digg_url = 'http://zignalsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/stocks-for-2009.html'; Like the Christmas Sales, the Stocks for 2009 are making an early appearance. So let's see who has gone for what: Jubak at MSN: Exxon Mobil (XOM); target of $91 JP Morgan (JPM); Preferred share target of $42 Energy Transder Partners (ETP); target of $42 ONEOK Partners (OKS); target of $52 by December 2009 and $58 by June 2009. Petroleo Brasileriro (PBR); target of $41 Transocean ltd (RIG); target of $117.60 Gorman-Rupp (GRC); target of $35 Middleby Corp (MIDD); target of $75 Chesapeake Energy (CHK); target of $39 US Bancorp (USB); target of $44 Kinross Gold Corp (KGC); target of $19.75 by June 2009 Enbridge Inc (ENB); target of $48 by February 2009 Fortescue Metals Group (FSUMF); target of $5 Plum Creek Timber Co. (PCL); target of $53 Rayonier Inc (RYN); target of $55 Ultra Pertoleum (UPL); target of $107 Thompson Creek Metals (TC); target of $9.90 Yara International (YARIY); target of ...

While China may blame the rest of the world for its dramatic decline in exports, Beijing has no one else to blame but itself for the steep drop in dairy exports.

An article in today’s China Daily reported that the country’s dairy exports “have ground to a halt” in the wake of the tainted-milk scandal.

The latest numbers from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed that only 1,036 tons of dairy products were exported in October 2008, down 92% year-on-year. From January to September, the monthly average export of dairy products was 12,000 tons.

Once again, China is looking to the U.S. to rescue another of its exports. With the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) on economic, trade and food safety issues slated to begin on Thursday, China is hoping it would pave the way for the Federal Drug Administration to accept the results of a Chinese agency that tests food safety.

If

...

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_28p7XDn4Qb0/STRCIYwVvHI/AAAAAAAABU4/xrf87FZCn6s/s1600-h/spaghetti.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 149px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_28p7XDn4Qb0/STRCIYwVvHI/AAAAAAAABU4/xrf87FZCn6s/s200/spaghetti.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274913775409282162" border="0" //abr /The biggest pasta producer in North America is American Italian Pasta Company (AIPC). Is is already 20 years since Missouri based company was founded. Year 2008 is a successful milestone in company's history as most of other stocks are turning to deep red return. Last month AIPC had finally left Pink Sheet after 2 years trading below $10 and became listed on NASDAQ.br /br /American Italian Pasta Company is in defensive sector Consumer Staples as other food producers. Nestle (NSRGY.PK), Kraft Foods (KFT) or Heinz (HNZ) didn't performed bad compared to other sectors but still with negative YTD return. Shares of AIPC have something around 110% performance since the beginning of the year and is one of the best performing stocks this year.div class="blogger-post-footer"http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml/div pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/yX4o36Vu6CuMYoYnNQGGBupWRJs/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/yX4o36Vu6CuMYoYnNQGGBupWRJs/i" ...

Weak auctions for government bonds strengthen the case to buy high-grade corporate paper, says Eric Roseman. Many of the world’s top companies have stronger balance sheets than governments. And the coming tidal wave of T-bonds means corporate bond yields may never be this high again.

More from the Sovereign Society:

Are investment-grade corporate bonds the new “safe-haven” for investors?

You certainly wouldn’t think so following their worst monthly drubbing since 1980 in October. September and October sliced and diced investment-grade debt to levels unseen in more than two decades, with effective yields now at 8% compared to 3.7% for ten-year U.S. T-bonds.

Short-term Treasury bonds have been a magnet since the onset of the credit crisis. They’ve been drawing safe-haven flows from nervous investors worldwide ahead of redemptions, fund closures and panic selling since mid-September when Lehman Brothers failed. At the same time, investment-grade debt has been smashed.

The spread, or difference, between

...

Nestle has opened a new research and development center in Beijing, which will focus on both basic research and product development. R&D Beijing is Nestle's second R&D facility in China, and its 24th world-wide. Food safety and quality will be a major focus of this new R&D Centre. The safety and quality of food are addressed [...]

As the economy heads into recession there is a lot of talk about what industries and companies will be able to withstand the downturn. Stephanie Grimmett says chocolate and confectionery producer The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) is showing some resilience against the stock market slump. The stock seems to have already bottomed out, and the company is sticking to its growth and dividend targets.

According to the latest from Sing Tao News, two of Hong Kong's main retail chains, Mannings and Wellcome, have removed milk powder made by Swiss food giant Nestle from their shelves after a newspaper reported that samples contained the industrial chemical melamine. The test was commissioned by Hong Kong's Apple Daily and the result showed that [...]

Nestle dairy products have been withdrawn from shelves of two Hong Kong supermarket chains after a local newspaper reported that the government found melamine in Neslac Gold. Nestle says its products are not contaminated.