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It is indeed an old adage that while goods things are to be preferred over bad things it is possible to get too much of the former. Looking at recent comments from the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia it is not difficult to imagine how these, albeit old and worn, pearls of wisdom may well have inspired Mr. Stevens in his effort to tiptoe the thigthrope between signalling the intention to raise rates into an expected economic recovery on the one side and trying to prevent the Aussie shoot of on helium into the sun with wings of wax on the other.

(quote Bloomberg)

Australia’s central bank Governor Glenn Stevens signaled a surge in the nation’s currency to near parity with the U.S. dollar has given him scope to slow the pace of future

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Petroleo Brasilerio, also known as Petrobras (PBR), found light crude in reserves situated in the Campos Basin off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The discovery was made by drilling well 1-BRSA-713-RJS (1-RJS-661) in Exploratory Concession BM-C-36 (block C-M-401). This block is exclusively operated by Petrobras. Preliminary analysis indicates that the Campos Basin has recoverable volumes of 280 million barrels of light oil. Geologically similar reservoirs had already been identified in the Santos Basin by drilling two wells in the Marlin Sul field. These discoveries are a result of the efforts and the modern technology that the company has been using in other production areas.  Petrobras' expertise in deepwater oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) is reflected in its outstanding production growth track record in the past as well as the production and reserves growth prospects in the future after significant ...

Brazilian steelmakers, Gerdau S.A. (GGB) and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID) have signed a memorandum of understanding with state-run oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR or Petrobras), to build ports in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The construction is expected to begin in 2014 with a total investment of approx US$500 million.

The steel industry in the US is in distress, but it is on the road to recovery in Brazil. An increase in export price and new domestic projects are helping Brazilian steel industry. Moreover, government’s plan to cut labor costs in the country will in a way boost industrial productivity and growth.

Domestic steel prices are falling, which is likely to facilitate the Real Estate industry. Thus, Gafisa (GFA), one of the largest builders and incorporators of Brazil, will stand to benefit in the medium- to long-term.

In June, General Motors Brazil car sales reached 55.629 vehicles,

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Early this morning, Rio Tinto Plc (RTP) agreed to sell its Alcan Packaging Food Americas division to U.S.-based food and beverage packaging firm Bemis Co. Inc. for $1.2 billion. Out of the total consideration, Bemis might pay $200 million in form of shares.

Headquartered in Chicago, Alcan Packaging Food Americas has approximately 4,600 employees at 23 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. Alcan Packaging Food Americas generated revenues of $1.5 billion in 2008, accounting for 23% of the unit's total revenues. The sale of the Food Americas division is Rio's first significant step towards reducing the asset portfolio it acquired with Alcan.

This deal is the latest in Rio's ongoing divestment program aimed at reducing its debt. Rio had incurred significant debt when it acquired Alcan Inc. in 2007. Since then, the company has been on a drive to reduce its hefty

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The base metals were adrift on a red sea on Thursday. Copper declined steadily from the pre-dawn hours through the noon hour, after which it edged back up over the $2 mark to finish at $2.0121/lb., down 6 2/3 cents.

Nickel also sank all day, barely coming off its intraday lows to close at $5.465/lb., down almost 18 cents. Zinc followed a similar path, ending at $0.6421/lb., down 2¼ cents. Aluminum fell hard, giving up nearly 2¼ cents, to $0.6381/lb., while lead plunged more than 2 1/3 cents, to $0.6294/lb.

Copper led the industrial metal sector lower, as gloomy remarks about the future of the economy from Fed officials made their way into print.

The policy makers cited a “significant downside” potential for the economy, projecting that the recession will linger through this year with unemployment reaching as high as 9.6 percent. The forecasts are much more pessimistic than the

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Chinese regulators rejected Coca-Cola Co.’s (KO) $2.3 billion bid for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd., China’s largest juice company.

The move surprised many analysts, as it will make it easier for Western countries to prevent Chinese companies from acquiring overseas targets and discourage other large corporations from pursuing mergers in China.

China’s Ministry of Commerce blocked the deal saying the biggest takeover of a Chinese company failed to meet the country’s anti-monopoly law and would be “negative for competition.”

“If the acquisition of Huiyuan went into effect, Coca-Cola is very likely to take a dominating position in the domestic market and the consumers may have to accept the high price fixed by the company as they don’t have more choices,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

Huiyuan Juice is a household name in China, and controls 42% of the country’s pure-fruit-juice market. Coca-Cola controls 54%

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Monday:Economic Leading Indicators (-0.3%)Earnings Eaton (ETN), Halliburton (HAL), Mattel (MAT), American Express (AXP), Everest (RE), Hexcel (HXL), Logitech (LOGI), Netflix (NFLX), SanDisk (SNDK), Texas Instruments (TXN)Tuesday:Economic NAEarnings 3M (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Biogen (BIIB), BlackRock (BLK), Coach (COH), Fifth Third (FITB), M&T Bank (MTB), OptionsXpress (OXPS), US Banc (USB), Stanley (SWK), Broadcom (BRCM), CH Robinson (CHRW), Cree (CREE), Cerner (CERN), E*Trade (ETFC), Qlogic (QLGC), Sigma Aldrich (SIAL), VMware (VMW), XL Cap (XL), Yahoo (YHOO), Tupperware (TUP)Wednesday:Economic Weekly CrudeEarnings Air Prod (APD), Alleghany (ATI), AT&T (T), Boeing (BA), Conoco (COP), EMC (EMC), CNX (CNX), Genzyme (GENZ), McDonalds (MCD), Merck (MRK), WellPoint (WLP), Allstate (ALL), Amazon (AMZN), Amgen (AMGN), Baidu (BIDU), Chipotle (CMG), Citrix (CTXS), Core Labs (CLB), Lam R (LRCX), Nutrisystem (NTRI), Pulte (PHM), Terex (TEX), Ryland (RYL), Seagate (STX)Thursday:Economic Weekly ClaimsEarnings Altria (MO), Bunge ...

Calculated Risk informs us that the national debt is going to surge over $10 trillion today.As of Sept 29th, the debt was $9,945,578,231,981.59Partly to blame is the Supplementary Financing Program (SFP) that the Treasury is using to raise cash for the Federal Reserve's liquidity initiatives. For example, while the bailout package failed in Congress on Monday, the government injected $630 billion into the global financial system.Meanwhile, both Calculated Risk and Econbrowser are pretty sure we're going to see negative GDP in the third quarter.Brad Setzer at the Council on Foreign Relations has an eye-opening visual of the Fed's balance sheet. Since it's good to get opposing points of view, Dean Baker says that a high Libor rate is not a problem. I think it's safe to say that most of Wall ...

Is the huge BHP Billiton bid for rival Rio Tinto dead after the European Commission expressed ‘doubts’ about the transaction?

BHP doesn’t think so, Rio is staying mum (but chortling) and the steelmakers of China, Europe, South Korea and elsewhere are breathing more easily.

And shareholders in both Rio and BHP are now wondering what’s next now the delay (expected) has been confirmed.

While the extended probe was anticipated, what wasn’t expected was the strongly negative language in the statement.

Will BHP and Rio’s share price fall any further than the horror week both stocks endured last week?

BHP retreated 5% to $40.70 by the close Friday while Rio fell 4.8% to $125.70. The value of the BHP offer of 3.4 shares for every Rio unit was $138.38. Rio’s price is signalling very clearly the market reckons the bid is dead.

The Europeans are going to run an “in-depth” investigation into the …