'We will have to take into account this style of dealing with partners in the future, though this scornful approach toward partners mainly affects the Europeans, not us':  Putin reacts to the aborted GM deal.   Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was in London yesterday to discuss the envisaged issue of $17.8 billion in sovereign eurobonds - the selling of which is a core part of the government's deficit-reducing strategy.  A bond issue would 'be likely to draw keen interest from investors because Russia,[...] is in far better shape financially than a decade ago' says the New York Times.   Kudrin is planning changes to the budget which would see funds originally designed to recapitalize banks redirected to flagging industrial giants (such as Avtovaz) and the jobless, as the economic situation has been less harsh than expected.  In ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 5, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), Claymore China Small Cap ETF (HAO), Coca-Cola (KO) and Aflac (AFL).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s AnalystBlog:

China Booming Again

The long-term key for China is to generate more consumer demand at home so it is not forever dependent on exports to fuel its growth. This is the mirror image of what the U.S. needs. We cannot forever run trade deficits, consuming more from the rest of the

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The World Bank now estimates that China will grow 8.4% in 2009, up from its June forecast of 7.2% growth. Like the U.S., China embarked on a large fiscal stimulus program, one that relative to the size of its economy is more than three times as large as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was. Well, surprise, surprise -- a bigger package has been more effective than a smaller one at lifting economic growth. China, of course, is in a better fiscal position to invest in its economy than the U.S. That is a legacy of the years of fiscal mismanagement in the U.S. going into the crisis, and the fact that China perpetually runs large trade surpluses while the U.S. runs chronic trade deficits. For 2010, as some of the stimulus in China wears off -- but as the private economy there regains its footing -- ...

If you follow financial news, or any news for that matter, you know what happened this morning. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Berkshire-buying-Burlington-apf-3016566039.html?x=0amp;.v=18"agreed to buy Burlington Northern/a. He already had a large stake (I believe around 20%), but this is a massive bet on the US economy. It really is classic Buffett. If you've read my blog at all, you know I'm bullish on railroads, and have felt BNI is the best out there. I don't own any shares, so I missed out on this one. Buffett isn't stealing it, but it will likely look like a good purchase five years from now. br /br /In other news, a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Berkshire-Hathaway-OKs-50for1-apf-323762915.html?x=0amp;.v=5"Berkshire agreed to split /atheir "B" shares 50 to 1, which is a big departure for them. br /br /Buffett is clearly trying to make a statement here, and likely wanted another "signature purchase" (like ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 29, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Kao (KCRPY), Revlon (REV) and Helen of Troy (HELE).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Dirk van Dijk, CFA.

This week: Staples Turn to Shine

The Consumer Staples sector has the second-best sector rank and the second-best revisions ratio for this year, following only the small and incoherent Conglomerates sector. (Incoherent by their very nature of being conglomerates).

This is largely due to Consumer Staples consistently surprising on the upside in the third-quarter earnings season so far. Among the S&P 500 firms in the sector, there have been 16 positive surprises and only 1 disappointment through last Friday’s close.

Not only that, but the sector is actually producing honest to goodness earnings growth. Nothing

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One great thing about my position here as Director of Marketing is my extensive contact list. I say that because I have access to thousands of excellent traders, investors, and economists at my finger tips! So when things around the world catch my attention, I can quickly find someone who can give me the skinny on what’s really going down. One of my contacts is Nicholas Vardy, Editor, The Global Guru, and he’s got a MUCH better pulse on the world aboard then I do. That’s why I asked him to give us his reasons why the markets outside the US are doing so well and WHY!

He told me he’d love to get feedback from the Trader’s Blog readers, so let’s not let him down! You can also visit The Global Guru to get his new report on his favorite global picks.

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Make Your Fortune from the

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Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) reported its second consecutive quarter of strong results, with earnings of 51 cents per share. Earnings were 5 cents above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 46 cents, driven by the benefits of price and package initiatives in North America, volume and pricing growth in Europe and efficient cost control mechanisms. Net operating revenues during the quarter declined 3% year-over-year. Benefits of positive net pricing (+7.5% in North America and +4.5% in Europe) were fully offset by 10.0% volume declines in North America. Volumes in Europe grew 4.0%. Currency translations have negatively impacted the top-line by 3.0%. Overall physical case and can volume declined 6.5% while net revenue per case increased 7.5% year-over-year. In North America, revenues fell 3.9% as the benefits of pricing and packaging initiatives of 7.5% were fully offset by volume declines of 10% year-over-year. In the year-ago period, North ...

Let China’s Middle Class Lead You Into Luxury

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

According to the World Bank, the global middle class could grow to 1.15 billion in 2030 – a huge jump from the 430 million middle class folks in 2000.

Driving the extraordinary growth is… you guessed it, the emerging “BRIC” nations. In 2000, developing countries like China, Brazil and India accounted for 56% of that number. But by 2030, analysts expect it to climb as high as 93%… with China alone accounting for 52% of the expected increase.

This represents a tremendous amount of wealth. A Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) executive compared it to adding a city the size of New York to the world… every three months.

Needless to say, that opens up amazing opportunities. But in order to succeed, companies who want to profit from this

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Coca-Cola has announced that its non-carbonated beverage plant in Wuhan, Hubei, was put into production recently. With a total investment of CNY600 million, this new production base is reported to be the company's largest non-carbonated beverage plant in the world. According to reports in local media, Coca-Cola's production base in Wuhan will have four production lines. So [...]

A tepid report on housing starts sent stocks into a tizzy and major indexes slipped from their year highs as solid earnings reports from Apple Inc. to Caterpillar were overlooked by anxious investors.  A rebound in dollar from its 14-month lows also added to the downward pressure and hurt commodities, sending energy and material shares lower. 

Weakness in share sent Treasury prices higher, with the 10-year closing up 13/32, to 102 11/32.  The yield fell to 3.34%, from 3.39% late Monday.  On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.71 points, or 0.50%, to 10,041.48.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index retreated 6.85 points, or 0.62%, at 1,091.06 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 12.85 points, or 0.59%, to 2,163.47.  Market breadth was negative.  On the New York Stock Exchange, declining shares beat those that rose in price two to one on volume of 1.24 billion

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