News You Can Use for Tuesday

There is some troubling news for the Red-Hot Global Small-Caps portfolio in today’s news roundup – Sino-Gold is seeing its production impacted by severe weather and power outages in China, and Paladin has pushed back the opening of its Malawi mine by two quarters. These are both short-term problems, and buying opportunities may rear their heads.

Anyway, on with the news …

U.S. Durable Goods Orders Rise More Than Forecast, Biggest Gain Since July Orders for U.S. durable goods rose more than forecast in December, suggesting business investment is holding up even as other parts of the economy weaken.

Australian Business Confidence Drops to Two-Year Low on Costs, U.S. Growth Australian business confidence fell to a two-year low in December, signaling companies may pare investment and hiring as global economic growth cools.

South Africa's Zuma Says Power Crisis Due to Accelerating Economic Growth Jacob Zuma, the newly elected leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, said a power crisis that has halted production from the country's gold and platinum mines for five days is due to economic growth.

Snowstorms in China Kill 24 People, Cause $3 Billion of Economic Losses China's worst snowstorms in five decades have affected 77.8 million people since Jan. 10 and caused about 22.1 billion yuan ($3.07 billion) in direct economic losses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

Sino Gold says bad weather to cut mine output Sino Gold Mining said on Tuesday gold production in February from its Jinfeng mine in China would fall below its target due to reduced power availability. The company said it had been advised by authorities on Monday that full power may not be available to the mine in until after the lunar new year holiday, around Feb. 21.

Uranium Falls to $78 a Pound, Lowest Since October, on Increased Supply Uranium fell to the lowest since October as Australia and Kazakhstan, two of the world's top three producers, reported increased 2007 output, and supply rose to four times demand.

Paladin Energy Puts Back Date for Production Start at Malawi Uranium Mine Paladin Energy Ltd., the Australian company building a uranium mine in Malawi, put back the date for the start of production from the project.

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