Why Is Beijing Investing $200 Billion in One Company? The answer is simple. This rail company hauls 25% of the world’s freight – but it only has 6% of the world’s track. Right now, freight supply is 65% shy of demand. Sales for this company have grown on average 47% over the last five year. And now, with a $200 billion infusion, it’s about to jump even higher. Estimates show the potential gains at 356%. Click here for the full report.

By Bob Blandeburgo
Associate Editor
Money Morning

The much-anticipated earnings report from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce yesterday (Thursday) showed that consumers are not only reeling in their discretionary spending, but may also be pulling the reins on the necessities.

Retail sales fell 0.1% in July from the previous month, and 8.3% from a …

Most people think of warrants as being associated primarily with micro/nano cap i.e. junior gold and silver mining companies but that is not entirely the case. Of the 35 companies offering warrants of 24 or more months duration (of which there are 47 in total) 6 are large-cap commodity based companies (2 gold mining companies; 2 royalty companies; 1 oil and gas company; and 1 molybdenum miner). Below is a description of each of these companies and the performance of their stock and associated warrants week-ending July 10th.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW) is a silver focused royalty company with nine long-term purchase agreements with companies in Mexico, Sweden, Peru, Portugal, Greece, USA and Canada to purchase a fixed percentage of their silver production at contracted prices for the life of the mines involved.

Blackmont Capital analyst Richard Gray has called Silver Wheaton’s May 2009 $243-million acquisition of smaller rival Silverstone …

In the currency market, the dollar lost some more ground to the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4068 vs. $1.3991 on Thursday.

China took center stage as Marketwatch.com reported that “the People’s Bank of China’s annual financial stability report repeated an earlier call by central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan for the development of a new super-sovereign currency that would largely take the place of the dollar…

“The Chinese central bank’s comments come after Chinese government officials had played down concerns over the dollar’s reserve-currency role following a visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month.

“ ‘There may be signs here of tensions mounting between the PBOC’s economic concerns over China’s holdings of dollars and the Chinese government’s diplomatic reasons’ for toning down their criticism, said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange.

“The central bank is ‘still clearly worried about the

...

In the currency market, the dollar lost some more ground to the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.4068 vs. $1.3991 on Thursday.

China took center stage as Marketwatch.com reported that “the People’s Bank of China’s annual financial stability report repeated an earlier call by central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan for the development of a new super-sovereign currency that would largely take the place of the dollar…

“The Chinese central bank’s comments come after Chinese government officials had played down concerns over the dollar’s reserve-currency role following a visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month.

“ ‘There may be signs here of tensions mounting between the PBOC’s economic concerns over China’s holdings of dollars and the Chinese government’s diplomatic reasons’ for toning down their criticism, said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange.

“The central bank is ‘still clearly worried about the

...

In the currency market, the dollar prolonged its slide by plummeting against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.4323 vs. $1.417 on Monday.

“Fund managers continue the search for yield away from dollar-denominated cash onto equities, including [U.S. ones], but especially in emerging markets,” said Ashraf Laidi, of CMC Markets.

The latest green shoot poked above ground in the form of a report from the National Association of Realtors that said pending sales of existing homes rose for the third month in a row in April.

The pending home sales index for April rose 6.7%, the NAR said. That followed a 3.2% increase in March, was the third monthly increase in a row, and was 3.2% above April 2008.

“This is yet another positive indication that the bottoming process is forming” in home sales, wrote Jennifer Lee, an economist for BMO Capital Markets. She added, rather wistfully it seems, “Now

...

By: Gene Arensberg

HOUSTON — As expected gold paused just after attempting a second assault at the big round number target with three zeros, US$1,000 this past week.   We could all feel a pullback or correction coming.Apparently sensing that the market for gold had moved too far or too fast, the very large commercial futures traders had strongly positioned for a gold correction as readers of this report know. They finally got a correction going this past week.

Gold had advanced a total of $326, or 47%, since its October panic lows near $681 in not all that much time. Indeed, the largest of the largest futures traders were evidently willing to take the short side of gold futures contracts aggressively as gold was crossing the $900 line of the gold futures battlefield as we reported in early February. As the yellow metal neared the $1,000 mark mid-month,

...

GMAC Files to Become a Bank; Unemployment Nears 26-Year High; Mogul Signals Interest in Circuit City; Banco do Brasil Buying Out Rival; Crude Continues Slide; JPMorgan Cuts 3,000 jobs; Stock Market Craters.

Detroit-based finance company GMAC has filed to become a bank, a shot at getting a slice of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 51% of GMAC. General Motors Corp. (GM) owns the other 49%, Reuters reported. Initial jobless claims climbed to 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, close to a 26-year high. “The economic contraction appears to be worsening,” Sal Guatieri, a senior ...

Job losses spiked in October according to two key employment reports released yesterday (Wednesday).  The rate of unemployment has risen steadily over the past year but job losses expanded in both size and scope in October and will likely continue to accelerate well into 2009, further exacerbating an already potent economic downturn.

Private U.S. companies cut an estimated 157,000 jobs in October, the largest decline in nearly six years, ADP Employer Services said yesterday (Wednesday). Separately, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said job cut announcements by U.S. employers soared to 112,884 in October – a 79% increase from last year.

“We are starting to see more recession-like declines in employment,” said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, told Bloomberg News. “The loss of jobs means consumers will continue to retrench in the next couple of quarters.”

The ADP

...

Pharmaceutical stocks were winners today on the earnings front, and CNBC guests say they can be winners on the portfolio front as well.Robert Hazlett, pharmaceuticals analyst at BMO Capital Markets, says the sector is a good bet for the very near term.

“These companies have reasonably good fundamentals, you don’t have to take out a new mortgage to fill your prescription, they are big, liquid companies…they have robust dividends and then last, but not least, the political will for change is low in terms of these companies.”

Hazlett’s favorite stocks in the sector are Schering-Plough , which he says has no meaningful patent expirations for four to five years, and Bristol-Myers

Track his picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/1861

Bruce Nudell, medical supply analyst at UBS, likes Baxter International

Abbott Labs and Zimmer Holdings

Track his picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/1190

       ...

In the currency market, the dollar slipped against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.3653 vs. $1.3492 on Monday. In the latest government move to ‘fix’ the credit problem, the Federal Reserve announced that it would create a Commercial Paper Funding Facility, which will buy commercial paper, in a transparently desperate attempt to revive frozen credit markets and ease borrowing costs.