But in the near term, the sector is definitely contracting. Even the uber-wealthy are hurting. Pundits have delighted as porcine plutocrats Nathan Tinkler and Gina Rinehart watched their fortunes drop precipitously over the past year. Tinkler is now merely a former billionaire, while Rinehart’s wealth declined by a staggering AUD7 billion, to AUD22 billion, over the past 12 months.

Their plight might be more entertaining if Australia’s economy weren’t so dependent on the mining industry. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) recently detailed a significant increase in projects being deferred or cancelled, as well as a decline in investment for exploration. Altogether, roughly AUD150 billion in projects have been delayed or cancelled over the past year.

Continue Reading at Investing Daily

— Investing Daily

The Monopoly market keeps passing go and collecting 200.00. The problem with this philosophy is only the Mr. Potters of the world can take full advantage of the funny money. The “Average Joe” has received no benefit from this policy. We still see high unemployment, recessionary times and the real possibility of deflation.

Continue Reading at Average Joe Options

— Todd Horwitz

As I write this, West Texas Crude is selling for $96 a barrel. Brent Sea Crude is selling for $104.

This isn’t really news, as the price of oil hasn’t changed much in five years…

What has changed is who is now producing oil — and where it’s going.

Earlier this week, it was announced that China is now the largest importer of oil. That’s right. China has beat out the United States for the first time in 40 years.

According to the EIA, China’s incoming shipments hit 6.12 million barrels per day in December, compared to crude imports in the U.S., which fell to 5.98 million barrels per day — the lowest since February 1992.

Continue Reading at Wealth Daily

— Wealth Daily

S&P 500 futures are down almost 1 percent, while European indexes are lower by about 2 percent. The real declines came in Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei plunged 7 percent and Hong Kong shed 2.5 percent.

The weakness follows a weak purchasing-managers report from China, which showed a contraction in the country’s manufacturing sector for the first time in seven months. Nerves were also on edge yesterday when comments from Federal Reserve officials in the United States suggested that the central bank will slow monetary stimulus.

Continue Reading at Option Monster

— Option Monster

Unlike Paulson who maintained his positions in gold, other big players like George Soros and  BlackRock cut their gold ETF holdings, while Goldman Sachs issued a sell recommendation on gold right before the yellow metal plunged 13% through April 15, the biggest drop in three decades.  And by looking at the futures curve (chart below), market does not seem to expect gold to come back roaring any time soon.

Continue Reading At Econ Matters

— EconMatters

Although no one is accusing Apple of any skullduggery, they are questioning how they can feel it is morally right to borrow billions of dollars at very low interest rates assuring them of making even more money while not paying a dime in tax.

How they did it is the subject of a US Senate permanent subcommittee that hopes to air it findings on Tuesday when CEO Tim Cook takes the witness stand. Apparently they were able to exploit very subtle loopholes in the tax codes of Ireland and the United States to make it work.

Continue Reading at Average Joe Options

— Todd Horwitz

The year-on-year drop in the value of Taiwan’s export orders (an advance indication of the direction that goods exports are likely to take in the next 2-3 months) was mild compared with the 6.6% contraction recorded in March, but the figures confirm that the outlook for external trade remains gloomy.

As a result, the pressure on the authorities to take measures to combat the boost given to Japanese exports by the falling value of the yen is likely to grow.

Continue Reading at CME Group

— CMEGroup

S&P 500 futures are up about one-tenth of a percent after a slight gain yesterday. Most European indexes are modestly lower but have been climbing in the last hour. Asian markets were mixed overnight, with China down slightly but Japan’s Nikkei advancing another 1.6 percent.

Equities have been going almost straight up since the S&P 500 bounced at its 50-day moving average last month, but there are potential signs that momentum is slowing. On Tuesday, for instance, transports and small caps were the two weakest indexes, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the strongest.

Conservative health-care stocks also led the market higher, while energy finished lower after reversing early gains. Technology lagged as well.

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— Option Monster

The biggest beneficiary of this upswing is regional carrier Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), based in Seattle. Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, together with its partner regional airlines, serves 95 cities through Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico.

Alaska Airlines is the seventh-largest airline in the United States in terms of passenger traffic and it carries more passengers between Alaska and the contiguous US than any other airline.

Continue Reading at Investing Daily

— Investing Daily

Crude Oil

Record-high U.S. crude stocks, a struggling European economy, worries about China’s growth outlook, and the strong dollar have weakened oil prices to around mid-$90s a barrel. Partly offsetting this unfavorable view has been the improvement in domestic labor market conditions that points towards an improving economic growth backdrop.

The immediate outlook for oil, however, remains tepid given the commodity’s fairly positive supply picture. In particular, while Saudi Arabia is likely to cut back on its production, global oil output is expected to get a boost from sustained strength in North America, Iraq, Angola, Brazil and Colombia. On the other hand, the growth in global liquids fuel demand will be relatively soft in the absence of a strong global recovery.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which provides official energy statistics from the U.S. Government, world crude consumption grew by an estimated 0.7 million barrel per day in 2012 to a record-high level of 89.0 million barrels per day.

Continue Reading at Zacks Investment Research

— Zacks Investment Research