News You Can Use for Monday

Uranium stocks soar after Labor decision. The share prices of several Australian uranium hopefuls have soared following a decision by federal Labor to scrap its 25-year ban on new uranium mines. The ALP national conference voted on the weekend to shelve the 25-year ban, but Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter remain steadfast in their opposition to uranium mining.

And there are different details in this Bloomberg News story.

China becomes the third biggest consumer of gold. The total sales of gold and jewelry last year in China were valued over 140 billion Yuan (US$18.13 billion), exports were valued at US$5.49 billion, and China has become the third biggest consumer of gold in the world, according to Cheng Fuming, the head of China Gold Association.

China's gold production has grown from 181 tons in 2001 to 240 tons in 2006, an average annual growth of 5.6%. In 2006, the gold industry pocketed a total profit of 6.1 billion Yuan.

Bernanke Is Wrong on Inflation, Interest Rates, Goldman, Merrill, UBS Say Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's assertion that interest rates may need to increase to curb inflation is wrong. That's what Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG are saying.

Asian Stocks Fall to One-Week Low on Concern China, U.S. Growth Will Slow Asian stocks fell to the lowest in more than a week after China curbed bank lending and the U.S. economy expanded at the slowest pace in four years

Canada Outgrows China as Market of Choice for International Bond Borrowing From Reykjavik to Wellington, the queue in Toronto is making Canada the fastest-growing market for international borrowers. Not even China's burgeoning bond sales can keep up with the pace of foreign debt being issued in Canadian dollars.

Peru Copper, Zinc Miners Begin National Strike, May Disrupt Metals Output Miners in Peru began their first national strike in three years and threatened to disrupt global supplies of metals such as copper, zinc and gold after weekend talks with the government failed.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com