“Anyway…as poor as the sheep business was, it got poorer in the ’80s. The British exported lamb to the French market…and they undercut our prices. Because they were part of the European Union, we couldn’t do anything about it. It’s a free trade zone. But the British couldn’t produce lamb that cheap either.
June 11th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "new zealand"
The Mining Finance Black Hole
Could this have worked out any better for China? We’re talking about the position Rio Tinto put itself in by taking on US$38 billion in debt to acquire Alcan—and stave off the unwanted advance of an amorous BHP. Now, in a world where refinancing that debt is near impossible for one of the world’s largest miners, it must sue for peace with a strategic partner…
February 13th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
A Pivot Point
It’s at a turning point right now. One thing your editor has learned in the last eleven years of daily market observation is that when public sentiment reaches a point of maximum anxiety, it breaks like a wave crashing on the rocks. This is not as bad as it sounds. What we mean is that though the general trend of the market is obvious-lower stock prices on a weak economy and a confused policy response to the crisis-you will often be surprised at when the rallies come and how high they go…
February 11th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 12 comments | Continued
The Fed’s War on Cash
It’s what we call the Fed’s war on cash. You see, the Fed is driving down yields on government bonds and notes of all maturities quite deliberately. More on what it’s up to below. But it’s not just the Fed that’s pulling out all the monetary stops to float the world on a sea of credit. It’s a now a race to the bottom for central bank interest rates. New Zealand’s central bank cut its main interest rates by a whopping 1.5% overnight…
December 4th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued