Since I have been a shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A), I have enjoyed reading with great interest the musings of company chairman Warren Buffett as he gives almost a play-by-play review of the year in his letter to shareholders. He writes in a tone I would compare to Will Rogers, the writer, actor, comedian, cowboy and former mayor of Beverly Hills. "My pal Warren" highlights both the triumphs and disasters of the year and his own perspective of the State of the Union and the economy like only he can. I strongly recommend investors take the time to read his letter(s).

via bloggingstocks.com

A technology used to track everything from cattle and bottles of Viagra to U.S. military weapons will soon be tested on an unlikely candidate for surveillance: tomatoes. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture will rollout a three-year pilot project this month to track and trace tomatoes and other produce using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The system uses microchips with paper-thin antennae stuck onto produce boxes that emit radio waves when scanned. While the technology is already being used by a few supermarkets and farms across the nation, Hawaii would be the first state to test RFID from farm to market in hopes of improving food safety.

via chron.com

Small businesses are turning to internet banking for a clutch of useful functions in a bid to keep track of their finances, new research shows. More than 1.2 million Australian small businesses have taken up internet banking since its inception in 2000, according to independent consultants the Market Intelligence Strategy Centre (MISC). Initially, internet business banking products were so-called desktop systems, where a specific program was installed onto a computer in order for small business owners to access their accounts. But the product has evolved, with banks now developing web-based offerings that require no special software.

via news.theage.com.au

For decades, Alaska has unsuccessfully pursued a pipeline project that would ship natural gas to U.S. markets to power homes and business. After years of failure and frustration, suddenly there are a pair of viable proposals on the drawing board. Two of the world's largest oil companies unveiled plans Tuesday to jointly develop a multibillion dollar pipeline to be anchored Alaska's energy-rich North Slope. Britain's BP PLC and ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, said they plan to spend $600 million in the first phase of the project over the next three years, beginning this summer. The project's cost estimates exceed $30 billion.

via businessweek.com

A few days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its estimate of how much corn, soybeans and other crops farmers will plant this year, Larry Gleason was getting ready to do what the forecasters were betting he wouldn't. Plant more corn. The USDA said Monday that it expects American farmers to cut back on corn this year in favor of soybeans. But soybean prices dropped sharply in the days before the projection was released. Before the price drop, Gleason planned to do what the USDA said he would: Plant about half the 3,500 central Illinois acres he farms in corn and the other half in soybeans. Last year, Gleason, his brothers and father planted 70 percent corn.

via chron.com

Investors may have a nervous eye on Asia after the subprime crisis tore through the United States and Europe, but while the region's banks will see losses on risky investments, they won't be facing doomsday.
Investors have punished Asian financial stocks, concerned that somewhere in the region a big bank may be at the edge of collapse. Yet lenders are unlikely to be lacerated by the losses that hit UBS AG, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch & Co and others, analysts say.
Investments related to troubled U.S. housing loans have cost global financial institutions as much as $215 billion as of December, but less than 7 percent of that has come in Asia, according to estimates by Japan's regulatory Financial Services Agency.

via guardian.co.uk

European Union finance ministers hold two-day talks in Slovenia starting Friday to address the growing economic troubles amid record-high inflation, a soaring currency and a souring U.S. economy. Finance ministers and central bankers from the EU's 27 nations will spend Friday and Saturday in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, trying to forge a joint response to the sudden clouds that have dampened the recent European growth spurt. The smaller group of 15 countries that share the euro will meet separately Friday to discuss the strength of their currency — hovering near an all-time high against the U.S. dollar that damages euro exports to the U.S. such as German cars and French luxury goods.

via chron.com

Qualcomm Inc. said Thursday that it will use the radio spectrum it won in a recent government auction to double the capacity of its mobile television service on swaths of both coasts. The wireless chipmaker paid $554.6 million for the old UHF channel 56 in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco regions. Qualcomm said the spectrum will give its MediaFLO USA service the ability to double offerings from Orange County, Calif., to Northern California on the West coast and from New Hampshire to Maryland on the East coast. MediaFLO will now have 12 megahertz of bandwidth in those areas, compared with 6 megahertz in the rest of the country.

via blogs.flashedblogs.com

Given the recent exchange rate volatility, energy costs and rising inflation, it would be understandable if small firms were nervous about the year ahead. Not so, according to the Small Firms Association (SFA). Small businesses remain confident despite worsening economic indicators, the body said this week. The SFA claims in its spring economic statement that while the general outlook for the Irish economy has worsened, small business owner-managers continue to remain confident about their own business development prospects. In a recent survey undertaken by the association, 72pc of members expected to grow their business in 2008, with only 4pc expecting a decline (24pc expected to stay the same); whilst 51pc were less confident about the prospects for the economy generally.

via independent.ie

Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd (StanChart Malaysia) is targeting a 25% growth in its small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) banking division, spurred by thriving domestic business environment, said country head of consumer banking Srinivasan Shyam. “The SMEs sector represents a significant contribution to a third of GDP (32%), provides employment with some 5.6 million employees and it contributes about 19% to the nation’s exports. “We expect this sector to grow further and we are introducing a financial solution, the Business$aver Current Account to serve needs and goals of the Malaysian SMEs,” Srinivasan said at the product launch here yesterday.

via theedgedaily.com

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met Wednesday with Beijing's new point man on strained trade ties with Washington amid Chinese alarm about the U.S. credit crisis and its possible impact on China's banks and economy. Vice Premier Wang Qishan, a former star banker whom Paulson calls a friend, expressed sympathy with the secretary's struggle to calm U.S. markets.
"You looked very tired and worn out on TV. As an old friend, I would say that I was concerned," Wang said as reporters were allowed to watch the last few minutes of their talks at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature. "But now I see you here this morning and you are glowing and robust." Details of the meeting were not immediately released.

via chron.com

AT&T Inc. said it won a $1.6 billion telecommunications-services contract from Royal Dutch Shell PLC. The five-year deal calls for AT&T to provide, manage and maintain Shell's world-wide communications system. AT&T said it is one of the largest commercial orders it has signed and is the biggest with a company outside the U.S. The services AT&T will deliver include wide- and local-area networks, voice services, managed-security solutions and mobility services. The network services will be provided to Shell and its units in more than 100 countries.

via online.wsj.com

Business sentiment among big Japanese manufacturers has sunk to a four-year low, providing more evidence of a worsening economic outlook and bolstering speculation the central bank may cut rates later in the year. Worries about the global credit crunch, rising raw material costs, fragile share prices and a stronger yen contributed to weaker confidence, and the outlook for the coming quarter was even bleaker, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) tankan survey showed. [ID:nT32965] But a purchasing managers' index (PMI) on Chinese manufacturers rose to its highest reading in almost a year in March despite concerns about the global economy thanks to a surge in output and new orders. [ID:nPEK52350]

via reuters.com

Swiss bank UBS AG says it expects to post first quarter net losses of $12 billion and to seek $15 billion in new capital. Switzerland's largest bank also said in a statement today that it sees losses and writedowns of approximately $19 billion on U.S. real estate and related credit positions. Its chairman Marcel Ospel will step down, to be succeeded by Peter Kurer. Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the site's terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of the Houston Chronicle. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

via chron.com

Sanford C. Bernstein revised its forecasts for the European capital markets banks, saying pricing pressure on assets beyond their fundamental value should abate, as the banks and brokers credit is now de-facto guaranteed by the central bank. Bernstein said it continues to believe that capital markets remain the superior form of managing and distributing risk and the investment banking industry should be able to continue to flourish. The brokerage prefers banks with a product mix geared towards flow and volatility driven products such as foreign exchange, rates and equity derivatives and who are underweight advisory and underwriting and cash equities.

via reuters.com

Banks have agreed a "new deal" with the public after a series of attacks on their behaviour, ranging from reckless lending to the closure of the accounts of people who make complaints. In a new banking code introduced today, Britain's high street banks and building societies promise to be more open about interest charges and warn customers who are in danger of running into financial problems. Among the new commitments, Barclays, Lloyds, HBOS and others promise to be "sympathetic and positive" when dealing with debtors, informing them where they can find free independent advice.

via independent.co.uk

Share prices closed higher as gains in mainland banks and large-caps China Mobile and HSBC helped the market hold up well despite continuing worries about the US economy. China banks were boosted by robust earnings from ICBC and Bank of China, while China Mobile and HSBC were supported by gains in their American depositary receipts (ADRs) overnight. Henderson Investment more than doubled on talk that its parent Henderson Land may either inject some assets into it or take the unit private. Wheelock & Co was up over 6.8 pct after reporting 21 pct rise in net profit for the April to December period.

via forbes.com

The short interest in most large stocks traded on the NYSE increased as measured on March 14. The figures compare to February 29. Car stocks were hit especially hard. Shares short in Ford (NYSE: F) moved up 20.3 million to 248.9 million. For GM (NYSE: GM) the number was up 19.4 million to 85.9 million. Despite the fact that many big financial stocks are already close to lows, traders were willing to bet that they would fall off further.

via bloggingstocks.com

MAJOR PAPERS:
* In a deal that values Global Ship Lease at about $500M, the Wall Street Journal reported that Marathon Acquisition Corp. (AMEX: MAQ) is expected to acquire a majority stake, or 66%, in the firm that acquires and charters vessels to container shipping companies.
* Activist investors are moving in on Circuit City Stores Inc (NYSE: CC), which is expected to result in a change of management as the company's turnaround efforts have failed and many investors have jumped ship, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street".

via bloggingstocks.com

The glow is coming off yesterday's huge Fed rate cut. Just as I expected, the market gave back much of yesterday's huge gains. Investors sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 293 points, or 2.36%, to 12,099.66, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 58.30, or 2.57%, to 2,209.66 and the S&P 500 tumbled 32.32, or 2.43%, to 1298.42. Market watchers, who were jubilant yesterday, were downright depressed today. "This whole market is driven by fear right now,'' James Gaul, a portfolio manager at Boston Advisors LLC told Bloomberg News.

via bloggingstocks.com