growth!!!!

Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada -- the states that were most hurt in the real estate collapse over the past five years -- are now leading the U.S. labor market expansion.

Copper Imports

Imports of copper by China last month were the second- highest on record, the data showed, after the weeklong holiday slowed customs clearance in January. 

Net crude oil imports increased to a record to meet rising demand as farmers prepare for the planting season and the government adds to emergency stockpiles. The average price of February’s crude imports was $112.39 a barrel, up from $92.28 in the same month last year, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Wen, in his state-of-the-nation work report to lawmakers at the National People’s Congress this week, said the government will “carry out timely and appropriate anticipatory adjustments and fine-tuning” of fiscal and monetary policies.

‘Powerful Recovery’

“The powerful recovery in earnings thus far has allowed market averages to rise without pushing the P/E higher,” David Joy, the Boston-based chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial Inc., said in a Feb. 21 e-mail. His firm oversees $600 billion. “Many investors are either not convinced that this price rally and earnings recovery are for real, or they simply do not care, having been burned too badly in the downturn.”
U.S. gross domestic product expanded an average 2.4 percent a quarter in the 2 1/2 years since the recession ended in 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The world’s largest economy hasn’t had a smaller post-recession recovery rate since at least the 1940s, the data show. In the 2003 bull market, GDP rose 2.7 percent on average, before the S&P 500 surged 102 percent. For the 1982 rally, the rate was 5.7 percent. Equities more than tripled in that cycle.

Contagion stopped in Europe by China!!!

Asian stocks rose, helping the region’s benchmark index rebound from a one-year low, as oil and copper climbed, while the euro weakened toward a 10-year low against the yen before Italy sells bonds today.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.5 percent as of 1:05 p.m. after yesterday falling to the lowest level since Aug. 31, 2010. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.4 percent. oil gained 0.8 percent in New York, copper jumped 0.9 percent and gold rose 0.9 percent, Europe’s 17-nation currency slipped 0.2 percent to 105.42 yen. The cost of insuring Asia bonds against default snapped a three-day increase.


Italy will seek to raise as much as 7 billion euros ($9.5 billion) in a bond sale, after a government official said yesterday the nation held talks with China about potential investments in the euro region’s third-largest economy. The chance of a default by Greece in the next five years has soared to 98 percent as Prime Minister George Papandreou fails to reassure investors that his country can survive the euro-region crisis, credit-default swaps showed.


“The idea that the Chinese may step up and buy Italian bonds puts to halt the idea of contagion,” Jim Bianco, Chicago- based president of Bianco Research LLC, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The big question is whether they actually follow through and buy Italian bonds.”

Humala on a shining path forward!!!

Peru’s stocks tumbled the most in two years and dollar bonds fell after former army rebel Ollanta Humala claimed victory in the country’s presidential runoff yesterday and sparked concern that he will seek greater state control of the economy.

I think his election represents a great buying opportunity.  Excluding Mr. Chavez, most of the former populist revolutionaries of the Southern Cone have become quite pragmatic in their maturing years.  Humala is no Chavez; he is more in the camp of Lula de Silva of Brazil.

Humala defended policies that have made Peru the fastest growing Latin American economy over the past decade.  Some investors may be concerned he will raise mining royalties and impose greater state control over natural resources.  My guess is that they should be more worried about England’s treatment of taxes in the North Sea!!!

Peru’s benchmark Lima General Index of stocks sank the most since October 2008, retreating 8.7 percent to 19,378.78 at 9:38 a.m. New York time.  Yields on dollar-denominated bonds due 2037 rose 17 basis points, or 0.17 percentage point, to 5.91 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The cost to protect Peru’s debt from non-payment with credit-default swaps jumped 20 basis points to 168, the highest since April 27, according to data provider CMA in London. The sol weakened 0.3 percent last week to 2.7631 per U.S. dollar.

Peru is the world’s top silver producer, third in copper and zinc and sixth in gold. It has vast oil and gas reserves.

Good stock bets are (not to mention the currency and bond plays):

Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), Peru’s biggest producer of the metal, fell 8.6 percent in U.S. trading to $31.73.

Hochschild Mining Plc (HOC), a producer of silver in Peru, fell to its lowest in four months in London trading, declining 8.7 percent to 498.8 pence.

Viva Zapata!!!