• BHP Billiton (BHP), the world's number one miner, had earnings before interest and taxes of $14.82 billion. Of that amount, iron ore accounted for $5.8 billion, up 177%
• Number three miner, Rio Tinto (RTPPF), had earnings of $26.6 billion. Iron ore unit accounted for 60%, or $16.6 billion, up 133% for the year.

Continue reading Iron Ore Tops All Commodities

Iron Ore Tops All Commodities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or the KOSPI, which has been approaching its 52-week high of 1,976.46, moved closer to the 52-week high during the Tuesday trading session in Seoul.

Just after the market opened, the index of Korean stocks dipped before climbing higher. The index began to fall again, nearly reaching the previous day's closing level of 1,953.64 before climbing higher for the remainder of the day. The KOSPI ended Tuesday up 8.88 points, or 0.45%, at 1,962.52.

Continue reading Asian Markets Close Mostly Higher

Asian Markets Close Mostly Higher originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading North Korea Wants Your Money, Opens New Foreign Investment Zones

North Korea Wants Your Money, Opens New Foreign Investment Zones originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple (AAPL) continues to bring the iPhone to countries outside the U.S. Although its launch in China didn't generate as much fanfare as the company had hoped, things take time to roll into a big ball of success. Apple won't be slowing down international introductions of the handset that changed the wireless game, that's for sure.

As such, South Korea's own LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics are about to see their homeland assaulted by the official introduction of the iPhone for sale into that country. South Korea's KT Corp. and SK Telecom are the reported carriers for Apple's iPhone there, and although the South Korean market may seem like a small potato of opportunity for Apple, the company has been cleared by the Korean Communications Commission to start selling its popular handset.

Continue reading Apple's iPhone set for South Korean launch

Apple's iPhone set for South Korean launch originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Consumer confidence ticked upward for the first time since 2007. Around the world, consumers are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of shelling out some cash, even if they're still approaching the notion with caution.

According to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company between September 28 and October 16, 2009, consumer confidence was highest in India, with Indonesia and Norway following. Japan, Latvia, Portugal, and South Korea were at the other end of the spectrum, though South Korea did show a significant quarterly improvement.

Continue reading Consumer confidence up around the world, a first since 2007

Consumer confidence up around the world, a first since 2007 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Its sights set on the United States and Asia, South Korea's $30 billion sovereign wealth fund is hunting for equities. Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) doesn't see bonds outperforming stocks over the long term, which is what has prompted the move.

Once the reallocation is executed, equities will account for half of KIC's "traditional" investments. Today, it stands at 40%. High quality equities and fixed income securities comprise 90% of KIC's portfolio, with the rest, one would gather, consisting of "non-traditional" investments.

Continue reading Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities

Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Short-term interest rates fall again on Fed rate cut, dollar swap lines

Short-term interest rates fall again on Fed rate cut, dollar swap lines originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Suddenly, (nearly) every institutional investor in the world wants dollars

Suddenly, (nearly) every institutional investor in the world wants dollars originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.

Continue reading Follow the medals: An Olympic portfolio

Follow the medals: An Olympic portfolio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It has been widely anticipated that the EU would bring new antitrust charges against Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). The FTC and other US authorities are chasing the largest chip company in the world for similar reasons. South Korea has already fined Intel for anti-competitive behavior.

The theory behind the charges is that Intel induced PC companies and their retailers to use its chips and not those from rival AMD (NYSE: AMD). According to The Wall Street Journal, "The European Union launched new antitrust charges against Intel Corp., saying the chip giant paid rebates to a major retailer to encourage it not to carry computers using chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc ."

If the charges are true, it shows the extent to which a company of real size, like Intel, can be its own worst enemy. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ran into similar problems a decade ago for being too aggressive killing off competition in the browser and media player markets.

The irony of Intel's legal bind is that it almost certainly did not need to pressure or give incentives to keep AMD in a distant second place. It had the balance sheet to keep margin pressure on AMD and the engineering prowess to offer better chips.

Arrogance and carelessness often go with being in first place. This time it appears that it has caught up to Intel.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

EU finally brings antitrust charges against Intel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The U.S. government made the decision to offer tax rebates to help offset the economic slump. Based on recent unemployment figures, that may not be working.

Rising commodities and oil prices may be a more significant threat to consumers than the very modest growth in personal income.

That begs the issue of whether the U.S. is putting capital distributed to tax-payers in the right place. It may be that giving consumers subsidies to offset oil and gas prices is a much more effective way to keep the economy on track. And, that is what South Korea plans to do.

According to Bloomberg, the government in South Korea will put up about $10 billion "to help consumers and businesses cope with surging energy costs." These benefits will go mostly to those with modest incomes and small companies. Arguably, the rich and large corporations are better able to cope with high energy costs.

Estimates vary, but the U.S. economy is 10 to 15 times larger than South Korea's, so any similar program in the U.S. could cost $120 billion.

Not a ton of money to keep the skids greased.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Should U.S. offer tax rebates to offset oil costs? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Many South Koreans made their feelings clear on Saturday: the United States can keep its beef.

The AP reported that a month of protests culminated in a rally Saturday night in Seoul during which many thousands of South Koreans protested the government's decision to import U.S. beef after a it had been shut out for most of the past four and half years.

South Korea was formerly the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef, until the first case of mad cow disease in the United States back in 2003.

After sensational media reports sparked fears of mad cow disease, protests of the April agreement to reopen markets to U.S. beef began in earnest. Students, labor union members, and office workers filled the plaza in front of city hall. Protesters lit candles, waved placards and chanted slogans criticizing President Lee Myung-bak, but rally was largely peaceful.

Protesters suggest that President Lee was too quick to concede to U.S. demands in order to win favor with Washington and garner support in Congress for ratification of a separate free trade agreement.

President Lee's office had no comment on the rally, but earlier. President Lee went on national television to apologize for not sufficiently consulting with the public on the beef issue.

South Koreans say no to U.S. beef originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) wants to capture more market share for its imported passenger cars in South Korea. To do this, the automaker is considering launching its Chevrolet brand in that country after examining the results of a recent Korea-specific feasibility study.

GM, which already sells its Cadillac and Saab brands in South Korea, wants to make sure that rival Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) doesn't get into South Korea with its extremely popular passenger cars and beat it in that market, much like it's doing in many national auto markets. Toyota is now public enemy number one for GM, and it's not getting any easier for the iconic U.S. auto brand. Although its latest quarter was somewhat disappointing, Toyota is still very much on top of its game.

Another motivation for GM is the fact that imported car sales in South Korea increased to 6.2% of all car sales in April of this year, up from 4.9% from a year ago. GM hopes that it can double its South Korea sales this year, which sounds like a pretty hefty goal. GM is facing some headwinds though: the big three Detroit automakers saw their first-quarter car sales in South Korea shrink to 11.7% of the market, down from 2004's 15% first quarter total.

General Motors may introduce Chevy in South Korea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 May 2008 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The next energy shock for Americans: natural gas

The next energy shock for Americans: natural gas originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You know that an economic issue has jumped the shark when the New York Times's op-editoraliste Maureen Dowd (MoDo) devotes her Sunday column to it. What's unleashed MoDo's moxie is how Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) -- those government investment funds estimated to control between $2 trillion and $15 trillion -- are buying up chunks of the U.S. banking system.

The problem against which MoDo rails is that thanks to the policies of George W. Bush, the price of oil has quadrupled and the dollar has plummeted -- thus putting the U.S. at the mercy of those Arabian SWFs whose owners he groveled to this week to lower the price of oil. And while W. was grovelling, so were the CEOs of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) -- seeking capital to shore up their Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO)-tarnished balance sheets. MoDo is right that with Bush's $2.4 trillion worth of wars and $1.3 trillion worth of tax cuts, the U.S. has gone from being the world's creditor to its debtor.

But another New York Times article sheds more light on the phenomenon of foreign investment in the U.S. -- suggesting that with their $414 billion worth of 2007 purchases in the U.S., foreign investors, including SWFs, spent a record amount of money buying up the U.S. last year -- up 90% from 2006. The Times suggests that this foreign investment comes in different forms -- some of which are beneficial. How so?

Continue reading Selling America to Arabia one bank at a time

Selling America to Arabia one bank at a time originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ex-Daewoo chief gets amnesty

Ex-Daewoo chief gets amnesty originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The U.S. car market will probably total just above 16 million cars and light vehicles this year. And next year, a tight economy may take the figure down. GM (NYSE: GM) has about a quarter of the market, or 4 million units. With a shrinking market and competition from Japanese imports, holding that number may be hard.

But GM is doing well in China, where its is tied with Volkswagen for the No. 1 spot, and the U.S. car company's numbers get better in Latin America each year.

GM has another market which is rarely mentioned, but it is an example of how the firm is accelerating its investments and returns overseas in a bid to diversity geographically.

Continue reading GM Daewoo's success shows drive outside U.S.

GM Daewoo's success shows drive outside U.S. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), finally seeing the writing on the wall after losing in the European courts, decided today to withdraw its appeal [subscription required] of an antitrust ruling by the South Korea Fair Trade Commission, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal today. "It is important to note that Microsoft remains committed to Korea and continues to work closely with the FTC to ensure that Korean consumers benefit from vibrant competition in the IT industry," the company said in a statement. I bet that's how they really feel. I don't think Microsoft truly wants to help the competition, but they are being forced to do so by the antitrust regulators.

In February 2006, South Korea's FTC imposed a fine of 32.5 Korean ($35.4 million) against Microsoft for abuses related to its dominance in certain software, primarily its Windows operating system. Microsoft must provide two versions of Windows in Korea, one stripped of the Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger and the other carrying links to Web pages that allow consumers to download competing versions of such software. Microsoft appealed this decision in March 2006. This appeal was turned down in May 2006 by the FTC and it asked the antitrust regulator to review the fine. Today Microsoft dropped the appeal most likely because it realized it would lose.

Microsoft drops South Korea antitrust appeal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• The country has a good location (between Japan and China)
• It has a good airport
• Its people are well-educated
• Healthy banks
• Record-setting stock market
• Strong foreign-exchange reserves
• Growing savings

Continue reading Asian markets continue to fly; more upside ahead?

Asian markets continue to fly; more upside ahead? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Man crashes car into office to protest bad service originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.