Miercoles 22/08/12, Minutas del Fed, ventas casas existentes

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Europa a la baja.

Yenn up 79.23

Francia -1.03%

Espana -1.94%

El Asia cerro a la baja.

Alemania -1.08%

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Las ganancias de Toll Brothers subieron 46%

Sube el platino.

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Se espera que las ventas de casas existentes hayan subido 3%

Tomorrow’s Tape: July Existing Home Sales Seen Up 3.0%

By WSJ Staff
What’s on tap tomorrow:

Economics:

MBA Purchase Applications (7:00 a.m. ET)

Existing Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET)

EIA Petroleum Status Report (10:30 a.m. ET)

FOMC Minutes (2:00 p.m. ET)

Earnings:

Hewlett-Packard, American Eagle Outfitters, Eaton Vance Corp, Kayak Software, Toll Brothers

For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser

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Las ganancias de BHP marcan el final del boom de la minera

BHP ha enviado la senial mas grande de que ell boom de la mineria global ha corrido su curso, posponiendo una serie de proyectos valorizados en mas de $50 billones, un retroceso de la previamente agresiva expansion que intensifico la presion sobre su CEO Marius Kloppers.

Las ganancias de BHP cayeron 35%.

BHP Earnings Mark End to Mining Boom

By ROBB M. STEWART
MELBOURNE—BHP Billiton Ltd. BHP.AU -0.33%sent the biggest signal yet that the global mining boom has run its course by postponing or scaling back projects together worth more than $50 billion, a marked retreat from a previously aggressive expansion strategy that intensifies pressure on Chief Executive Marius Kloppers.

In the biggest sign yet that the global mining boom has ended, BHP Billton said annual net profit fell 35%. WSJ Australia Bureau Chief Andrew Critchlow has the details.
.The mining giant said its plan to turn Olympic Dam, Australia's most valuable discovered mineral deposit, into the world's biggest open-pit mining operation has been derailed by a sharp rise in construction costs, coupled with a strong local currency and a fall in prices for copper and uranium. Instead, BHP is looking at a less costly design for the mine, which under the scrapped scheme had promised to bring in billions in tax dollars and create thousands of jobs.

BHP isn't acting alone. Big diversified mining companies have been tightening their focus on costs and reconsidering investment plans to shore up weaker cash flow as demand from China has cooled with a slowing economy, sending prices for industrial commodities to multi-year lows.

Xstrata XTA.LN -1.20%PLC has deferred $1 billion of some $8.2 billion in capital expenditure originally planned for this year and is seeking to cut costs. Anglo American AAL.LN -3.15%PLC late last month lowered its capital expenditure program for this year by $500 million to $5.5 billion, although Chief Executive Cynthia Carroll stressed it was a matter of delaying and not canceling projects altogether.

BHP also said it won't approve any new major projects until at least mid-2013, pushing back a proposed potash mine in Canada and plans to expand the Port Hedland iron ore export facilities in Western Australia due to get the go-ahead this year. It also deferred development of a Queensland coal deposit.

Shareholders have been demanding greater capital discipline from BHP and its peers as prices for industrial commodities have slumped amid a slowdown in China's economy and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

"They had little choice; they had to do this in the current environment," said Shaun Manuell, head of asset management at Equity Trustees in Melbourne.

Enlarge Image

CloseReuters

BHP has 20 projects under way costing a combined $22.8 billion. Above, a full iron-ore train car entered BHP's loading facility in Port Hedland in this May 2008.
.Commodities
Deal Journal: Fund Managers React
Australian Resources Boom Loses Steam
Heard on the Street: Miners Should Shovel More Cash to Investors

.Just a year ago, BHP was talking up the prospects of investing $80 billion in its operations to ensure it was able to capitalize on Asia's demand for materials such as coal for firing power stations and iron ore used in steel frames during construction of high-rise buildings. The company also spent more than $12 billion on acquisitions to gain exposure to the U.S. shale gas boom.

The shale push has already soured as U.S. gas prices have fallen sharply since the acquisitions, prompting a previously disclosed impairment charge against some of the assets and Mr. Kloppers to opt out of an annual bonus this year. For some investors, that further tarnished the South Africa-born chief executive's image after attempts to takeover Rio Tinto RIO.LN -2.48%PLC and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. POT.T -2.24%were also thwarted during his almost five years at the helm.

The decision to curtail expansion plans will be viewed by some as another mark against Mr. Kloppers, although others will welcome a decision not to commit large amounts of capital when costs are high and promised returns lower, said Robert Hook, a portfolio manager at SG Hiscock & Co.

Mr. Kloppers stressed the company is continuing to invest in its operations, and that production volumes in key commodities are set to continue growing as "latent" capacity is unleashed at a copper mine in Chile, wells in the Gulf of Mexico and coking coal mines in eastern Australia that had been hit by months of strikes.

BHP is pushing ahead with 20 projects to which it has already committed $22.8 billion, and Mr. Kloppers said the company is spending close to $1 billion a month on its iron ore operations in Australia alone.

"Disciplined investment throughout the economic cycle has established momentum in our business," he told reporters, adding the company was seeking to sharply reduce costs in the coming year and expected to shut down capacity in any operation not returning cash.

But the Olympic Dam project had been seen as something of a flagship for the company. The deposit is estimated to be one of the world's biggest copper finds and by far the largest source of uranium, with quantities of gold and silver adding to its complex makeup. The existing underground mine was acquired by BHP in 2005, a move many credited as a key factor in Mr. Kloppers being elevated to the chief executive's role, and the company has been steadily expanding its landholding around the site.

"If you have a very high Australian exchange rate, if you have got very high capital costs at this very moment in time, what happens when you build something when those conditions are in place [is] you effectively lock in the economics of the project in an unfavorable way because the capex is all spent during that unfavorable period," Mr. Kloppers said.

John Robinson, chairman of Global Mining Investments, which holds shares in BHP and most of its rivals, is giving Mr. Kloppers the benefit of any doubt about strategy and said he welcomes the caution.

"Pausing on Olympic Dam in the face of cost escalation is sensible," he said.

The Melbourne-based company's net profit for the year to June 30 fell 35% to $15.42 billion from a record $23.65 billion last year, including charges taken on Olympic Dam and writedowns of the shale gas assets and Australian nickel projects.

Revenue for the year edged up 0.7% to $72.23 billion from $71.74 billion, although cash flow from operations dropped almost 19% to $24.38 billion.

BHP said it expects the global economy to stabilize in the first half of 2013 and then improve, which would provide support for commodity demand and pricing. Growth in fixed-asset investment in China will shore up demand and prices for iron ore, one of the biggest drivers of BHP's earnings, it said.

—Alex MacDonald in London contributed to this article.

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Malos tiempos para la mineria, malos tiempos para los proyectos, malas noticias para los paises mineros.

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BHP ve desaceleracion en China.

Espana sigue bajando -2.04%

Ag down 29.35

-28

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Samaras se reune con los lideres Europeos hoy dia, el Viernes Merkel y el Sabado Hollande de Francia.

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Italia reducira el numero de sus aeropuertos

Oil down 96.59

Au up 1,640

Uno de los fondos de oro es el cuarto fondo en tamano, sigue la fiebre del oro.

Euro down 1.2443

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SCCO +0.37%

EPU -0.56%

C -0.49%

ERX -0.53%

EDC -2.11%

EGO +0.16%

SLW +0.45%

AAPL -0.26%

FAS -1.09%

USO -0.17%

FB +1.10%

ZNGA +5.-8%

JPM -0.53%

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EEM -0.72%

AA -0.79%

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El precio del algodon bajara 11% por la deterioracion de la economia en China, se ve un aumento en la acumulacion de commodities.

La economia China solo esta en el principio de un invierno muy frio. China esta enfrentando una situacion donde los commodities se estan amontonando, desde carbon
hasta Aluminio.
La desaceleracion en China se debe al aumento de la capacidad instalada industiral durante los ultimos anios. La demanda no regresara pronto, la crisis en Europa continua y el crecimiento en US no sera suficiente.

China Economy’s Harsh Winter to Hurt Cotton, Commodities
By Bloomberg News - Aug 22, 2012 5:16 AM ET
Cotton consumption in China, the world’s largest user, may shrink 11 percent this year as a deteriorating economy hurts demand and causes a buildup in commodities, according to Weiqiao Textile Co. (2698) Futures fell.

“The Chinese economy is only at the beginning of a harsh winter,” Zhang Hongxia, chairman of China’s largest cotton- textile maker, said in an interview in Hong Kong on Aug. 20. “China now is facing a situation where everything from coal to steel inventories are piling up.”

Zhang’s outlook runs counter to forecasts from banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that forecast a second-half rebound as the government expands stimulus. China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in three years in the second quarter as Europe’s debt crisis hurt exports and a government drive to cool consumer and property prices damped domestic demand. Cotton for December delivery declined as much as 1.6 percent on ICE Futures U.S.

“The slowdown in China is due to overall industrial overcapacity accumulated in recent years,” said Lou Zhi, head of the trading department at Hunter Capital Ltd., a Dalian-based commodity hedge fund. “Overseas demand is unlikely to revive soon as the European debt crisis looks set to drag on. Despite a recovery in the U.S., growth there seems anemic.”

Cotton usage may drop to 8 million metric tons this year, compared with consumption of about 9 million tons in 2011, according to Zhang, who had forecast in March that 2012 demand may increase to as much as 9.5 million tons. China accounts for about 40 percent of global cotton consumption.

Cotton’s Tumble
Cotton lost as much 1.25 cents to 76.05 cents a pound, and was at 76.27 cents at 4:38 p.m. in Shanghai, with most-active prices 28 percent lower over the past year. Weiqiao shares, unchanged at HK$2.74, have lost 34 percent in the past 12 months as the Hang Seng Index (HSI) rose 2.1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of raw materials climbed 4.5 percent in the past year, rallying over 20 percent from the year’s low on June 21.

China’s export growth collapsed in July and industrial output fell short of projections, according to separate reports this month, after data showed the second-largest economy grew 7.6 percent between April and June. Premier Wen Jiabao said last week that easing inflation allowed more room to adjust monetary policy. The country has cut interest rates twice since June and the reserve requirement ratio three times since November.

‘In Contrast’
“My view might be in contrast to what many economists out there are saying,” said Zhang, daughter of Zhang Shiping, whose family hold 744.94 million shares in Weiqiao, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There may be a so-called turning point for the economy if the government introduces “very good” policies later this year, she said, without elaborating.

Goldman Sachs economists including Hong Kong-based Cui Li said in an Aug. 2 report on China’s economy that “we expect growth to accelerate in the rest of the year and 2013 as supportive policies are gradually rolled out and implemented.” The bank forecast a full-year expansion of 7.9 percent for 2012, down from an earlier estimate of 8.1 percent.

Economic growth may accelerate to 7.9 percent in the third quarter and 8.3 percent in the final three months, according to the median forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of 21 economists taken from Aug. 14 to Aug. 21. The country is the world’s largest consumer of base metals and second-largest crude user.

Steel Stockpiles
Coal inventories at Qinhuangdao port rose to 9.33 million tons on June 17, the highest since 2008, data from the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association showed. Stockpiles were at 6.69 million tons as of Aug. 19. While steel-product stockpiles at the nation’s 26 major markets have dropped for five months as the end of July, they’re still 19 percent higher this year, according to the China Iron & Steel Association.

Commodity-related companies have flagged their concern. Noble Group Ltd. (NOBL), Asia’s biggest listed commodity supplier, expects a tough environment for the next 12 to 24 months, Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Alireza said yesterday. Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s largest iron-ore producer, said this month that China’s so-called golden years are gone as economic growth slows.

“We are in a worse situation now, compared with 2008- 2009,” said Zhang, referring to the country’s textile industry. “The prospect for an economic recovery looks set to drag on, with too many uncertainties in the short term, and the European debt crisis seems to be endless.”

Weiqiao, which normally consumes about 600,000 tons of cotton a year, used 204,000 tons in the first half as capacity usage was reduced to cope with weaker demand and high inventory, Zhang said. Net income at the Zouping county, Shandong-based company fell about 90 percent in the first half.

Supply Deficit
Cotton production in China doesn’t meet demand and the government distributes import quotas. Output may be 31 million, 480-pound bales (6.7 million tons) in 2012-2013, compared with demand of 39 million bales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Imports may decline to 13 million bales in 2012- 2013, from 24.3 million bales previous year, the USDA says.

Through an industry association, the company has urged the government either to release additional import quotas, enabling textile makers to benefit from cheaper shipments, or to sell off state stockpiles at a discount, Zhang said. The government has more than 4 million tons held in reserves, she said.

Global cotton stockpiles will increase 10 percent to 74.67 million 480-pound bales in the 2012-2013 season, according to a forecast from the USDA. Holdings in China will advance 17 percent to 34.18 million bales.

--Feiwen Rong. With assistance from Michael Wei, Helen Yuan and Yang Jing in Shanghai. Editors: Jake Lloyd-Smith, Ovais Subhani

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Feiwe

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Las ventas de casas existentes suben 2.3%

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AAPL -0.69%

Au down 1,642

-25.16

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Oil down 96.51

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-18.26