Timber investment group China Forestry Inc. announced today that the company has signed a letter of intent to acquire the landscape engineering and construction firm Shaan’Xi Province Gaoxin Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Development Holding Co., Ltd. The company, located in Xi’An City, Shaan’Xi Province, generated over RMB 81 million in revenue in 2008.

China Forestry feels that acquiring Goaxin will bring a weighty advantage in pursuing its mission to capitalize on the Chinese Government’s decision to promote sustainable forest management through land tenure. Goaxin provides landscape design, engineering, construction and maintenance services to a target market of universities, parks, municipal spaces, golf course, sports venues, gardens and highways; additionally, the company maintains a seedling nursery of over three thousand acres.

Mr. Yuan Tian, CEO of CHFY, commented, “Management has invested considerable energy and effort to identify an operating business that complements our timber investments. CHFY can provide Gaoxin with access to capital

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

Bénassy-Quéré, Kumar and Pisani-Ferry (RGE Monitor): G20, Not G7, September 25, 2009. A striking outcome of the global financial crisis has been the substitution of the G7 for the G20 as the key forum for international coordination. There is something like a paradox in such substitution since the agenda of G20 meetings has so far focused on financial regulation issues, which are of more concern for G7 than for non-G7 G20 countries. Indeed, it has so far been much more specific on financial regulation than on trade, global imbalances or the reform of Bretton Woods institutions, where the views of non-G7 G20 countries are highly needed.

WSJ Blogs - Real Time Economics: Marc Faber takes on Krugman, links Bernanke and Mugabe, September

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) are dying a slow death…

Investors who realize this fact early could cash in on a brand new tech boom that could produce a new generation of high-tech millionaires not seen since the 1990s.

Comcast, Verizon and other government-protected duopolies won’t be around for your grandchildren to enjoy — at least not in their current forms. You see, companies like these are selling outdated services. And they’re more than reluctant to change their business models.

First, consider the home telephone. This beast is becoming scarcer by the day. In fact, mobile phone-only households are becoming the norm. Yet despite huge increases in wireless sales by traditional telecoms, it’s the wireline segment that keeps these blue chips in the black. More than half of Verizon and (NYSE:T) AT&T’s revenue comes directly from wireline sales.

For the old-school telecom giants, it’s all about infrastructure. They want to milk

Here’s another story fanning the economic recovery’s flames: The much-delayed Boeing 787 Dreamliner might finally take flight this year.

Late last week, Boeing (NYSE:BA) said that its long saga of delays and frustrations with the much-hyped jet are coming to an end. The first Dreamliner is now on track to leave terra firma by the end of the year, and the jet will actually be delivered to various international airways by the end of 2010.

Just how late is the Dreamliner? Japanese airliner All Nippon will get the first in 2010… since they were originally promised delivery by the start of the Beijing Olympics.

“My next buy recommendation is based on some of the historic changes happening in air transportation,” notes Chris Mayer, who chronicled the Dreamliner saga in the latest Capital & Crisis alert. “One of the key drivers of this change is what I call the

Is the recession technically over? The strongest argument for recovery we’ve seen yet… Rob Parenteau shares his new macro economic forecast… “Told you so!” writes Byron King — “breaking news” he and The 5 scooped in March 2008… Plus, Chris Mayer’s latest contrarian play…

Our forecast today: The government and mainstream media will soon be calling the end of the recession. Leading this feeble cause is the latest ISM manufacturing index, probably the most powerful argument for recovery we’ve seen yet:

This morning, the ISM said its gauge of manufacturing activity had risen to 52.9 in August – out of contraction for the first time since the recession began and the highest score since June 2007. Of course, things are a bit different now, but over the last 60 years, when the manufacturing sector returns to growth, the recession has already ended. That prospect

Madrid, Spain

Two important headlines this morning, both of them fraudulent:

“Chinese economy bounces back,” says one headline in theInternational Herald Tribune.

“JPMorgan profit soars despite downturn,” says another.

The average reader or TV viewer will go no further. “Ah,” he says to himself, “good news; the worst is over. China is a green shoot as big as the Amazon. And JPMorgan is a leader in the financial sector. If the financial sector is doing well, the whole world economy must be doing well.”

But here at The Daily Reckoning, we can’t help ourselves. If we see a silver lining, we look for the cloud. We see garbage…we look for the rat…

We begin with the JPMorgan profit announcement, because it is the most intriguing. Let us set the stage:

In the last half century, credit has expanded faster even than dress sizes. Naturally, this has made the business of hawking credit

Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike Inc. (NKE) is one of the largest athletic footwear and apparel makers in the world. The company recently reported mixed financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended May 31. Both top-and bottom-lines were hurt in the quarter on account of foreign exchange volatility and the global slowdown that led to lower consumer spending.

NKE's net income dropped to $341.4 million (EPS $0.70, basic and diluted) in the reported quarter, down from the year-ago figure of $490.5 million (EPS $0.98 diluted, $1.00 basic). Similarly, revenues fell 7.4% year-over-year to $4.71 billion from $5.09 billion. However, the comparison is clouded since the year-ago numbers were boosted by the run-up to the European Football Championships and Olympics. Excluding changes in currency exchange rates, net revenue was flat over the year-ago period.

Overall, gross margin contracted 240 basis points to 43.4% in the