The rebuilding of Japan will require large amounts of basic materials. One such material is cement. Cement is used in virtually every type of large building or factory.

It might be helpful to look at some cement stocks. Here are just a few, along with their recent share prices:

• Lafarge Coppee (LFRGY): $14.00. One of the world's largest cement and gypsum manufacturers.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" column, Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) CEO James Keyes purchased 679,250 class A shares on Monday at an average price of $4.42 per share.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT) is open to acquiring companies.

• The New York Times reported that British mining company Anglo American plc (NASDAQ: AAUKD) is going to begin the process of selling Tarmac, with possible buyers including Orascom Construction Industries, Lafarge Coppee (NYSE: LR), and Cemex (NYSE: CX).
• From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column:
• UAL Corporation's (NASDAQ: UAUA) stock has soared to around $44 from $21 in February 2007, and Daniel McKenzie of Credit Suisse believes UAL is a potential private equity play.
• USA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: USAT) is the largest maker of the e-port devices that enable vending machines selling soft drinks, snacks, and laundry products to accept plastic, and the company has only begun to penetrate the market, according to CEO George Jensen.
• SemBiosys Genetics, which trades in Toronto under the symbol SBS, is developing a way to make insulin from safflower.

Looking to put new money in the market and trying to build my portfolio on a stable foundation, I find myself thinking about concrete.

The top three cement companies are all headquartered outside of the United States. The number three producer CEMEX S.A. B de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:CX) is in near by Mexico and the number one producer LaFarge ADS (NYSE:LR) is French owned. The number two producer is a great Swiss company, HOLCIM, but its shares are only traded over-the-counter on the so-called "pink sheets," and those I won't touch.