This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Economist.com: Jobs gloom, with glimmers, November 6, 2009. America’s jobless rate passes 10% but the job market should start to improve soon.

• Paul Krugman (The New York Times): Why not a WPA? November 6, 2009. A question I’m occasionally asked at public events is, why aren’t we creating jobs with a WPA-type program? It’s a very good question. As it is, job-creation efforts are generally indirect. Tax cuts and transfers in the hope that people will spend them; aid to state governments in the hope of averting layoffs. Even infrastructure spending is routed through private contractors. You can make a pretty good case that just employing a lot of people directly would be a lot more cost-effective.

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Agrium Inc. (AGU) reported adjusted net earnings of 29 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents. Year over year, earnings declined a significant 87% on lower volumes and prices. Revenues were down 41% year over year to $1.9 billion on weak corn prices and lower consumption of crop protection products at retail level.  Retail segment: Retail segment revenues plunged 25% to $1.2 billion in the quarter on a 41% decline in crop nutrient sales to $345 million due to a significant decline in crop nutrient prices. Crop nutrient volumes in the quarter remained flat. Gross profit from the crop nutrients business almost halved to $31 million. Crop protection sales were $768 million in the quarter, down 12% from the same period last year. The decline was driven by lower volumes for fungicides and lower pricing for glyphosate products. ...

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Mohamed El-Erian and Ramin Toloui (Financial Times): How to fill the gaps left by dollar decline, November 5, 2009. We should expect to see more discussion in the next few years on new types of reserve assets.

• James West (GoldSeek): Gold price is no bubble, November 4, 2009. The price performance of gold recently has all sorts of armchair economists waxing philosophical on the idea that this is the advent of a price “bubble”. While certainly everyone has and is entitled to their opinion, there are other features of humanity that we all possess, and much like many opinions, are best obscured from view. Declaring that gold is in a “bubble” demonstrates complete ignorance of or disregard for

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Clenergen Corp. is a developer of clean biomass power generation systems, with its current focus on the nation of India. The company is using a unique approach to use specifically-grown biomass feedstock in order to power its generators.

The company has gained access to acreage in India for plantations in which to grow specific plants as biomass feedstock for power generation plants. A footprint of only 4,000 acres is sufficient to generate up to 16MW per hour of electricity on an annual basis.

The first plant that Clenergen has identified is a high calorific strain of bamboo (Beema Bamboo) which is capable of producing over 60 tons of biomass a year after year 3 and can be coppiced – cutting it down to near ground level so that many new shoots will appear – on an annual basis.

Clenergen has also identified a

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Beware This Tech-Tonic Shift In The Global Technology Sector

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

If you’re betting on a recovery in technology stocks based on third quarter earnings reports from companies such as IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), you’re not alone.

While economists and commentators debate the issue, many investors have already placed large bets on a V-shaped recovery for the tech sector.

They have some good reason to think so too, since the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has risen 70% from its March lows. The problem is, they’re expecting “business as usual” in the industry… meaning they think spending will pick up the way it did in the 1990s.

Kris Gopalakrishman, CEO of Indian tech giant, Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY) – a company in the Xcelerated Profits Report portfolio – sees it differently,

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Vancouver-based Norsat International Inc. designs, engineers and markets intelligent satellite solutions for high-speed data transmission. The company’s portfolio of capabilities include: microwave components, turnkey maritime navigation and communication systems, fixed or mobile maritime satellite systems, and end-to-end network services.

The company announced today their financial results for the three and nine month periods ended on September 30, 2009. Here are some of the highlights:

• Third quarter revenue increased to $5.1 million from $4.9 million in the 2008 3rd quarter • Revenues for the first nine months of 2009 increased 27% to $15 million compared to $11.8 million for the same period in 2008 • Net earnings for the first nine months of 2009 was $1.7 million, or $0.03 per share, compared to net earnings of $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share, for the same period in 2008 • The company increased their cash position to $7.2 million as of September 30, 2009 from $5 million

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Fuel Your Portfolio With BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP): The Best-Run Commodities Company In The World

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Some companies just stand out – both in their own sectors and in the larger market.

Australian firm BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is one of them.

As the largest and most diversified commodities producer in the world, BHP has leading positions in most key, low-cost, metal and mineral deposits in the world.

And as if that weren’t enough, it also has a solid position in oil, thanks to its petroleum division, which had operating profits of $4 billion last year.

Impressively, that total only made the petroleum division BHP’s third-best performer in 2008. Its iron ore segment scooped up $6.23 billion, while base metals enjoyed a $4.62 billion operating profit.

Crucially, that sets BHP’s oil division apart from its competitors. Not only

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I argued the bull case for gold in my posts over the past few months (see “Gold bullion - regaining its shine?“, “Gold bullion glitters bright” and “Gold bullion - challenging $1,000“. With the gold price scaling fresh peaks and closing in on $1,100, it would certainly seem as if renewed interest in the yellow metal is being stirred up, especially subsequent to the purchase by India’s central bank of 200 metric tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund.

As printing presses are running at full speed to produce ever-increasing quantities of fiat money as governments engineer the greatest asset price reflation in human history - and the US greenback is heading South - the longer-term fundamental case for the yellow metal is arguably positive.

“The gold bug has caught several big hedge fund managers this year including John Paulson of Paulson & Company, Kyle

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U.S. stocks wobbled Tuesday and ended the day mixed even as automakers reported improved auto sales and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway said it would buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.  Traders were reluctant to place big bets as they awaited the outcome of a two-day FOMC meeting which got underway Tuesday and Friday's monthly jobs report.  Although expectations are the Fed would keep interest rates in the 0-0.25% range, Wall Street has been speculating if there would be a change of tone in the policy statement. 

On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average closed down 17.53 points, or 0.18%, to 9,771.91.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.53 points, or 0.24%, to 1,045.41 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 8.12 points, or 0.40%, to 2,057.32.  On the NYSE, volume slowed to 1.38 billion shares.  

The news of a sale of 200 tons of gold to India sent

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Indiarsquo;s deal to buy 200 metric tons (6.4 million troy ounces) of gold from the International Monetary Fund is a huge deal ndash; not just the fact that the New Delhi government is handing over $6.7 billion for the metal, but what it may mean for gold going forward. India is making a bullish call on gold. The supply of gold continues to decline ndash; the biggest supply is from governments selling their gold to pay for social programs. The IMF is a classic case of this. Whats particularly interesting in this case is that the buyer is a developing economy. I see this as another sign of the wealth shift away from the developed markets of North America and Western Europe toward the emerging world. China has also been a major buyer ndash; its gold reserves have nearly doubled since the start of 2003, when the price was about $345 an ounce. Another ...