Interview and discussion with Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner. He talks about the most iconic and competitive companies in America.
(Market Week)
"And what are they going to do with all of this equity in these financial companies, And what are they going to do with the trade off in governmental policies and the requirement of running an successful enterprise." -Gerstner
Today's Links...
Canada miners could get bulldozed if China stalls
Copper, gold firms outstripping broader market -- for now, at least
China buying 100's of millions of tons of Iron, Copper and Nickel ore, to sit on the ground as a stockpile for future use while prices are down big from last year will have a serious impact on mining companies future sales regardless of wether or not a rebound in the economy happens...
China isn't going to pull us up. It's the other way around. For their economy to be healthy, we have to be healthy first. So the question is, will we become healthy any time soon? Good luck with that...
(Source: mrkt watch)
Marc Chandler writes of the IMF Bonds...
Full article is here
"The BRICs appear to be under-presented in the International Monetary Fund. As we have seen they account for about 12% of the world economy and yet have a combined quota (vote) of 9.82%. Yet the representation is not as straight-forward as that. Consider that the US accounts for a quarter of the world’s economy and yet the US has a 16.77% weighted vote at the IMF.
The April G20 meeting resolved to raise more funds for the IMF. Some countries like Japan have lent the IMF money. The BRICs want to provide their funds in the form of SDR (Special Drawing Right) bonds. This dovetails nicely with their call to increase the use of the SDR.
Russia is thus far the only BRIC to suggest it will purchase the SDR bonds with its Treasury holdings, which stood at about $138 billion at the end of March, according to US Treasury data. It does not amount to noteworthy diversification of reserves. Nor does it represent much of a diversification away from the dollar as the greenback accounts for 44% of an SDR-basket. The contribution that Japan is committed to is greater than all the BRICs combined."
