By Jason Simpkins Managing Editor Money Morning

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE ADR: RDS.A, RDS.B) on Thursday won the right to develop Iraq’s West Qurna-1 oilfield.

The agreement is the third such deal this year, which means Iraqi oil production could increase at a faster pace than previously expected and potentially lead to a drop in oil prices.

Iraqi officials earlier this week finalized an agreement with BP PLC (NYSE ADR: BP) and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). Policymakers also reached an initial agreement with a consortium led by Italy’s Eni SpA (NYSE ADR: E) that will develop the Zubair oil field.

The latest deal gives Exxon and Shell the right to increase production at Iraq’s West Qurna-1 oilfield, which is believed to hold about 8.7 billion barrels of oil reserves. The field is already producing

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LM Ericsson Telephone Company (ERIC) reported earnings per share of 16 cents for the third quarter of 2009, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 12 cents per share. Net sales in the third quarter were SEK 46.4 billion ($6.6 billion). Sales in the quarter decreased 4% year-over-year for comparable units, i.e. excluding Ericsson Mobile Platforms, and decreased 12% adjusted for currency exchange rate effects and hedging. The third quarter last year was comparatively strong with no normal seasonality. Sequential sales decreased 11%, negatively impacted by currency exchange rate effects, seasonality and a reduced scope of the renewed managed services agreement in Italy. Network sales in the third quarter declined year-over-year by 8%. Even though the comparison is tough with last year's strong third quarter, the market was weaker. The markets are fairly strong in the world's leading economies, while demand is weaker in several emerging ...

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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Well, it is not as if I relish rubbing salt into old wounds, but this quote from the a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8bb0da5a-c7dc-11de-8ba8-00144feab49a.html"latest piece by Ben Hall in Paris and Ralph Atkins in today's Financial Times/a is just too good to resist.br /br /blockquoteFrench manufacturing output rose at its fastest rate for nine years, according to a survey on Monday, confirming that France has become the economic powerhouse of continental Europe. Purchasing managers’ indices for manufacturing showed France performing significantly better than the continent’s other main economies – thanks to robust domestic demand./blockquotebr /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SvASaIFOk2I/AAAAAAAAPjI/Xa0wjOVFc3A/s1600-h/france+manufacturing.png"img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399836193272533858" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SvASaIFOk2I/AAAAAAAAPjI/Xa0wjOVFc3A/s400/france+manufacturing.png" //abr /br /Plenty of food for thought in this paragraph it seems to me. As a href="http://spaineconomy.blogspot.com/2009/10/french-rebound-continues-in-october.html"foreshadowed in this earlier post/a, it is the French economy - and not the German one - which is rebounding sharply, and this ...

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 ...

Ermenegildo Zegna, a leading multinational in men's luxury clothing and one of the oldest business families in Italy, has located its first Chinese mainland global concept store at Lippo Plaza, Luwan district, Shanghai. This new store in Shanghai is reported to be the fifth Zegna global concept store designed by architect Peter Marino, following those in [...]

Whoever would have thought that some people once called economics the most dismal of sciences? Certainly, as the current crisis goes on and on, those of us who consider ourselves to be economists scarcely are able to find the time to squeeze in a dull moment, even here and there. But even at a broader level, interest in that most dismal of dismal topics - the theory and practice of central banking - seems now to fire up levels of enthusiasm here in Spain that make even the appetising prospect of a forthcoming Real Madrid-Barça football match pale in intensity. Even if it is the case, I have to admit, that the everyday Johnny (or Jill) come lately sitting in the bar still - truth be told - prefers the sports columns of the daily newspapers, or the lacivious details of the latest romantic adventure of one of the rich ...

Whoever would have thought that some people once called economics the most dismal of sciences? Certainly, as the current crisis goes on and on, those of us who consider ourselves to be economists scarcely are able to find the time to squeeze in a dull moment, even here and there. But even at a broader level, interest in that most dismal of dismal topics - the theory and practice of central banking - seems now to fire up levels of enthusiasm here in Spain that make even the appetising prospect of a forthcoming Real Madrid-Barça football match pale in intensity. Even if it is the case, I have to admit, that the everyday Johnny (or Jill) come lately sitting in the bar still - truth be told - prefers the sports columns of the daily newspapers, or the lacivious details of the latest romantic adventure of one of the rich ...

This analysis is from John Derrick, U.S. Global Investors Director of Research. The market has rallied dramatically since the March 9 low, with the biggest beneficiary of this rally being low-quality companies. This intuitively makes sense, given that companies with the most troubled outlooks are the ones most likely to have a strong recovery when the dire outcomes predicted at the bottom of the crisis failed to transpire. Quality may have different meanings to different investors, but in a recent research piece, Citigroup ranked performance based on multiple definitions of quality. Samp;P earnings quality ranking, debt-to-capitalization ratio and return on equity were used as proxies for quality. The research universe was the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, but I believe broader market conclusions can be drawn as well. Based on Samp;P earnings quality rankings, companies with C or D (the two lowest categories) ratings returned about 55 percent over the past six months, while the ...

Short-Term Deficits Pale in Comparison to Unfunded Liabilities on the Horizon

Dwindling U.S. economic activity and accelerating government spending resulted in a record $455 billion federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2008. During the same trying period, the total national debt increased to about $10 trillion, and the forecast for 2009 was for an even larger deficit and more government borrowing.

As the numbers continue to escalate, how can we put the magnitude of the current national debt in perspective? Are there risks involved when government pushes the payment of its obligations into the future? And could it be that government action to reform entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare is all but imminent?

It’s All Relative

To better comprehend the size and scope of the national debt, it helps to measure it against the size of the overall economy. At $10 trillion in 2008, the national debt represented 69.5% of gross domestic

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