoa delivers bad news for global profits

After the close on Monday January 11, Alcoa (AA) reported a loss of $277 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. Excluding special items, Alcoa earned a penny a share. The company turned free cash flow positive for the first time since June 2008 Evidence that the...

So where's the growth supposed to come from?

People who don’t have jobs don’t run up their credit card balances. Not much of a surprise. But in November it added up to a record 14th straight monthly drop in credit card debt. Today, January 8, the Federal Reserve reported that credit-card debt fell by $13.7...

What happens when China cuts its stimulus?

 China too. It’s not just the United Kingdom and the United States where turning off the stimulus cash faucet has the potential to take a bite out of the economy and financial markets in 2010.  In China the big question is What will happen to consumer spending on...

Another jobless "recovery"?

The U.S. government releases its jobs figures tomorrow and Friday, January 7 and 8. Lucky economists aren’t groundhogs or they’d be scaring themselves back into their burrows for well more than six more weeks of unemployment winter. I’d call the mood on jobs and...

The other war between Apple and Google

There are two fronts in the increasingly bitter war being fought between Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG). And while the contest between the iPhone and Google’s Nexus One (and other Android phones) is getting most of the ink, it’s the apps battle that comes with the...