A spectre is haunting Europe, but this time it is not the spectre of revolt by the popular masses, or even one of yet another wave of bank bailouts. No, the spectre which is currently stalking the corridors of Europe's most prestigous institutions is one of a Spanish economy which stays on a flatline while Europe's other economies, one by one, start to struggle back to life. And the main reason that this particular ghostly image is giving everyone so many sleepless nights is because Europe's current institutional structures, and especially the monetary policy tools available at the ECB are scarcely prepared for such a nighmare eventuality.br /br /br /strongFrance Is Recovering, And The Rebound Is Robust/strongbr /br /First it was just a rumour, then it was a possibility, and now it has become a reality - some of Europe’s economies are springing back into life. But only some. It ...

Last week, ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) raised its regular quarterly dividend by a 1 cent to 20 cents based on encouraging results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. The company has decided to pay the dividend on Dec. 1 to shareholders of record Oct. 30. During the quarter, earnings excluding one-time items were 38 cents compared to 27 cents in the year-ago quarter. This was the above Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents. Total revenue was $2,961 million from $3,052 million in the year-ago quarter. The Consumer Foods segment posted sales of $1,860 million, up 1% year over year. Operating profit came to $250 million, up from $186 million in the last-year quarter. This segment accounted for 63% of total revenue in the first quarter. Sales in the Commercial Foods segment were $1,101 million, down 9% from the first quarter of fiscal year ...

Today before the market opened, ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) reported encouraging results for the first quarter FY2010 ended August 30, 2009. Earnings excluding one-time items were 38 cents per share, compared to 27 cents in the year-ago quarter. It was the above Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents. Total revenue was $2,961 million from $3,052 million in the year-ago quarter. The consumer foods segment posted sales of $1,860 million, up 1% year over year and operating profit of $250 million, up from $186 million in the last year quarter. It accounts for 63% of the total revenue in the first quarter. Sales for the commercial foods segment were $1,101 million, down 9% from the first quarter of FY2009. The sales decline was the result of lower flour prices resulting from lower underlying wheat costs. The segment's operating profit was $141 million, 5% above the same ...

One Voice Technologies, Inc.’s Chairman and CEO Dean Weber issued the following corporate update to investors today:

“We are working closely with our carrier customer in India, MTNL, along with our local sales partner Mantec Consultants in Delhi, India on the launch of our MobileVoice Remote Email Access service. The key to a successful service launch is a powerful marketing campaign which we just received approval from MTNL and they have informed us that the marketing campaign will begin within the next two weeks. This approval from MTNL is a major milestone for our company and is a tremendous accomplishment for our team which has dedicated countless hours towards the launch of our service in India.

“The voice technology sector is growing rapidly with applications and services on mobile phones, PCs, automotive and much more. One Voice is a pioneer in technology that allows humans to control these devices and

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In today’s busy and ever changing market, many companies lose sight of their most important asset: a quality, effective mangement team. As the lifeblood of the company, it is essential to maintain a group that will continue to provide success and notoriety. That is why Energtek, Inc., a prominent alternative energy technology company, is excited to recognize its management team for their outstanding work and dedication to the company’s mission. Energtek is proud of its reputation as a leading clean energy provider, and its management team follows high ethical standards with a commitment to providing alternative energy solutions to businesses and governments worldwide.

Energtek’s management team, comprised of three industry experts, is as diverse as it is prominent. The collective experience of its three team members includes a variety of alternative energy related companies and products, which provides a solid foundation for the company’s

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As Paul Krugman recently pointed out, one of the central points they made in the latest IMF World Economic Outlook was that recessions caused by financial crises tend to get resolved on the back of export-lead booms, with countries normally emerging from the crisis with a positive trade balance of over 3 percent of GDP. The reason for this is simple, since consumers are so laden-down with debt from the boom period, they are naturally more obsessed with saving than borrowing during the initial crisis aftermath. So much then for the typical crisis, and the typical exit. But musing on this point lead Krugman to an additional, rather disturbing, conclusion: since the present financial crisis is truly global in its reach, the habitual exit route to recovery will only work after we are able to identify stronganother planet/strong to send all those exports to (shades of Startreck IV). The joke ...

More tough news for U.S. jobs… what you need to know in today’s BLS employment report…Dow setting records left and right… two historic looks at just how lousy 2009 has been…Chris Mayer on the next megatrend… far bigger than the current crisis…Chuck Butler explores “a strange thing happening in currencies”…Plus, a reader exposes our “simple-minded,” “right-wing babbling” for what it is… at last…

Employment will make or break this depression. Today, it’s not looking so good. 12.5 million Americans are out of work, and counting. Here’s the quick and dirty on the rest of the employment numbers this morning:

The economy shed 651,000 jobs in February, right in line with Wall Street’s expectations. That’s the 14th month in a row of net job losses January and December jobs losses were revised down heavily. January was bumped down another 57,000 jobs, to a 655,000 loss. And the ...

The Hidden Flaws In China And India Schools: Jay Mathews in the Washington Post says that “India and China, despite their economic successes, have public education systems that are, in many ways, a sham.”

India: Toward High-End Outsourcing: Vivek Wadhwa in Business Week claims that “companies on the Subcontinent (are taking) the outsourcing industry to a new level of expertise and competitiveness”. Well, with the rupee’s recent fall, presumably even low-end outsourcing is very attractive :-)

The Rise Of Delhi: Suman Bery has an interesting piece in the Business Standard on “the increasing range and intensity of accessible, close to world-class public discourse on issues of public policy on a very broad range of subjects” in Delhi. I suspect that this trend may well accelerate. I certainly don’t see anything remotely close to this in Chennai (during my quarterly visits).

Major energy companies are lined up to lock deals and land big profits with India’s new nuclear trade. India was out of the global nuclear loop for over 30 years, until now.

Jason Simpkins of Money Morning says that “…some analysts estimate that India’s nuclear energy sector could be worth as much as $200 billion.”

Here he shows us what majors are lined up for the deal:

India launched its first nuclear test in 1974, but the country refused to sign the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). As a result, the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) banned India from global nuclear trade.

That ban was lifted last September when Washington pushed through a “waiver” that freed India from 34 years of sanctions.

Critics of the deal worry that by lifting the trade

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Firm investment demand outweighs weak jewelery buying… Euro weakens on euro zone outlook… Oil prices tumble nearly 10 percent…

Gold swung into the black on Tuesday, rising more than 2 percent to a one-week high of $855.75 an ounce, amid market talk of a large order.

Firm investment demand for gold as a haven from risk is fueling buying of the precious metal, analysts said.

Spot gold was quoted at $853.00/855.00 an ounce at 1228 GMT, up from $834.55 late on Monday. Earlier it touched a low of $822.90, down more than 1 percent.

Standard Chartered analyst Daniel Smith said strong investor flows into products such as exchange-traded funds as investors sought more secure assets were offsetting weaker jewelery demand.

“People are slowly building long positions in gold and commodities more generally,” he said.

Gold managed shrugged off early weakness linked to a

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