Week Mar 23 2012 – Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“The four most expensive words in the English language, ‘This time it’s different'”—Sir John Templeton (Founder Templeton Fund)
1. China raises retail gas, diesel prices by up to 7% — China raised retail gasoline and diesel prices for the second time this year, by 6.4% and 7% respectively, to ease losses faced by the nation’s refiners in view of rising global crude-oil prices and a decline in domestic consumer price inflation.
2. BHP exec: China demand for iron ore flattening — Demand for iron ore from top consumer China will flatten out as the world’s second-largest economy cools, an executive at mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd.
3. Chinese, eurozone factory activity worsens — PMI data out of China and Europe indicates that the contraction in factory activity has got worse in March. HSBC’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for March, released Thursday, printed at 48.1 on a 100-point scale, down from a final reading of 49.6 in February. an early economic indicator that reflects trends in industrial output and economic growth, raised worries about the Chinese outlook.
4. Oil giants in talks over $40B Alaska-Asia project — Financial Times reported that BP (BP), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are discussing a $40B project to export natural gas from Alaska to Asia.
5. Obama to fast-track part of Keystone pipeline — President Obama announced a fast-tracking of the approval of the southern half of TransCanada’s (TRP) Keystone XL pipeline.
6. Fed Hosts Global Gathering on Easy Money — according to the WSJ, the Fed hosted the world’s leading central bankers last Frid. to discuss the impact of the money printing some of them have been doing. Those joining Ben Bernanke include the BOE’s Mervyn King, the BOJ’s Masaaki Shirakawa and former ECB Chief Jean-Claude Trichet.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
