TOP 5 CHARTS OF THE WEEK

This week we look at China PMI, US house prices, US consumer confidence, French GDP results, and Japan’s unemployment and inflation situation.

1. China PMI
China recorded slightly lower PMI figures for December with the HSBC index falling to 54.4 from 55.3 and the CFLP index falling to 53.9 from 55.2. Clearly there are a few issues bubbling away i.e. a spike in inflation… and more importantly – how the authorities deal with it. That alone will be one of the biggest wild-cards for 2011.

2. US Housing
The US housing market saw further weakness with the October reading of the Case-Shiller index down both on a monthly and annual basis. There’s not much else to say on this one, house prices ran ahead of themselves and the market needs to correct – further government measures may put a temporary floor under the market, but the question is how long would that be necessary before the fundamentals finally came around? Another couple of years of flat house prices wouldn’t be a surprise. (more)

Money Today - January 2011

read it here

Goldman Sachs Price Targets For 2011: S&P 500 Index, Oil, Natural Gas, Euro Currency, Yen, Gold & Copper

PREDICTIONS FOR 2011

Barton Biggs, Traxis Partners and Jeffrey Gerson, Gerson Guarino & Meisel Group founding partner provide their predictions and outlook for 2011. Gerson says the housing double dip is likely to worsen in 2011 and will pressure the economy. Gerson is approaching the markets in a cautious and tactical manner because he believes the market is unlikely to regain the highs as soon as many might think. Barton Biggs, however, is extremely bullish. Although he believes the market is overbought he says the market can continue to rally higher in the early portion of 2011:

Global Crash JPMorgan Campaign – BUY SILVER!

The Crash JPMorgan – Buy Silver Campaign that was initiated by Max Keiser is still underway and going strong. What seems to be lacking is a more broadened effort to transfer paper assets to physical assets. People the world over are waking up to the Fiat Paper Schemes of the Central Banks and their fraud of wealth.

Efforts to bring the world into complete destruction are moving right along and to the average person, there doesn’t seems to be any way to combat this. What those skeptics and ordinary people need is a wakeup call to what is going on. Who will inform them about the Federal Reserve being a Central Bank which is neither Federal nor a Bank – it is a privately owned Cartel of Banking Families.

What evidence does one need except to realize that the entire Fractional Reserve Money System is Digital – Electronic. These Trillions of dollars of Debt are fictional – calculated – much like a derivative in Calculus. Derivatives are a Financial Weapon designed to destroy Empire. These so called Derivatives were not allowed to be traded, until the banks through their operatives, were able to remove Glass Steagall protections which kept separate Commercial and Private Investments of Individuals Investors and Corporate Entities.

What needs to happen is a return to Glass Stegall to protect and separate Private Investment from Speculative Assets – two of which is the Credit Default Swaps and Mortgage Backed Securities. This is the only way to protect and shelter your private assets from the bankers financial control and manipulation. (more)

US Economic Calendar for the Week

Date	Time (ET)	Statistic	For	Actual	Briefing Forecast	Market Expects	Prior	Revised From
Jan 3	10:00 AM	Construction Spending	Nov	-	-0.4%	0.2%	0.7%	-
Jan 3	10:00 AM	ISM Index	Dec	-	58.0	57.3	56.6	-
Jan 4	10:00 AM	Factory Orders	Nov	-	-0.6%	-0.4%	-0.9%	-
Jan 4	2:00 PM	FOMC Minutes	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jan 4	3:00 PM	Auto Sales	Jan	-	NA	3.7M	3.8M	-
Jan 4	3:00 PM	Truck Sales	Jan	-	NA	NA	5.5	-
Jan 4	3:00 PM	Truck Sales	Jan	-	NA	5.3M	5.5M	-
Jan 5	7:00 AM	MBA Mortgage Purchase Index	12/31	-	NA	NA	-18.6%	-
Jan 5	7:30 AM	Challenger Job Cuts	Dec	-	NA	NA	-3.3%	-
Jan 5	8:15 AM	ADP Employment Change	Dec	-	120K	100K	93	-
Jan 5	10:00 AM	ISM Services	Dec	-	56.0	55.7	55.0	-
Jan 5	10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	01/01	-	NA	NA	-1.26M	-
Jan 6	8:30 AM	Initial Claims	01/01	-	415K	405K	388K	-
Jan 6	8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	12/25	-	4000K	4070K	4128K	-
Jan 7	8:30 AM	Nonfarm Payrolls	Dec	-	150K	132K	39K	-
Jan 7	8:30 AM	Nonfarm Private Payrolls	Dec	-	175K	142K	50K	-
Jan 7	8:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	Dec	-	9.9%	9.8%	9.8	-
Jan 7	8:30 AM	Hourly Earnings	Dec	-	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	-
Jan 7	8:30 AM	Average Workweek	Dec	-	34.3	34.3	34.3	-
Jan 7	3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Nov	-	$2.0B	-$2.5B	$3.4B	-

Uranium to Trump Potash in Canada

With the Canadian government making a highly publicized and controversial decision in November not to permit Australian mining giant BHP Bhiliton (NYSE:BHP) to acquire potash giant Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE:POT), some investors may question the relative lack of news flow surrounding Australia-based Paladin Energy Ltd (TSE:PDN; ASE:PDN) acquiring uranium assets of Canada's Fronteer Gold Inc (TSE:FRG) in an all-stock deal valued at about $258.7 million.

While it is very rare for the government to intervene, under the Investment Canada Act, the federal government can only allow a takeover bid by a foreign company to proceed if it deems that a deal would bring a “net benefit” to Canada. The uranium assets are located in the highly prospective Central Mineral Belt of Newfoundland and Labrador in Eastern Canada. Some analysts suggest the deal is quite lucrative for Paladin with the company paying a mere $1.90 per pound for an estimated 130 million pound resource, compared with recent precedents of $6-11 per pound. Last week, Russia's ARMZ announced a $1.6 billion or $10 per pound for Mantra Resources, which owns the Mkuju River project in Tanzania.

A preliminary economic assessment released in September of 2009 supported a combination open pit and underground uranium mining operation and milling facility, which could process 10,000 tonnes of mineralization per day and produce an average of approximately 5.7 million pounds of uranium per year sustainable over a 17-year life of the mine with potential for growth. The assessment came in with expected average cash costs of $28.57 per pound of uranium. (more)