"Even with the poor outlook for the economy, there are many investment opportunities being created by high energy prices and the low dollar," notes Jim Powell. In his Global Changes & Opportunities Report, he explains, "American 'rust belt companies' look especially good."

"Surprisingly, rising fuel prices are making some American manufacturers more competitive and I could not be happier about the improved outlook for many efficient U.S. producers.

"U.S. machine tool makers are starting to take back some of the business they lost to Japan 20 years ago. U.S. imports of Chinese steel are declining dramatically, while domestic production is rising at rates not seen in years.

"The list of U.S. businesses that are benefiting from the new trade relationships will lengthen, but it won't happen overnight. It's not just a matter of being loyal to the home team. America will benefit from creating more real wealth instead of the flim-flam financial products that led to the phony boom.

Since 1975, Lakshmi Mittal has turned ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) into a global steel powerhouse. As a result, he's worth in excess of $45 billion. Actually, as an indication of his power, Mittal is now a board member of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS).

And, no doubt, his dealmaking is likely to continue. In fact, there are reports that ArcelorMittal will make a play for Rio Tinto Group, which is the #2 ore producer in the world. The company is currently ensnared in a hostile takeover from BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP). Basically, ArcelorMittal may make an equity investment, which could exceed $10 billion.

Why? ArcelorMittal needs to find ways to stabilize its raw material supplies. After all, with pricing pressures, it's important to contain things.

Then again, this may ultimately be mostly noise -- to get traders excited. But, in light of ArcelorMittal's global power, investors will definitely listen.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

The U.S.'s recent economic doldrums, combined with a 4-year-plus economic expansion that produced less-than-optimal-results in several statistical categories, has caused investors' recollection of robust economic times to fade from memory.

For a refresher, albeit not an ideal case study, regarding what a robust economy looks like, consider China's economy: China's retail sales surged 21.6% in May compared to a year ago, Bloomberg News reported Friday, a rate seven times faster than May retail sales growth in the United States.

Retail sales increased to 870.4 billion yuan or $126 billion in May after rising 22% in April, on strong auto sales and building material purchases, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

China's economy grew 10.6% in Q1 2008, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday, citing National Bureau of Statistics research, a pace well above what Chinese Government's ceiling for 2008 GDP growth.

Further consumer prices increased at annualized rate of 8.3% during March 2008, Xinhua reported, as China's infrastructure development and consumer demand for goods/service continued to place upward pressure on commodities and retail prices. China's GDP grew 11.9% in 2007.

In Q1 2008, industrial production jumped 16.4%, while investment in fixed assets, a category that covers categories from housing to new factory equipment, surged 24.6%.

The commodities fad took a major step toward becoming an investment trend when investment giant Calpers -- the $240 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System -- announced it may increase its commodities investments 16-fold to $7.2 billion through 2010, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

Calpers, the largest pension fund in the United States, said it would hold between 0.5% and 3% of its assets in commodities. Last year the fund invested $450 million in commodities.

Strong emerging market growth, particularly in China and in sections of Latin America, has created a bull market in oil, commodities and raw materials, and many economists say these assets are likely to outperform both inflation and selected investment classes in 2008, and possibly for a longer time period.

The Standard & Poor's GSCI index of 24 commodities is up 10% so far in 2008, following a 33% gain in 2007. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of stocks is down 6% this year, while U.S. Treasuries have netted a 2% return.

China's government said it hopes to limit inflation to 4.8% this year, but said it could have trouble doing so after January 2008 snowstorms worsened food shortages, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The storms, which disrupted food ships, might keep inflation high in February 2008, said Zhou Wenjun, an official of the cabinet's National Development and Reform Commission, The AP reported. Prices increased at annualized rate of 7.1% in January 2008.

CPI goal: 'good luck'

Economist David H. Wang told BloggingStocks Friday that China's effort is admirable, but structural and monetary policy factors will make it nearly impossible to hold inflation to the government's stated objective. (Wang lived in China for more than 20 years before moving to the United States for graduate school; he still studies China's economy.)

Oil closed Wednesday up 73 cents to $100.74 per barrel -- a new record high close -- in a session anxious to hear Thursday's report on weekly U.S. inventories. Oil had traded at a print record $101.27 earlier in this session.

The weekly Wednesday oil inventory report will be released this week on Thursday, one day late, due to the Presidents' Day holiday. Oil closed above $100 for the first time in its history Tuesday, at $100.01.

"It's been a wait-and-see market today, for the most part," independent energy trader Jim Dietz told BloggingStocks Wednesday afternoon. "Neither bulls nor bears seem to want to make a major stand ahead of the inventory report, but we did trade above $100 again. If we close above it today, that would be a bullish sign." Dietz added that he is currently flat -- or has no open energy positions.

China's central bank let the yuan appreciate slightly Tuesday night to 7.1452 yuan to the dollar from 7.1580 yuan, China's Xinhua News Agency announced Wednesday. The report also provided a hint regarding the pace of future currency appreciation.

"We will further improve monetary policy controls, continue to use quantitative measures, widen usage of price-related policy tools and increase innovation in monetary policy measures,'' the central bank said in the report, without elaborating, Bloomberg News reported.

Zhou Xiaochuan, head of the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has said repeatedly in recent months that the yuan rate would gradually reach a "balanced" level and help bring equilibrium to the balance of payments.

At issue: The yuan

China is facing pressure on a number of fronts to appreciate its currency. Both the United States and Europe would like China, which maintains the yuan's rate in an artificially low trading band, to float its currency or at least let it come close to reflecting a fair-value rate in the years ahead. China keeps the yuan artificially low to reduce the cost of goods exported, which boosts exports sales. Both the U.S. and Europe say that rate gives China an unnatural competitive advantage in trade. China counters that it needs a low-valued yuan to increase wealth and protect young sectors of its developing economy.

China's inflation rate accelerated to its highest level in more than 11 years in January, rising to a year-over-year rate of 7.1%, up from a 6.5% pace in December, China's National Bureau of Statistics announced Tuesday.

The NBS said food prices surged 18.2% in the year-over-year period, as record snow storms blocked food transport, forcing prices higher.

Officials said the food shortages had eased, but that consumer prices were likely to continue to rise due to higher wage costs and higher costs for coal and other industrial materials.

China's government is attempting to cool its economy, in part to take pressure off wholesale prices, particularly commodities, but also to lower retail inflation. China's economy grew 11.4% in 2007. Many economists expect 8.5-9.5% GDP growth in 2008.

China increased benchmark interest rates for the sixth time this year Thursday, the Chinese government announced, in the government's latest attempt to slow surging growth and rising inflation in the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported.

The People's Bank of China increased its benchmark one-year deposit rate by roughly one-quarter percentage point, or 27 basis points, to 4.14%, and also raised the one-year lending rate about one-fifth percentage point, or 18 basis points, to 7.47%. The central bank's last interest rate increase occurred in September, Reuters reported.

Earlier this year, China's monetary officials shifted their monetary bias from "prudent" to "tight' to slow the nation's double-digit GDP growth economy.

Economic boom

China's GDP has grown more than 10% for more than four years, serving as a centerpoint for not only emerging market development in Asia, but also as an engine for global growth. Low-cost labor and the nation's weak currency, the yuan (which is fixed at an artificially low rate, a trading band, by the Chinese government), have fueled an export boom and a large trade surplus. That surplus has led to many benefits for the world's most populous nation, including rising real incomes, an expanded middle class and historic economic development, but has also stoked inflation.

Further, monetary and industrial officials in the world's other major economic regions in the United States and Europe have urged Chinese officials to slow the nation's economy -- and implement other reforms -- to take price pressure off commodities (such as oil) and resources.

As the globalization era progresses, transportation is at a premium. Young, growing economies in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are placing enormous demands on their infrastructures, even as they expand them.

Further, the growth in intercontinental trade has meant that shipping vessels also are in short supply, and among shipping companies, Dryships (NASDAQ: DRYS) is worth an evaluation.

Dryships ships commodities, grains, bauxite, fertilizers and steel products in its fleet of 35 vessels.

In general, analysts like Dryships' mix of spot charter market revenue and long-term contracts, in addition to the company's adequate performance regarding cost controls.

In the current international trade environment, that would be enough to recommend the shares, but the major positive is the vessel market. Shipping space is at a premium, and shippers like Dryships have considerable pricing power as a result. Hence, analysts see large EPS gains for the company, among other shippers in the sector. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for DRYS are $4.25/$8.62.

There are days when the U.S. Federal Reserve probably feels like it's part of a well-researched, coordinated public policy effort to both keep the U.S. economy growing at an acceptable rate with low inflation, and serve as an engine for global growth. Then there are days like today, when the Fed undoubtedly feels like it's out there on its own, like that well-known bald eagle -- a solitary guardian amid ever-present risks and dangers.

The Fed meets December 11 to decide whether to continue to ease monetary policy. The consensus among economists and Wall Street analysts is that the Fed will lower key short-term interest rates by a quarter-percentage point to 4.5%, with some analysts predicting a half-percentage point cut by the Fed.

In an effort to stimulate domestic demand amid a U.S. economy slowed by subprime mortgage defaults, the Fed has twice lowered key interest rates this year, cutting the Fed funds rate -- the rate banks charge each other -- to 4.50%, and the discount rate -- the rate the Fed charges banks for short-term loans -- to 5.00%.

China announced Wednesday it will tighten its monetary policy in 2008 for the first time in a decade to slow its surging economy, Channel News Asia reported Wednesday.

China said it would shift monetary policy from prudent to tight, but gave few specific details regarding the policy.
At the same, The Wall Street Journal reported that China's State Information Center, a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a report published in the China Securities Journal that China should let the dollar-yuan rate move as much as 1% above or below the central parity rate [subscription required] in each daily trading session, up from 0.5% now.

China's sizzling economy has grown by over 10% annually for more than four years, and many economists expect another double-digit GDP gain in 2007, despite the Chinese government's effort to cool the economy. In 2006, China's GDP totaled $10.2 trillion in purchasing power parity terms and $2.5 trillion in real terms, according to research by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

China Investment Corp, which manages China's foreign exchange reserves, and China steel companies Baosteel Shougang Group and Angang Steel are said to be working on a bid for Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP), Forbes reported Monday, citing China Business, the state-owned Chinese weekly. Rio denied receiving an approach from Chinese investors, Agency France Presse reported.

Deal talk had sent Rio's shares up about 7% in Australia early Monday. However, in the U.S., there was little follow through: Rio's shares fell $2.20 to $433.85 in mid-day Monday trading.

Earlier this year Rio rejected an offer from BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL), saying BHP's offer undervalued the company. Two subsequent requests for talks by BHP were also turned down.

Sector/Deal Analysis

Way back in the 20th century, rails were hardly considered a growth play. But with consistent demand for commodities and raw materials, along with the (seemingly) continual rise in truck transport costs, the rails are becoming a primary shipment mode, which means good things -- long-term -- for rail companies.

Among the rails, CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) is a company worth a review. CSX operates the largest rail network in the eastern United States, with a 22,000-mile network in 23 states and two Canadian provinces.

In general, analysts see CSX's revenue growth slowing somewhat in 2007, offset by better margins, pricing power (including expired contracts repricing) and improved asset utilization.

Further, coal traffic may slow heading into 2008, but intermodal traffic is expected to remain solid. Numerous infrastructure improvements and capacity increases should improve CSX's delivery times and reduce dwell times. In addition, trading around $42 with a p/e of 16, CSX currently is somewhat of a bargain, as Wall Street has discounted CSX's share for a U.S. economic slowdown, taking the stock down about 20% from a $52-high reached this summer.