US, Europe Continue Increasing Trade with Iran Despite Sanctions

TEHRAN (FNA)- The latest figures and statistics revealed that not just the different members of the EU, but the US itself has boosted trade and economic transactions with Iran during the last year despite the UN sanctions and the extra unilateral embargos imposed by the US and its European allies against Iran.

The value of Iran’s trade exchanges with the members of the European Union increased to 12.7bln euro in the second half of 2010 despite all the western sanctions and the extra embargos imposed by the EU against the country over the latter’s peaceful nuclear program.

According to a report citing Eurostat website, the recent statistics show a 7% increase in trade exchanges between Iran and 27 members of the EU in the second half of 2010 compared with the first half of the same year.

The report also mentioned that the trade exchanges between the two sides were worth 11.8bln euro in the first half of the last year while the number increased to 12.7bln euro in the second half of 2010.

Meantime, EU’s imports from Iran were worth 6.9bln euro in the second half of 2010, which indicated a 12% growth compared with the first half of the same year.

Despite the hostile policies and moves of the United States and its European allies, Iran has shown a promising trend of growth in area of economy.

[more at english.farsnews.com...]

Bill Bard says:

Proof that it’s all fucking BOLLOCKS.

View the original article here

US, Europe Continue Increasing Trade with Iran Despite Sanctions

TEHRAN (FNA)- The latest figures and statistics revealed that not just the different members of the EU, but the US itself has boosted trade and economic transactions with Iran during the last year despite the UN sanctions and the extra unilateral embargos imposed by the US and its European allies against Iran.

The value of Iran’s trade exchanges with the members of the European Union increased to 12.7bln euro in the second half of 2010 despite all the western sanctions and the extra embargos imposed by the EU against the country over the latter’s peaceful nuclear program.

According to a report citing Eurostat website, the recent statistics show a 7% increase in trade exchanges between Iran and 27 members of the EU in the second half of 2010 compared with the first half of the same year.

The report also mentioned that the trade exchanges between the two sides were worth 11.8bln euro in the first half of the last year while the number increased to 12.7bln euro in the second half of 2010.

Meantime, EU’s imports from Iran were worth 6.9bln euro in the second half of 2010, which indicated a 12% growth compared with the first half of the same year.

Despite the hostile policies and moves of the United States and its European allies, Iran has shown a promising trend of growth in area of economy.

[more at english.farsnews.com...]

Bill Bard says:

Proof that it’s all fucking BOLLOCKS.

View the original article here

Why Consumer Spending is Down Despite Economic Upticks

By Eric Fry

03/31/11 Laguna Beach, California – Today’s issue of The Daily Reckoning finds a resurgent US stock market. Despite dipping – briefly – into the red for the year-to-date a couple weeks ago, the S&P 500 is closing out the first quarter with a gain of 6%! Despite the noteworthy stresses around the globe – and the considerable economic uncertainties here at home – the S&P sits less than one percent below its peak levels of the last two-and-a-half years.

So the stock market’s doing pretty darn well. The US consumer…not so much. The chart below, for example, looks nothing like the ascendant price chart of the S&P 500 Index.

Consumer spending, apart from spending on essentials like food and gasoline, is sluggish at best. A chart of disposable income, after taxes and inflation, would look equally dismal. In other words, despite some measurable upticks in economic activity, these upticks are failing to bear much fruit down at the level where real people earn and spend money. Inflation is chewing up almost all the statistical economic gains of the last several months.

Even though incomes are rising somewhat, inflation is rising just as quickly…which means that net wealth is going nowhere. Perhaps that’s why companies like Marriott International are posting disappointing earnings results. Earlier this week, Marriott disclosed that its “revenue per available room” (Revpar) will be lower than originally forecast, due to weakness in North American demand. International revenue remains “robust” however, according to Marriott.

Perhaps this “weakness in North America” is a one-off or perhaps it is a sign of things to come. Whatever the case, the contrast between the sluggish growth rates of the world’s Developed Markets and the robust growth rates of the world’s Emerging Markets is very real…and this contrast is becoming a staple of the global investment environment.

Eric Fry
for The Daily Reckoning

Eric J. Fry, Agora Financial’s Editorial Director, has been a specialist in international equities for nearly two decades. He was a professional portfolio manager for more than 10 years, specializing in international investment strategies and short-selling.  Following his successes in professional money management, Mr. Fry joined the Wall Street-based publishing operations of James Grant, editor of the prestigious Grant's Interest Rate Observer. Working alongside Grant, Mr. Fry produced Grant's International and Apogee Research —  institutional research products dedicated to international investment opportunities and short selling. 

Mr. Fry subsequently joined Agora Inc., as Editorial Director. In this role, Mr. Fry  supervises the editorial and research processes of numerous investment letters and services. Mr. Fry also publishes investment insights and commentary under his own byline as Editor of The Daily Reckoning. Mr. Fry authored the first comprehensive guide to investing internationally with American Depository Receipts.  His views and investment insights have appeared in numerous publications including Time, Barron's, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Money.

View articles by Eric Fry

The articles and commentary featured on the Daily Reckoning are presented by Agora Financial.

Sign Up for The Daily Reckoning e-letter and receive a copy of our newest report How to Survive the Fall of Social Security… at NO CHARGE.

We Will Not Share Your Email.
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View the original article here

Why Consumer Spending is Down Despite Economic Upticks

By Eric Fry

03/31/11 Laguna Beach, California – Today’s issue of The Daily Reckoning finds a resurgent US stock market. Despite dipping – briefly – into the red for the year-to-date a couple weeks ago, the S&P 500 is closing out the first quarter with a gain of 6%! Despite the noteworthy stresses around the globe – and the considerable economic uncertainties here at home – the S&P sits less than one percent below its peak levels of the last two-and-a-half years.

So the stock market’s doing pretty darn well. The US consumer…not so much. The chart below, for example, looks nothing like the ascendant price chart of the S&P 500 Index.

Consumer spending, apart from spending on essentials like food and gasoline, is sluggish at best. A chart of disposable income, after taxes and inflation, would look equally dismal. In other words, despite some measurable upticks in economic activity, these upticks are failing to bear much fruit down at the level where real people earn and spend money. Inflation is chewing up almost all the statistical economic gains of the last several months.

Even though incomes are rising somewhat, inflation is rising just as quickly…which means that net wealth is going nowhere. Perhaps that’s why companies like Marriott International are posting disappointing earnings results. Earlier this week, Marriott disclosed that its “revenue per available room” (Revpar) will be lower than originally forecast, due to weakness in North American demand. International revenue remains “robust” however, according to Marriott.

Perhaps this “weakness in North America” is a one-off or perhaps it is a sign of things to come. Whatever the case, the contrast between the sluggish growth rates of the world’s Developed Markets and the robust growth rates of the world’s Emerging Markets is very real…and this contrast is becoming a staple of the global investment environment.

Eric Fry
for The Daily Reckoning

Eric J. Fry, Agora Financial’s Editorial Director, has been a specialist in international equities for nearly two decades. He was a professional portfolio manager for more than 10 years, specializing in international investment strategies and short-selling.  Following his successes in professional money management, Mr. Fry joined the Wall Street-based publishing operations of James Grant, editor of the prestigious Grant's Interest Rate Observer. Working alongside Grant, Mr. Fry produced Grant's International and Apogee Research —  institutional research products dedicated to international investment opportunities and short selling. 

Mr. Fry subsequently joined Agora Inc., as Editorial Director. In this role, Mr. Fry  supervises the editorial and research processes of numerous investment letters and services. Mr. Fry also publishes investment insights and commentary under his own byline as Editor of The Daily Reckoning. Mr. Fry authored the first comprehensive guide to investing internationally with American Depository Receipts.  His views and investment insights have appeared in numerous publications including Time, Barron's, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Money.

View articles by Eric Fry

The articles and commentary featured on the Daily Reckoning are presented by Agora Financial.

Sign Up for The Daily Reckoning e-letter and receive a copy of our newest report How to Survive the Fall of Social Security… at NO CHARGE.

We Will Not Share Your Email.
We Value Your Privacy.

View the original article here

Radiation Fears Mount Despite Partial Restoration Of Power At Japanese Nuclear Plant

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 20.03.2011 14:02

Workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have managed to reconnected power to the facility's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, a step they hope will soon allow them to restart the plant's cooling system and avert a wider nuclear disaster.

The power is crucial to attempts by engineers to cool down all six reactors at the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged facility and limit further leaks of radiation.

The operator of the nuclear plant warned that it may take several days for power to be restored at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.

The partial restoration of power came with fears mounting of the deadly spread of radiation, which has already been detected in tap water in Tokyo, crops in the region that houses the Fukushima plant, and Japanese beans exported to Taiwan.

More than 8,000 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, with 12,000 still missing. More than 250,000 people are staying in evacuation centers after the tsunami wiped away entire communities along the northern Japanese shore.

How Bad Is It?

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Japanese capital on March 20 to criticize their government for failing to prevent a crisis at the Fukushima plant after the quake hit.

One of the protest organizers, Takashi Misumi, said authorities have failed to acknowledge the true scope of the disaster and called for Japan to abandon its nuclear energy program immediately.

"The government has no intention of stopping its nuclear operations. It says this will never happen again," Misumi told Reuters. "I want to appeal to the world and say that this is very dangerous."

Japan's race to avert a full-scale meltdown at the Fukushima plant has sparked fresh concerns worldwide about the safety of nuclear power.

Those fears are now likely to rise even higher, as radiation contamination has been detected in vegetables, dust, and water near the nuclear zone.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, told a press conference that traces of radiation had been detected in two prefectures near the Fukushima plant.

Edano said the government is considering whether to ban the sale of food items, like spinach and milk, produced in the region.

"We will continue investigating the situation and analyzing what research needs to be done. We will decide by tomorrow [March 21] whether we need to impose restrictions on consumption in a specific region or whether we need to restrict the output of food products."

The news has come to a blow to the region's farmers, who stand to lose their entire harvest.

Much In Doubt

The Japanese government has been careful not to portray the power restoration at the Fukushima plan as a certain success.

It took 300 engineers braving high radiation levels to connect power to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, which will aid attempts to cool down the reactor and limit the leak of radiation. The facility contains six reactors, three of which were up and running when the country's largest recorded earthquake struck.

Edano said the efforts were "showing some effect" but added that the government "was not in a position to be able to say anything" more about whether a nuclear crisis has been averted.

Both Japanese and foreign visitors have sought to leave Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami, which has caused widespread power outages and required massive rescue and reconstruction operations.

An 80-year-old woman and a teenage boy were rescued from the wreckage of a house in northeastern Japan a full nine days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that set off the catastrophe.

An official from the Taiwanese radiation watchdog said the amount of radiation detected on a batch of Japanese fava beans sent on March 18 was well below Taiwan's legal limit and was not harmful to human health. He did not know where in Japan the beans originated.

compiled from news agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/power_back_ japan_reactor_nuclear_crisis/2344059.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

View the original article here

Radiation Fears Mount Despite Partial Restoration Of Power At Japanese Nuclear Plant

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 20.03.2011 14:02

Workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have managed to reconnected power to the facility's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, a step they hope will soon allow them to restart the plant's cooling system and avert a wider nuclear disaster.

The power is crucial to attempts by engineers to cool down all six reactors at the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged facility and limit further leaks of radiation.

The operator of the nuclear plant warned that it may take several days for power to be restored at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.

The partial restoration of power came with fears mounting of the deadly spread of radiation, which has already been detected in tap water in Tokyo, crops in the region that houses the Fukushima plant, and Japanese beans exported to Taiwan.

More than 8,000 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, with 12,000 still missing. More than 250,000 people are staying in evacuation centers after the tsunami wiped away entire communities along the northern Japanese shore.

How Bad Is It?

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Japanese capital on March 20 to criticize their government for failing to prevent a crisis at the Fukushima plant after the quake hit.

One of the protest organizers, Takashi Misumi, said authorities have failed to acknowledge the true scope of the disaster and called for Japan to abandon its nuclear energy program immediately.

"The government has no intention of stopping its nuclear operations. It says this will never happen again," Misumi told Reuters. "I want to appeal to the world and say that this is very dangerous."

Japan's race to avert a full-scale meltdown at the Fukushima plant has sparked fresh concerns worldwide about the safety of nuclear power.

Those fears are now likely to rise even higher, as radiation contamination has been detected in vegetables, dust, and water near the nuclear zone.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, told a press conference that traces of radiation had been detected in two prefectures near the Fukushima plant.

Edano said the government is considering whether to ban the sale of food items, like spinach and milk, produced in the region.

"We will continue investigating the situation and analyzing what research needs to be done. We will decide by tomorrow [March 21] whether we need to impose restrictions on consumption in a specific region or whether we need to restrict the output of food products."

The news has come to a blow to the region's farmers, who stand to lose their entire harvest.

Much In Doubt

The Japanese government has been careful not to portray the power restoration at the Fukushima plan as a certain success.

It took 300 engineers braving high radiation levels to connect power to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, which will aid attempts to cool down the reactor and limit the leak of radiation. The facility contains six reactors, three of which were up and running when the country's largest recorded earthquake struck.

Edano said the efforts were "showing some effect" but added that the government "was not in a position to be able to say anything" more about whether a nuclear crisis has been averted.

Both Japanese and foreign visitors have sought to leave Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami, which has caused widespread power outages and required massive rescue and reconstruction operations.

An 80-year-old woman and a teenage boy were rescued from the wreckage of a house in northeastern Japan a full nine days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that set off the catastrophe.

An official from the Taiwanese radiation watchdog said the amount of radiation detected on a batch of Japanese fava beans sent on March 18 was well below Taiwan's legal limit and was not harmful to human health. He did not know where in Japan the beans originated.

compiled from news agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/power_back_ japan_reactor_nuclear_crisis/2344059.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

View the original article here

Why Markets are Rebounding Despite Continued Crisis

03/17/11 Laguna Beach, California – During the last 24 hours, fear evaporated from the global financial markets as completely as water from a Fukushima reactor. The Nikkei recovered from a 5% plunge to end the day down about 1.4%. Most European markets have rebounded about 2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is busy attempting a similar feat.

Today’s gains probably have more to do with mere “selling fatigue” than they do with a genuine conviction that stocks are a “buy.” But, selectively, folks are trying to capitalize on what they perceive to be “oversold” situations. One group of astute investors known to your editor reached the following conclusions yesterday:

1) Japanese stocks may well represent a solid contrarian opportunity after the recent panic-driven selling. The problem is that any gains for American investors will likely be offset by an appreciation in the yen versus the dollar over the short term.

2) It’s too early to tell, but uranium-linked stocks may also be a “buy” following their recent rout. Nuclear power produces about 13% of the world’s energy. That’s not easy to replace. Depending on the outcome at Fukushima Daiichi, uranium producers could recover to their pre-Japan quake highs.

3) The world faces an energy crunch as nuclear and oil become problems. Natural gas will be a big winner. It is a relatively clean way of producing electricity.

4) Gold should do well when the margin selling ends. Japan’s rebuilding efforts will increase its already yawning deficits, pile on more public debt and lead to a new flood of paper money from the Bank of Japan.

“Rare earths” are also back in vogue. But the hottest “rare earth” investment of the moment has nothing to do with iridium, scandium, yttrium or any of the other “-ium” metals. The hottest rare earth investment today is element #53: Iodine.

Iodine is not particularly rare from a geological standpoint. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find on a pharmacy shelf. Geologically, iodine represents 450 parts per billion of the earth’s crust, which means its about ten times more abundant than gold. Based on parts per billion, therefore, Iodine is not so rare. But based on pills per pharmacy, good luck.

Never mind that Japan’s nuclear crisis is more than 5,000 miles away from California, the crisis is close enough to trigger an “iodine rush” in the Golden State.

Yesterday morning, your editor strolled into the Laguna Beach CVS store and asked to buy iodine tablets. The pharmacist laughed, “Can’t get it.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” the pharmacist replied. “It’s impossible to get.”

This anecdote provides context for a little game we’ll call, “Who’s holding the bag?”

Eric Fry
for The Daily Reckoning

Eric J. Fry, Agora Financial’s Editorial Director, has been a specialist in international equities for nearly two decades. He was a professional portfolio manager for more than 10 years, specializing in international investment strategies and short-selling.  Following his successes in professional money management, Mr. Fry joined the Wall Street-based publishing operations of James Grant, editor of the prestigious Grant's Interest Rate Observer. Working alongside Grant, Mr. Fry produced Grant's International and Apogee Research —  institutional research products dedicated to international investment opportunities and short selling. 

Mr. Fry subsequently joined Agora Inc., as Editorial Director. In this role, Mr. Fry  supervises the editorial and research processes of numerous investment letters and services. Mr. Fry also publishes investment insights and commentary under his own byline as Editor of The Daily Reckoning. Mr. Fry authored the first comprehensive guide to investing internationally with American Depository Receipts.  His views and investment insights have appeared in numerous publications including Time, Barron's, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Money.

View articles by Eric Fry

The articles and commentary featured on the Daily Reckoning are presented by Agora Financial.

Sign Up for The Daily Reckoning e-letter and receive a copy of our newest report How to Survive the Fall of Social Security… at NO CHARGE.

We Will Not Share Your Email.
We Value Your Privacy.

View the original article here