Why Is Beijing Investing $200 Billion in One Company? The answer is simple. This rail company hauls 25% of the world’s freight – but it only has 6% of the world’s track. Right now, freight supply is 65% shy of demand. Sales for this company have grown on average 47% over the last five year. And now, with a $200 billion infusion, it’s about to jump even higher. Estimates show the potential gains at 356%. Click here for the full report.

By Bob Blandeburgo
Associate Editor
Money Morning

The much-anticipated earnings report from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce yesterday (Thursday) showed that consumers are not only reeling in their discretionary spending, but may also be pulling the reins on the necessities.

Retail sales fell 0.1% in July from the previous month, and 8.3% from a …

pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/nIVFcxhQBnpnJUWMaEVRUMS1gO0/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/nIVFcxhQBnpnJUWMaEVRUMS1gO0/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pLast week the government released retail sales numbers and they showed a 1% jump in retail sales.br /br /Although it surprised many, it came as no surprise to Walmart management. The week prior, they had already reported that their January sales jumped 1% month over month. (That's a 12% annualized clip.)br /br /You may know that Walmart accounts for about a quarter of the total $1.75 trillion annual top 100 retail market. So it is not insignificant to the whole sector when they post their results and forecasts... which they a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/WalMart-Reports-Financial-prnews-14375699.html"did early Tuesday morning./abr /br /For the three-month period that ended Jan. 31, Walmart reported net income of $3.79 billion, beating analysts' expectations. Their quarterly sales increased to $108 billion. Their annual sales year over year increased 7.2% to $401.2 billion.br /br /So will Walmart be surprised about continued growth in their 23% take of ...

Kenya Growth Stalls Quickly; Caterpillar Cuts Pay and Jobs; Wal-Mart Offers $2.66 Billion for Chile’s Biggest Grocer; Walgreen Falls Short, Cuts Opening Plans; Palm Gets $100 Million Injection; JPMorgan Buys UBS Assets; Oil Falls 6%

Kenya’s economy grew 2.1% in the third quarter, down significantly from the 6.3% gross domestic product growth it posted a year earlier. On top of the global financial crisis, Kenya suffered from post-election violence and a severe drought, Bloomberg reported. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said it will offer buyouts to some employees and cut white-collar pay by up to 50%. Last week, the heavy equipment maker announced plans to lay off 814 works at its engine assembly plant, Reuters reported. Wal-Mart ...