There’s no question that the big “winner” in the global financial crisis has been China. While for the past two years developed economies have been scrambling to keep afloat China has taken a nuanced approach to achieving its economic and political goals.

China has used depressed commodities prices to stock up on long-term supplies of raw materials such as oil, copper, and iron.  And it’s used structural weakness in the U.S. financial system as justification for replacing the dollar as the world’s main reserve currency.

Now, the Red Dragon is looking to make headway on the highway by winning global market share in the automotive market while U.S. heavyweights spin out.

“We aren’t afraid of the financial crisis,” Zhou Fuquan, vice president of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (PINK: GELYF), told Bloomberg News. “On the contrary, we hope it will penetrate even further as

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Here are two bits of  business news that investors should factor into economic recovery projections.

Hindustan Times (September 2, 200) Exports dip again, down 28.4% in July

India’s exports contracted for the 10th successive month, plunging by 28.4 per cent in July as order books continued to dry out from two of the biggest growth regions—the US and the European Union (EU)—which are still in the throes of a recession, reports

China Daily (August 31, 2009) Industrial enterprises in 22 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities generated 1.11 trillion yuan ($163 billion) of profit in the first seven months, down 17.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the latest official figures.

The decline is 3.8 percentage points lower than that in the first six months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement Friday.

Daily charts shown below use 1 month (21 day), 1 quarter (63 day), 6 month (126

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Currencies trade in a tight range…Pesos, loonies and reals in the spotlight…The Mogambo on a Thursday!YAHOO!…Jobs reports dominate today & tomorrow…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! Once again yesterday, we traded all day in a very tight range with the currencies. The ADP/Challenger data didn’t give anyone a warm and fuzzy about the labor picture, and tax receipts are in the news… So, let’s go to the tape!

OK, front and center this morning, I have to talk about this deal with tax receipts in this country. So, I’ve chronicled the April and June debacles for tax receipts, but just in case someone is new to class, and missed that, let’s review… The U.S. used to count on the months of April and June for HUGE cash receipts from tax returns, but this year, both April and June’s tax receipts were so bad, the expenditures

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[Editor's Note: Thirteen trades. All profitable. Since launching his Geiger Indextrading service late last year, Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald is a perfect 13 for 13, meaning he's closed every single one of his trades at a profit. And he did this in the face of one of the most-volatile periods since the Great Depression. Fitz-Gerald says the ongoing financial crisis has changed the investing game forever, and has created a completely new set of rules that investors must understand to survive and profit in this new era. Check out our latest insights on these new rules, this new market environment, and this new service, the Geiger Index.]

Two days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Chinese officials culminated yesterday (Tuesday) with both parties reaffirming their confidence in the value of the dollar, and the viability of U.S. debt.

Despite this …

BEIJING, The People’s Republic of China - At a time when the rest of the global auto sales are experiencing their biggest declines in decades - and are set to drop at least 8% globally - the burgeoning China auto market may grow by 10% or more this year.

With steeply rising disposable incomes and savings rates that approach - and in some cases exceed - 35% a year, it isn’t difficult to see why the China auto market is zooming along. But what may be tough for U.S. consumers to picture - especially as they deal with rising unemployment and a nagging economic malaise - is the intensity with which domestic demand is growing here in China.

Autos are more than just transportation here. They’re a symbol of wealth and success - a sexy status symbol. One’s social position can be determined by the type of vehicle one owns and

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Top Stories     

Businesses worry U.S. money to bring rules, regulations Companies in the U.S. are concerned that the government’s push for improved accountability and transparency in stimulus spending will bring with it additional rules and regulations, a study by auditing and consulting firm Deloitte found. Of the executives responding, 58% said they do not think it is possible to make a link between stimulus spending improved transparency. Reuters (20 Apr.)

Watchdog: Chrysler rejected loan to dodge executive-pay rules: The U.S. Treasury’s special inspector general for the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors said Chrysler Financial, which loans to Chrysler dealers and car buyers, turned down a $750 million federal loan to avoid limits on executive pay. Chrysler Financial said in a ...

China’s giant $585 billion (4 trillion yuan) economic stimulus package is showing signs of taking effect. Economists now project that China will be the likely leader of an elusive worldwide economic recovery.

Chinese banks heeded the government’s call to extend more credit to support the economy as they issued $237 billion (1.62 trillion yuan) in new loans in January, up a whopping 101% year-over-year, the People’s Bank of China said. The surge provides evidence that state-owned banks are heeding the government’s call to extend more credit to support the economy.

“The banks are fighting for the best projects in the government’s stimulus package,” Ha Jiming, chief economist of China International Capital Corp, told China Daily. “It’s not surprising to see that an array of the deals were sealed in the past month.”

The massive jump in lending is equal to …

China stock market and Baltic Dry Index are in current disagreement.

China manufactures things and ships them around the world.  Much of that transport is done by sea.  The Baltic Dry Index is an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea.

As global trade increases, the Baltic Dry Index tends to increase.  As global trade decreases, the index tends to decrease. The number of cargo ships can and does fluctuate to moderate swings in the index, but not rapidly.  That makes the Baltic Dry Index a useful tool to view global trade (and to a great extent the Chinese export economy) in a single indicator.

The following Baltic Dry Index chart shows the index collapsing in the last 6 months.  However, FXI (the China ETF) did not fall nearly as much, resulting in the rising relative performance shown in the middle panel of the chart.  Both FXI and the

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China Cracks the Aircraft Market by: Jack Perkowski December 05, 2008

2008 has been quite a year for the country’s aviation industry. Over the past six months, China has created a giant new aircraft company to make jumbo jetliners in competition with Boeing (BA) and Airbus; it has merged the country’s two largest aircraft makers into one company; it successfully tested its first domestic commercial jetliner; and it announced orders for the new aircraft from a unit of General Electric (GE).

In May, China formed China Commercial Aircraft Co. (CCAC) to make jumbo jetliners, capitalizing the new company with registered capital of 19 billion yuan ($2.7 billion). The state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission alone invested 6 billion yuan, becoming the largest shareholder. Shareholders of the new company also include China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) and China Aviation Industry Corporation II (AVIC II), two of China’s main state-owned aircraft makers.

In

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While China may blame the rest of the world for its dramatic decline in exports, Beijing has no one else to blame but itself for the steep drop in dairy exports.

An article in today’s China Daily reported that the country’s dairy exports “have ground to a halt” in the wake of the tainted-milk scandal.

The latest numbers from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed that only 1,036 tons of dairy products were exported in October 2008, down 92% year-on-year. From January to September, the monthly average export of dairy products was 12,000 tons.

Once again, China is looking to the U.S. to rescue another of its exports. With the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) on economic, trade and food safety issues slated to begin on Thursday, China is hoping it would pave the way for the Federal Drug Administration to accept the results of a Chinese agency that tests food safety.

If

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