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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

News You Can Use for Tuesday

Just in case you've been watching too much CNBC and thought the crisis in financials was over ...

FDIC Readies for a Rise in Bank Failures
"Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like California, Florida, and Georgia," said Jaret Seiberg, Washington policy analyst for financial-services firm Stanford Group.

In related news ...

Citigroup facing $12 billion in additional writedowns:
Analysts at Goldman Sachs cut estimates for the nation's top banks and brokers Monday and said these major institutions would likely report write-downs of between $1 billion and $12 billion for soured real-estate loans and related exposures.

And let's hear from the President of the Optimists' Club ...

Bernanke's recession is here: 11 reasons it will last till 2011
Here are 11 critical factors for your timing equation, things that could make this bear-recession shorter or longer. You tell us. Add a comment. What's your prediction: How long before the next bull?

Meanwhile in the REAL bull market (commodities) ...

Wheat Breaches $12 for First Time After Biggest Gain Since 2002
Global wheat stockpiles will probably fall to a 30-year low this year, while corn inventories are headed for the lowest since 1984, the US Department of Agriculture said

Soybeans, Corn Rise to Records on China Demand, Crude Oil Rally
China's soybean imports, the world's biggest, may more than double this month to about 2.5 million metric tons compared with the same period last year, the state-owned China National Grain and Oils Information Center said in an e-mailed report today.

Grain boom drives farmers' income to record high
Canadian farmers posted record high revenue in 2007, thanks mainly to higher grain and oilseed prices, Statistics Canada said Monday. Total cash receipts -- from crop and livestock revenues, as well as program payments -- reached $40.4-billion last year, up 9.5% from 2006 and 11.8% above the previous five-year average.

India May Buy 2 Million Tons Wheat This Year, Bolstering Prices
India, the world's biggest producer of wheat after China, may import the grain for a third year after dry weather cut output, supporting prices that are at a record. Imports may total 2 million metric tons in the year starting July 1, the Foreign Agricultural Service at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi said in a report dated Feb. 20. The country bought 1.8 million tons a year earlier.

Yunnan Tin Says 2007 Profit Triples on Prices, Demand (Update1)
China's tin demand may rise 12 percent a year to 190,000 tons by the end of the decade, Cui Lin, chief tin analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co., said last May. Tin is used to solder electronic equipment

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