Notable in the News

Story 1
US demand for imported cars is boosting rates for the vessels delivering them. But, does this mean that a recovery in the transportation sector is imminent? No.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-26/cars-sent-to-u-s-rise-most-since-06-aiding-wilhelmsen-freight.html

Story 2
Pay attention to the airline industry, because it is the most sensitive to increasing gas prices. On the other hand, the Rail industry is sensitive to Natural Gas, as many NG companies are utilizing Rail to deliver their goods, since there is a lack of pipelines available to deal with the glut of Natural Gas in the market.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/amr-s-american-seeks-court-approval-to-void-union-contracts-1-.html

Story 3
 Factories are turning out more goods, but are those goods being delivered? Answer: Not necessarily. "Business investment in new equipment and the need to rebuild inventories as sales improve will probably keep factory assembly lines rolling at the start of 2012". The problem here is two fold. First, the reason sales were good is because Americans took on more personal debt in order to buy stuff they can't afford, which is a fiscal no-no. Secondly, this increase in consumer debt will only catch up with us down the road. Once people are not able to service their debt, expect the industrials to drop off as inventories will be stockpiled once again.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-15/production-at-u-s-factories-climbs-on-demand-for-automobiles-machinery.html

Noteworthy in the News Today

Here are some noteworthy news stories I came across today.

The first is about Hong Kong's Appetite for Gold - which is tripling! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-16/hong-kong-starts-trading-bullion-in-yuan-to-tap-triple-demand-.html

 Number 2 is from a german newspaper, and is about a potential downgrade of France. A very interesting read. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,792259,00.html

The third and final story is that Goldman Sachs has posted its third quarterly loss in a time span of twelve years. When a bank of this size and profitability starts posting losses after not posting losses for a very long time, is that writing on the walls? I leave it up to you to decide for yourself. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-18/goldman-sachs-posts-third-quarter-loss.html