*Nicole Richie * has come a long ways since her hard-pAArtying days!
The reformed bad girl and reality TValum is now a mother (of soon-to-be two), a budding entrepreneur and an aspiring *Angelina Jolie *.
Richie just made the very powerful video (above), which you should check out.
And, click herefor more information on her website about the crisis she’s talking about!
or
Dennis Gartman says he has survived this mess because he is a hedger.
So many funds these days have employed leverage and have ran such concentrated portfolios with ‘all-in’ bets that they have deviated from the original definition of a hedge fund. We hope to highlight what a hedge fund should be in the true sense of the word. (Like Michael Steinhardt, we like to keep it old school).
Gartman is a noted trader and publishes the Gartman Letter. To get a better idea as to his style, view his rules of tradingas well.
In terms of copper, Gartman uses this base metal as an economic leading indicator. We’ve written in the past that Gartman likes to use the Baltic Dry Index and the Transports as signswe are recovering economically. When these indexes start to shoot higher, it is most likely a positive sign. (And, the Baltic Dry Index had shot up, only to recently taper off). Not to mention, the transports have seen some bullish action the past few days with a steady uptrend and now some consolidation into an ascending triangle. This pattern typically likes to breakout to the upside. But, as always, be nimble and play a break of the trend in either direction.
He treats copper in this same regard and thinks that a rise in base metals signals to him that economic growth could be making a comeback. Gartman notes that after a long period of decline, Copper has been increasing.
As an indicator, he likes to think of Copper as a Master’s degree in Economics. He also goes on to say that you can monitor all base metals as a collective whole for the PhD in Economics. Gartman prefers these commodity indicators to raw economic data, citing that these metals moved downwards long before the data signaled weakness in the global economy.
This makes perfect sense, as these metals are used for the construction of physical objects that are often used in infrastructure and other global growth sectors. The metals are definitely leading indicators, while often raw data (such as unemployment figures) are lagging indicators. As you can see below, Copper has definitely been moving much higher the past two months:
Turning his focus to the Japanese Yen, Gartman has focused on being specifically long the Canadian Dollar (forex or (FXC)), the Australian Dollar (forex or (FXA )) and short the Japanese Yen (forex or (FXY)). He is in these positions under the notion that commodity prices will get stronger and he wants to own the currencies that will benefit from this (due to commodity exports). He dislikes the Yen because of Japan’s large status as a commodity importer. Interestingly enough, Gartman has also stated in the recent past that he sees Gold becoming the world’s second reserve currency. Time will tell if such a drastic change is necessary.
by Sean Ludwig
The number of new Twitter users has soared over the past few months, as the microblogging service has taken the media by storm. If you’re one of those new users, you may be baffled by Twitter’s peculiar culture, or nervous that you’ll commit some kind of microblogging faux pas. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. While there aren’t specific rules for how to use Twitter, avoiding these 13 Don’ts will help you fit right in?and may even gain you some adoring new followers.
1. Don’t live-tweet TV shows. @CorinneIOZO warns that lots of people use DVRs or watch shows on Hulu these days, so spoiling big moments (“OMG, the smoke monster was actually from outer space! No way!”) is a major no-no. As an alternative, tweet an inside joke that the show’s viewers will get, but that doesn’t give away any important details.
2. Don’t say anything that could get you fired or prevent you from getting a job. @JoelSD points out that if your tweets are public, they really are open to everyone, as has been demonstrated time and time again.
3. Don’t be boring. A simple rule that @kmonson follows is “Never tweet about food or the weather.” If your friends see one more “Good morning Twitterverse!” or “I had some awesome corn flakes for breakfast,” you’re getting un-followed.
4. Don’t forget the Twitter lingo: RT is retweet, and @name is how you respond or give props to someone. Feel free to be generous with both your RTs and your @s.
5. Don’t tweet more than ten times a day, or more than five times an hour, says @JasonCross00. It gets annoying and takes space and attention away from other Twitterers’ links and observations. If you have that much to say, maybe it belongs on a blog.
6. Don’t reply to every single tweet. As @seanludwig points out, it gets old fast.
7. Don’t tweet drunk, cautions @whitneyarner. Just like in real life, your followers might get a kick out of your drunk tweets, but you’ll probably regret them in the morning.
8. Don’t tell us about something cool or life-changing without a link or picture (use a service like TwitPic for your photos, and a URL shortener like TinyURL or is.gd for your links).
9. Don’t retweet something and leave off the original Twitter poster. Always give credit to those who wrote it first.
10. Don’t ignore people who send you a direct message or a reply, says @LanceUlanoff. Part of the Twitter experience involves conversing with your followers when possible.
11. Don’t #hashtag every topic. After a while, your topics will be ignored.
12. Don’t whine about people not following you, pleads @SaschaSegan. If you’re good at providing interesting stuff and you’re patient, you’ll get the followers you crave so badly.
13. Don’t tweet your bathroom habits. Seriously. Just don’t do it.
Telegraph.co.uk
China’s State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons.
Nobu Su, head of Taiwan’s TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can.
“China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.”
“The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources,” he said.
The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass).
While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year’s commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move. “They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings,” said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.
John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. “We’re very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China’s pockets are deep.”
Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, piqued the interest of metal buffs last month by calling for a world currency modelled on the “Bancor”, floated by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944.
The Bancor was to be anchored on 30 commodities – a broader base than the Gold Standard, which had caused so much grief in the 1930s. Mr Zhou said such a currency would prevent the sort of “credit-based” excess that has brought the global finance to its knees.
If his thoughts reflect Communist Party thinking, it would explain the bizarre moves in commodity markets over recent weeks. Copper prices have surged 49pc this year to $4,925 a tonne despite estimates by the CRU copper group that world demand will fall 15pc to 20pc this year as construction wilts.
Analysts say “short covering” by funds betting on price falls has played a role. But the jump is largely due to Chinese imports, which reached a record 329,000 tonnes in February, and a further 375,000 tonnes in March. Chinese industrial demand cannot explain this. China has been badly hit by global recession. Its exports – almost half GDP – fell 17pc in March.
While Beijing’s fiscal stimulus package and credit expansion has helped lift demand, China faces a property downturn of its own. One government adviser warned this week that house prices could fall 50pc.
One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the US Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America’s debt by printing money. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a blunt warning last month that China was tiring of US bonds. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the US, so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets,” he said.
This is slightly disingenuous. China has the world’s largest reserves – $1.95 trillion, mostly in dollars – because it has been holding down the yuan to boost exports. This mercantilist strategy has reached its limits.
The beauty of recycling China’s surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: it stops the yuan rising, without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth’s crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores. Above all, such a policy safeguards China’s industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis.
Beijing may yet buy gold as well, although it has not done so yet. The gold share of reserves has fallen to 1pc, far below the historic norm in Asia. But if a metal-based currency ever emerges to end the reign of fiat paper, it is just as likely to be a “Copper Standard” as a “Gold Standard”. www.ManagingExpectation.com
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*VANCOUVER**, British Columbia* ? April 15, 2009 ? *PETRO HORIZON ENERGY CORP. *(*TSXV.PHE*), announces results of the work over of the Hammond #1 Well at the New Waverly Prospect in San Jacinto County, Texas.
The drilling contractor, Key Energy Services, moved a service rig on location and pulled tubing from the well bore. The well bore was sanded up around the 3,100? perforations in the 2nd Jackson sands. Attempts to clear the sand were unsuccessful.
The primary target, the1st Jackson sands at 2,800? was then perforated producing uneconomic gas, with sand and water. However, during the initial drilling through this zone, the rig broke down resulting in damage to the zone. Subsequent cement bond logs confirmed a poor bond over this zone.
Based on knowledge gathered from our first Jackson well, the Hammond #1, it is believed a completion package (gravel pack) can be designed to successfully complete and produced from the Jackson formations. We intend to return to the Jackson at a later date once significant production has been established from other formations at New Waverly. The Company?s proportionate share of work over expenses was approximately US$17,000.
The Hammond #1 Well was drilled in June 2007 to a total depth of 3,200 feet. Logs indicated several prospective zones with the primary and secondary targets being the 1st and 2nd Jackson sands. The well was initially completed and placed in production from the 2nd Jackson sands at approximately 3,000 feet. The well was flowed tested on a 6/64ths choke, an 8/64ths choke and a 10/64ths choke. The well flowed at stable rates of 264 MCF, 461 MCF and 611 MCF dry gas per day respectively with stabilized flowing tubing pressures of 1,135 PSI, 1,120 PSI and 1,080 PSI respectively. The well produced from the 2nd Jackson sands from September 2007 until it was shut-in in October 2008.
Our next phase of exploration is to shoot a 2D seismic program designed to determine the aerial extent of a structure in the Cook Mountain formation at 5,800?. The operator has currently targeted a well location to test the Cook Mountain formation and results of the 2D data will refine the location of this well, if necessary, and establish further potential well locations to fully develop this feature. The 2D seismic data will also assist in further delineating Wilcox targets at approximately 11,500 to 13,000 feet.
The New Waverly prospect currently comprises approximately 4,200 gross acres. Exploration potential exists in the Vicksburg/Jackson, Yegua, Cook Mountain, Wilcox, and Woodbine formations. Up to fifty-two shallow wells are proposed to develop the Vicksburg/Jackson formations.
Horizon holds a 25% working interest in the initial 400 acre phase of the prospect where the Hammond #1 well is situated, and holds a 37.5% working interest in the balance of the prospect. Further wells are currently being planned for New Waverly. Drilling schedules will be announced as they are formalized.
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*Petro Horizon Energy Corp.*
Horizon Industries Ltd. is an emerging oil and gas exploration and production company building
a high quality asset base in focused areas throughout the United States. For more information, please visit www.petroHorizonEnergy.com
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On Behalf of the board of directors,
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*?Christopher Wensley?*
Christopher Wensley, President
*Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.*
*Suite 1710** ?** 1040 West Georgia Street Vancouver, B.C., V6E 4H1*
Investor Relations Enquiries: Princeton Research Corporation ? Las Vegas, NV, (702) 650-3000, mike@princetonresearch.com; Petro Horizon Energy Corp, Vancouver, BC, info@petrohorizonenergy.com