EASY MARKETS: February 2013

Investing in silver makes more sense than gold now

By David Goodboy, Street Authority

While the Fed's efforts are still being absorbed and utilized by the economy in a positive way, the excess liquidity may eventually lead to an extremely inflationary economic situation....more

Since 2008, credit creation has been seen as the key driver of growth

Lehman’s collapse effectively froze the global money supply and access to working capital. It hit the order books of otherwise healthy companies as far away as Asia, and took the global economy to the brink of financial disaster. Reviewing the rising leverage that preceded it, the lesson seemed obvious: if credit doesn’t grow, business can’t. The economy revolves around credit....more

World Economic Forum study: Reducing supply chain barriers could increase global trade by 15% and economic output by 5%

Deficiency in transport and communications infrastructure is one of several supply chain barriers that act as obstacles for speeding up global economic growth.
That is the conclusion of a report entitled “Enabling Trade: Valuing Growth Opportunities”, prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the World Bank, and Bain & Company, a Boston-based global management consulting firm. The report was made public at the opening of the 11th Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.... more

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK)

The Setting Sun – Japan’s Debt Problems

Satyajit Das, Prudent Bear

. Today, Japan’s industrial and economic decline is palpable.
But in 2012, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose by around 23%. Much of the increase reflects faith in the reflation strategy of second time Prime Minster Shinzo Abe to increase growth through an additional US$120 billion of public spending, create inflation to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio and devalue the Yen. The strategies, which have all been tried before with limited success, may not restore the health of the Japanese economy....more

Malone’s Liberty to Acquire Virgin Media for $16 Billion

Amy Thomson & Kristen Schweizer, Bloomberg

John Malone’s Liberty Global Inc. agreed to buy U.K. cable-television provider Virgin Media Inc. for $16 billion in cash and stock to challenge Rupert Murdoch in Europe’s biggest pay-TV market. After the deal, about 80 percent of Liberty Global’s revenue will come from five countries -- the U.K., Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands... more

NYSE Arca celebrating 20 years of ETP's

Since the launch of SPY on the American Stock Exchange 20 years ago, listings and trading of ETPs in the U.S. has increased from one ETF with $0.5 billion assets under management to nearly 1,500 ETP products with $1.4 trillion in assets under management.
ETPs currently represent nearly 30% of all U.S. equity trading... more

6 stocks that cash in on Americans' debt

Lawrence Meyers InvestorPlace

I love stocks involving debt. Even though the American consumer is wisely deleveraging, companies that let people create debt are diversifying, companies that service debt are booming with no risk, companies that provide subprime debt are going gangbusters and companies that buy bad debt are on fire.

Debt is a big part of our economy, and that means you can find stocks that profit from it..... more

Building the Giant Agbami FPSO Vessel

The giant Agbami Field is one of the largest deepwater oil offshore discoveries in Nigeria. It's estimated to hold potentially recoverable volumes of 900 million barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids and is expected to reach a maximum daily production rate of 250,000 barrels. The cornerstone of the development is one of the world's largest floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. Key components of the FPSO were fabricated in Nigeria, setting a benchmark for using Nigerian goods, labor and services. Agbami represents not only a new source of energy supply, but also provides employment and economic opportunities for Nigeria.

NEWS

By David Goodboy, Street Authority