china confidential
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Brazil's Middle Class Hit Hard by Financial Crisis
Foreign Confidential....
AP reports Brazilian stocks are seesawing between positive and negative territory as investors weigh the impact of the global economic downturn on Latin America's largest economy.
Brazil's Ibovespa index opened down but then reversed course, rising 0.4 percent to 34,505 in late morning trading. Thursday's intraday gain didn't come close to erasing a 7.8 percent loss for shares of big Brazilian companies during the previous session.
Brazil's currency, the real, slipped against the dollar and stood at 2.3 reals per dollar in morning trading.
The financial crisis is affecting Brazil's middle class--symbol of the economic boom.
Stuart Grudgings reports from Rio de Janeiro:From forests of new condominium towers on the beach-side outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to monstrous traffic jams in the financial capital of Sao Paulo, credit-fueled buying power has transformed Latin America's biggest economy.
Millions have risen from poverty under the six-year-old administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, helped by social programs and a global commodities boom that helped turn Brazil into an export powerhouse.
But as the financial fallout spreads, credit-dependent industries like cars and real estate are starting to feel the pain. The government is also drawing criticism for initially downplaying the crisis and for not pushing through tough economic reforms during the good times.
"The government says this is just a small wave, but it is already affecting everything -- our markets, our wallets, our jobs," said Andre da Silva, an accountant who had just left a branch of the popular Casas Bahia home appliance store in Rio.
The 48-year-old father left empty-handed after being told he would have to pay in three installments for an air conditioner rather than the 10 on offer before the crisis.
"It doesn't fit my budget any more," he complained.
Click here to read the entire article.Kingsgate Share Price Boosted by Discovery
Shares of Australian miner Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (ASX: KCN) suged Thursday after the company announced a major new gold discovery in Thailand. The news, which China Confidential reported (see story below), lifted Kingsgate shares up 17 cents, or 4.97%, to A$3.59 (US$2.28) on a day when the broader Australian market fell by about 5%.
As our reporting the news has been credited by some readers for helping to influence the rise in the company's stock price, we feel compelled to state for the record that nobody associated with China Confidential presently owns or has ever owned shares (or other securities of any kind) in Kingsgate Consolidated. Additionally, nobody associated with China Confidential has or has ever had a business or financial relationship of any kind with the company.Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Iran Suddenly Seems Afraid to Talk to Obama
Foreign Confidential....
Iranian rhetoric hit a new level of lunacy this week with a Revolutionary Guard commander claiming that the only thing worse than U.S. military power is U.S. "soft power."
Go figure....
The Islamist regime seems to need its conflict with Washington. Given its suspect nuclear and missile programs, the maniacs running the mullahocracy may even need a war. Should that happens, it wouldn't be the first time a rising regional power with global ambitions--and a monstrous ideology--brings horrible destruction down on its people.
Thomas Erdbrink reports from Tehran:Since 2006, Iran's leaders have called for direct, unconditional talks with the United States to resolve international concerns over their nuclear program. But as an American administration open to such negotiations prepares to take power, Iran's political and military leaders are sounding suddenly wary of President-elect Barack Obama.
"People who put on a mask of friendship, but with the objective of betrayal, and who enter from the angle of negotiations without preconditions, are more dangerous," Hossein Taeb, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.
"The power holders in the new American government are trying to regain their lost influence with a tactical change in their foreign diplomacy. They are shifting from a hard conflict to a soft attack," Taeb said.
Click here to continue reading Erdbrink's article in The Washington Post.Goldman Lowers Gold Forecasts as China National Reports Rising Demand and Kingsgate Hits Pay Dirt
Foreign Confidential....
With gold trading near two-week lows as as falling oil prices and a weak equities market prompted selling from commodities speculators, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) on Wednesday said it lowered its forecasts for the price of the precious metal in three-, six- and 12-month time horizons because it expects continued financial market deleveraging to further strengthen the dollar.
But Chinese investors' demand for gold has reportedly risen. Investment hit 38.4 tonnes in the first nine months of this year against 24 tonnes for the whole of 2007, the president ofChina National Gold Group Corporation told the China Mining conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
In other gold news, Australia's Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (ASX: KCN) said it has made a major new gold discovery in Thailand. Click here to read all about it.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Posted by Britannia Radio at 17:18