Suning Announces Expansion Plans For Shanghai
China Retail News (January 8th, 2009) Writes:
China Retail News (January 8th, 2009) Writes:
Contrarian Profits (January 8th, 2009) Writes:
This is the time of year in which many investors really start to study corporate earnings, jobless statistics and all sorts of other state data in an effort to divine what’s next for China. But I simply prefer to head for the Wan Chai Street Market in Hong Kong, or the Temple Street Night Market across the harbor in Kowloon, and check on hairy crab prices as we approach the Lunar New Year.
These delectable little guys are usually served steamed, with a splash of soy sauce. When China’s booming like it was in recent years, shoppers are hard-pressed to find a store that can keep them on the shelves. And at 720RMB, or $420HK (about $60 U.S.), that’s no small feat for a palm-sized morsel. They’re expensive, and taste great.
A hairy crab, if you’ve never seen
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Contrarian Profits (January 6th, 2009) Writes:
With the onset of 2009, Beijing is cracking down on web portals and search engines that publish material deemed to be too vulgar or subversive for the nation’s 300 million-plus Internet users. Chinese authorities have reportedly implemented new software that lets them more easily track and counter threats, and have issued stern warnings to industry leaders such as Baidu.com Inc. (ADR: BIDU) and Google Inc. (GOOG).
The government earlier this week cited 19 Web sites - including Baidu, Google, Sohu, Sina, and Tianya - as purveyors of vulgar content that is morally or politically destructive.
Some results produced by search engines had “large amounts of pornographic links [and] after notification from the complaint center, the site did not take effective countermeasures,” the State Council Information Office said in a statement.
“Some Web sites have exploited loopholes in laws and regulations,” said Cai Minzhao, deputy chief of the Information
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Doug Casey (December 30th, 2008) Writes:
The base metals were all in the green in light post-Christmas trading on Monday. Copper noodled around within a tight 4-cent range the whole day, finishing at $1.3115/lb., up more than 2 cents from Friday. Nickel had a good day, advancing to $4.409/lb., up 17 cents. Zinc moved slightly higher, closing at $0.5164/lb., up three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum posted a modest gain to $0.6868/lb., up more than a penny, while lead had a very strong day, adding nearly 4 cents, to $0.4177/lb.
Copper benefited from the strength in crude and the shakiness of the dollar, most of which had to do with the amped-up strife in the Middle East. Analysts generally believe any rally will be short-lived as demand destruction continues apace.
Supporting the pessimistic view were stockpiles that show no signs of slackening in their buildup. Copper inventories monitored by the LME gained another 5,250 metric tons yesterday,
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China Retail News (December 28th, 2008) Writes:
China Retail News (December 25th, 2008) Writes:
China Retail News (December 24th, 2008) Writes:
Tony Sagami (December 22nd, 2008) Writes:
Contrarian Profits (December 19th, 2008) Writes:
In its latest effort to maintain an annual economic growth rate of 8%, China announced new plans to stimulate the country’s ailing real estate sector.
Beijing said the new stimulus package will benefit 7.5 million low-income urban families and 2.4 million households located in the more remote countryside.
China pumped $387.5 billion into real estate development over the first 11 months of the year, up 22.7% from the same period in 2007. However, residential sales fell 18.8% year-over-year, despite the investment.
Beijing is now trying to reignite the once red-hot real estate sector by implementing the following reforms:
Owners who have owned their home for two or more years can now sell it without paying business taxes. Owners previously had to wait five years before selling their home tax-free. Owners who have owned their home for less than two years will now only be required pay taxes on their profit, not the total sales price. ...
China Retail News (December 17th, 2008) Writes: