Top 6 Stock Picks - Oil and Gas

Energy and Natural Gas Stock Picks

Energy Prices have got got sored over the past few old age and most recently oil terms have reached a new all clip high. While this ralley in oil terms have got got occured natural gas terms were deflated and have be resting near their low points.

Rencently many big energy companies have announced their involvements in buying natural gas producing properties. Examples of some of these companies include Suncor Energy, Amulet Energy, etc. The leadership of these companies must cognize something the norm investor makes not--natural gas is about to undergo a boom. Here are my best stock choices to net income from the approaching natural gas bull market.

1) Cyries Energy: Formed in July, 2004 as a consequence of the amalgamation between CEQUEL Energy Inc. and Advancement Energy. The company is a high-growth junior geographic expedition company and runs in the greater Peach River Arch Area of Alberta and marks medium-depth, multi-zone prospects mainly. Management currently have about 19% of the shares.

Rating: Strong Buy

For more than information about this company chink the nexus in the Resource Box to andrewjohns.ca

2) Duvernay Oil Corp: Trades a insurance premium hard cash flowing multiples compared to its direct competitors. This company is a high-growth intermediate company that focuses on boring multi-zone Wells targeting Triassic Period and Cretaceous sandstones in nor'-east B.C. and northwest Alberta. Management commands about 20% of the stock.

Rating: Strong Buy

For more than information about this company visit chink the nexus in the Resource Box to andrewjohns.ca

3) ProEx Energy: Just like Cyries Energy, ProEx formed in July 2004 from the amalgamation of Advancement Energy and CEQUEL Energy. ProEx Energy runs mainly in northeasterly British Columbia River and is focused on full-cycle geographic expedition and development. Management commands roughly 30% of the stock.

Rating: Strong Buy

For more than information about this company take a expression on Google Finance under ticker: PXE.TO

4) Suncor Energy: Suncor is a big Canadian incorporate Energy company operating in the Oil Littoral of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The company is focused on Oil Sands, Natural Gas, Energy Selling and Refining. This company have experienced a great upward terms tendency linked to its ability to grow.

Rating: Buy

For more than information about this company chink the nexus in the resource box to andrewjohns.ca

5) Amulet Energy: Amulet Energy is an independent Canadian based oil and gas company involved in exploration, development, production, transportation system and selling of petroleum oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. This company runs throughout North America, the UK, Europe, South East Asia, and North Africa.

Rating: Buy

For more than information about this company chink the nexus in the resource box to andrewjohns.ca

6) TriStar Oil & Gas: Was formed in 2006 word form the amalgamation of StraPoint Energy Trust and Acclaim Energy Trust The company is focused on acquiring producing places and boring to work the undeveloped land. TriStar runs in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Rating: Buy

For more than information about this company visit google finance and hunt TOG.TO

You should not purchase any of these pillory without first consulting a fiscal professional to find whether the hazards associated with each would be good or resonable for your ain portfolio

Bonuses on Wall Street Threatened for First Time in Five Years

The credit-market freezing that's paralyzing leveraged buyouts, amalgamations and countless computer-driven trading schemes may cut Wall Street bonuses for the first clip in five years.

``There's a batch of pessimism out there,'' said Gary Goldstein, main executive director military officer of executive-search house Eli Whitney Group in New York. ``Looking at the human race today as we see it and the impact the crunch is likely to have, it looks like fillip pools will decline.''

Bonuses, the fiscal industry's yearly religious rite of compensation that typically is a multiple of salary, probably will worsen as much as 5 percentage from 2006, according to Options Group, the New York-based house that have tracked wage and hiring tendencies for more than than a decade. While the payouts often far exceeded the norm of $220,650 at the greatest U.S. securities houses last twelvemonth and increased as much as 20 percentage from 2005, the subprime-mortgage collapse already have drained the poke bowl.

Hardest hit will be employees who make and sell securities backed by mortgages or pools of debt, Options Group said. One out of every three people in those functions may lose their occupations unless concern choices up by the end of the year, the house estimates. Bonuses may fall as much as 40 percent.

Hedge Funds

Hedge-fund investing managers, whose norm payout climbed as much as 15 percentage last year, may see a driblet of 5 percentage to 10 percentage in 2007. Bonuses for employees in fixed- income units of measurement may fall as much as 10 percent, compared with a 10 percentage addition last year, Options Group estimates.

Except at the most junior levels, bargainers and bankers have most of their yearly wage in year-end bonuses that are determined in portion by the gross produced by the individual, their division and the house as a whole. The norm fillip per employee at Wall Street's five greatest houses rose 18 percentage in 2006, according to Bloomberg computations based on company reports.

Person bonuses vary, with some administrative staff receiving nil and executive directors such as as Harold Lloyd Blankfein, Emma Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s CEO, getting more than than $50 million on top of his $600,000 salary. Even Blankfein's pay, which is based partly on the firm's operating consequences and stock performance, may be lower. Goldman's stock, after climbing 56 percentage last year, have dropped 12 percentage in 2007. Revenue, which gained 49 percentage in 2006, rose 11 percentage in the first one-half of 2007.

George Lucas avant garde Praag, a Emma Goldman spokesman, said Blankfein wouldn't be available for comment.

Time for Turnaround

Recruiters, who are seeing a pickup truck in sketches from hedgerow finances and leveraged buyout firms, cautioned that it's too soon to cognize what will go on by the clip Banks begin fillip discussions, typically in October. They also short letter that bargainers involved in equities, trade goodss and hard-pressed debt are having a good twelvemonth and are likely to harvest bumper payouts.

``This is the one-fourth that is going to find whether compensation is going to be less or not,'' said Michael Karp, chief executive officer of the Options Group, which establishes its estimations on interviews with senior industry executive directors and information gathered by the firm's web of consultants.

The crisis that started with the mortgage loans to the riskiest borrowers have sent equity and chemical bond terms worldwide on a rollercoaster ride. The marketplace for mortgage-backed securities have dried up, hurting those who trade the chemical bonds or sell them to investors. Investing Banks haven't been able to happen purchasers for leveraged-buyout loans. Prime agents may see fees driblet as some hedgerow finances stopping point and others cut down borrowing.

Funds that have got already close or failed this twelvemonth include two recognition pools managed by Bear Stearns Cos., UBS AG's Dillon Read Capital Management LLC and Sowood Capital Management L-P of Boston.

Resumes Arrive

``We're already seeing a batch of sketches from hedgerow funds, and we're seeing them at the more than than junior level, a batch of these children that defected to fudge finances for more money or a better lifestyle,'' said Deborah Rivera, laminitis of the Sequence Group, a New York-based executive-search and consulting firm. ``We're seeing sketches from private-equity finances that have got also allow some people go.''

Hedge-fund bargainers with at least 10 years' experience, who made an norm of $580,000 last year, probably will see wage rise 8 percentage to 9 percentage this year, according to Adam Zoia, laminitis of New York-based Glocap Search LLC and co-editor-in- main of the Hedge Fund Compensation Report. That's about one-half of the charge per unit he was expecting before the market's decline.

``We have got just sharply cut our compensation forecasts,'' Zoia said on Aug. 17.

Outsize Paydays

The hedge-fund industry, where assets almost tripled to $1.7 trillion since 2002, takes Wall Street when it come ups to oversize paydays. The 25 best-paid hedge-fund managers earned an norm of $570 million in 2006, an addition of 57 percentage from the former year, according to Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine. Hedge finances typically complaint fees of 1 percentage to 2 percentage of assets and 20 percentage of investing gains.

At the top of Alpha's listing was Jesse James Simons, laminitis of East Setauket, New York-based Renaissance Technologies Corp., World Health Organization was paid an estimated $1.7 billion. Chicago-based Citadel Investing Group LLC's Kenneth Gryphon placed 2nd with $1.4 billion. Officials at both houses declined to comment.

Simons's personal net income may drop from 2006 as his greatest monetary fund struggles. The $29 billion Renaissance Equity Opportunities Fund is small changed on the twelvemonth through last week, according to investors, while last twelvemonth it returned about 21 percent. Gryphon should again rank among the top-paid managers. Citadel, which supervises $15 billion, have returned about 15 percentage this year, investors say.

``The rippling personal effects of hedgerow finances are more than than widespread than they've ever been,'' said Henry Martin Robert Discolo, caput of hedge- monetary fund schemes at AIG Global Investing Group in New York, which pulls off more than $8 billion.

Competition for Endowment

Big wage bundles at hedgerow finances and leveraged buyout houses have got driven compensation higher at Wall Street firms, as they seek to vie for the best bargainers and bankers. Last year, the five greatest U.S. securities houses paid about $36.5 billion in bonuses, up 32 percentage from a twelvemonth earlier as the figure of employees rose 7 percent.

Since last falling in 2002, entire fillip payouts at the five houses rose 6 percentage in 2003, 19 percentage in 2004, and 18 percentage in 2005. Securities houses typically put aside about one-half of their gross to pay compensation and benefits. Of that, about 60 percentage is paid in bonuses at twelvemonth end.

Recruiters don't anticipate decreases to be as drastic as they were in the bear marketplace of 2001 and 2002, when the norm payout for New York-based securities-industry workers declined 26 percentage and 18 percent, according to the state deputy sheriff comptroller's office.

Positive Sign

The fiscal crisis have been profitable for bargainers who wager mortgage chemical bonds would fall or whose schemes addition amid swings in the markets. One index proposes the image isn't as desperate as it was in 2002: Analysts are estimating yearly net income will lift at least 11 percentage at the top four Wall Street firms. Bear Stearns, the fifth, is expected to describe a driblet of about 6 percent.

``The sentiment right now is pretty rough because in the past two hebdomads it wasn't difficult to see people who lost a batch of money,'' said John, 29, an equity-options bargainer at a Wall Street bank, who declined to give his last name because he's not authorized to talk to the media. ``But on bonuses, it's too early to say. It was a good marketplace before this, and I don't believe people believe yet that this volition endanger pay.''

The bankers who counsel LBO houses and the underwriters, salespeople and bargainers who assist make and sell the loans and chemical bonds to finance them are likely to see their charge per unit of wage additions slow, recruiters said.

Bankers Squeezed

Last year, investing bankers saw bonuses leap 20 to 25 percent, the Options Group said. This twelvemonth the charge per unit of additions for bankers who function buyout houses will probably slow to 5 percentage to 10 percentage and could worsen further, Options Group said. That's because the Banks are having trouble merchandising the loans they've already made to finance coup d'etats and the gait of trades is likely to decelerate amid higher funding costs.

``The leveraged finance countries are likely to be impacted,'' said Eli Whitney Group's Goldstein.

The success of hedgerow finances in former old age helped bring forth demand for premier brokerage, the sections at investing Banks that impart to fudge finances and supply them with services such as as trading software. Last year, bonuses surged 20 percentage to 25 percentage in premier brokerage, Options Group estimated. This twelvemonth they may lift 5 percentage to 10 percent, said the Options Group's Karp.

To reach the newsmen on this story: William Le Baron Jenny Strasburg in New House Of House Of York at
; Christine Harpist in New York at
.

Weekly Markets Thoughts - July 29, 2007

This is what I name a rock-and-roll week! Anybody scared? You should not! After a good progress of the broader marketplaces these pull-backs are more than than normal. The hebdomad before, I suggested to take some net income and to bury about the marketplaces until the end of the summer. If you did lose this suggestion, make not acquire nervous as nil major is expected soon. As I already have got said, the marketplaces are entering a time period of a crabwise move which could endure for a couple of months. The recent lessenings are a spot too deep for such as a short time period and we are probably going to witnesser some kind of a bounciness back action next week. Bash not acquire very excited about this either as it will travel nowhere! It would only be a normal accommodation after the autumn down.

On the currencies side, we saw a record low pressure for the $US on July 24th and a bounciness back correct after. It is not easy to interrupt a historical support. The dollar is owed for some remainder and is not going to fall sharply as many analysts suggest. All the currencies had a good tally recently and we can anticipate that the net income taking action will halt them for sometime before the race continues. This in bend will assist the United States dollar for now (but not for long!).

The recent diminution of the long term involvement rates is giving some alleviation for the chemical bonds as well. However, we should not bury that the major tendency is on the up side and this is only a impermanent benefit for the bonds.

The stock marketplaces are under pressure level after reaching new highs for some of them. Dow still have a room to travel down to its good support of 12750 but is improbable to traverse the 12850 mark. The S&P 500, NASDAQ, the TSX Complex and the FTSE 100 indexes are already at their supports and a recoil action is very possible. These several supports are 1450, 2525, 13710 and 6170.

Crude oil is continuing to outperform its pears from the resources sector. It is now approaching its all clip high of $80.64 and have enough steam to attain it and accomplish a new record. However, I believe this is not going to go on now but rather later this summertime or early in the fall. The cherished metallic elements are coming back from their recent tallies and are still in a procedure of confirming the beginning of the long awaited new intermediate moving ridge up. Gold and Ag should not travel bawl $655 and $12.60 respectively. The up side will be confirmed by breaching $685 for Gold and $13.30 for Silver.

We are approaching exciting minutes but for the adjacent calendar month or so the marketplaces will give us the chance to take advantage of our summer. Keep your energy for the autumn action!

Good investment and best regards,

Ford's Hydrogen Vehicles

On July 10, John Ford released a fourth estate statement that discussed their advancement and the hereafter of H vehicles. Are their release believable or just a fume and mirrors maneuver to acquire people excited about the company?

Ford rolled out a 12-passenger parking batch shuttlecock bus, which is powered by a 6.8-liter internal burning H engine.

Ford is speedy to point out that the engine isn't ready for general consumer use just yet. According to the release, it will take five years—or longer—before John John Ford can legitimately entertain the thought of putting H autos in the marketplace.

While this mightiness be a measure in the right direction, H vehicles powered by combustible cells won't be seen until at least 2015, said George C. Scott Staley, main applied scientist of Ford's H and combustible cell engineering department.

So, the inquiry remains. Are this really an environmental-friendly development or just another fourth estate release of a troubled company?

Every major car maker is testing gas alternatives. Toyota and Honda are additional along than Ford. Both companies have got hydrogen-powered cars. Toyota have a H version of the Prius.

How about the underside line?

According to the release, these new hydrogen-powered buses cost $250,000, which is $180,000 more than than Ford's typical gas-powered bus. These costs are expected to drop if mass production were engaged.

The vehicles have got got a max scope of 150-200 miles, which is good for parking batch shuttles, and they're only showing to be up to 13% More fuel-efficient.

On the bright side, these H vehicles have fewer emissions.

When you look at the technological spectrum, John Ford is dragging its feet and that's 1 ground why I don't like the stock. If you're looking to put in a "best of breed" company, John Ford isn't the stock play.

Japan Current Account Surplus Widens to Record (Update4)

Japan's current account surplus widened to a record in March, as exports to Asia and Europe helped counter slower growth in shipments to the U.S.

The surplus expanded 36.9 percent to 3.32 trillion yen ($28 billion) from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today, more than the 2.95 trillion yen median estimate of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Today's report supports comments made this month by Asian finance ministers that growth in India and China will help the region withstand a slowdown in the U.S. and Europe. Japan's exports to China, which overtook the U.S. as its largest trade partner last year, surged 15 percent to a record in March.

``Strong growth in Asia proves Japan's economy can withstand a U.S. slowdown,'' said Mamoru Yamazaki, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo. ``The current account surplus will keep expanding as exports and overseas investments remain solid.''

The yen traded at 120.19 per dollar at 1:37 p.m. in Tokyo compared with 120.11 before the report. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1 percent, led by exporters such as Sony Corp.

The trade surplus surged 62.1 percent, the fastest pace in three years, to a record, the Finance Ministry said.

Exports rose 9.6 percent, as a weaker yen increased the value of shipments. Japan's currency has fallen 8.5 percent against the dollar and 13 percent per euro in the past 12 months.

Weaker Yen

``Yen depreciation has been a major support for Japanese corporations and, together with gradually strengthening domestic demand, is helping to underpin Japan's economic expansion,'' said Takuji Aida, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.

Imports fell 1 percent, the first drop in three years, as oil prices were lower than a year earlier and Japan received fewer shipments from countries that observe the Lunar New Year.

The current account tracks the flow of goods, services and investment income between Japan and its trading partners. It includes trade not shown in the customs-cleared trade balance, which the Finance Ministry also compiles.

Exports to China and Europe rose to a record in March on a customs-cleared basis, the ministry said last month. Shipments to Europe climbed 14 percent, while those to the U.S., Japan's largest export market, rose 2.4 percent, the slowest pace in two years.

The U.S. slowdown will probably begin to bite more later this year. Toyota Motor Corp. last week forecast the smallest profit gain in a decade because of waning demand in the U.S.

Income Surplus

The income surplus, or the difference between money earned abroad and payments made to foreign workers and investors in Japan, increased 13.2 percent to a record in March, today's report showed.

Revenue from direct investment rose to a record as Japanese companies' overseas units distributed dividends at home at the end of the fiscal year, Masami Oka, special officer for balance of payments, said at a press briefing today.

``Companies are investing overseas because of a low interest rate in Japan,'' said Noriaki Haseyama, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research in Tokyo. Revenue from foreign equities, bonds and debt securities accounts for about 80 percent of the income gap.

The Bank of Japan will keep the overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent at a two-day meeting ending on May 17, according to the median estimate of all 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The key rate is the lowest among major economies.

Japan's wholesale inflation accelerated in April as the cost of oil and other commodities rose, the Bank of Japan said today. An index of energy and raw materials prices paid by companies climbed 2.2 percent in April from a year earlier after increasing 2 percent in March, the Bank of Japan said.

Bank of Japan

``We are starting to see signs that price pressures are slowly emerging,'' said Seiji Adachi, a senior economist at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo. ``There aren't any major hurdles for the Bank of Japan to raise rates. They will probably move in August or September.''

The current account surplus rose to a record in the 12 months ended March 31, a fifth straight year of gains, the Finance Ministry said. The income surplus exceeded the trade surplus for a second year.

``Japan's economy depends more on revenues from overseas investment than earnings from exports,'' RBS's Yamazaki said.

To contact the reporter on this story Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at

Canada's Flaherty Backtracks on Plan to End Corporate Tax Break

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, pressured by companies such as Alcan Inc., backtracked on plans to scrap a corporate tax break valued at as much as C$2 billion ($1.81 billion) a year.

Flaherty told the Globe and Mail newspaper in an interview yesterday he'll narrow the scope of a pledge made in his 2007 budget to end companies' ability to deduct interest on debt that they incur to finance operations abroad.

Only companies investing through ``tax havens'' or limited- liability business structures will lose the deduction, Flaherty said, according to a transcript of the interview provided separately by the finance department. ``Most'' foreign transactions, including Thomson Corp.'s efforts to acquire Reuters Group Plc, won't be affected, he said.

``Clearly, they've addressed some important improvements,'' said Mike Murphy, executive vice president for policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The group wrote to Flaherty last month saying the tax change would cost businesses about C$2 billion annually.

Businesses said losing the right to deduct interest expenses would make it more costly to expand overseas, at a time when corporate Canada is facing a barrage of takeovers by foreign competitors. The initial proposal, part of what Flaherty says is a strategy to make corporations pay their ``fair'' share of taxes, also sparked the second clash in six months between his minority Conservative Party government and key supporters.

Overshadowed

In October, the government announced plans to tax the nation's income trusts, causing the popular, high-yield investments' value to plummet.

``This Conservative government has to make sure it doesn't convey an image that it's not pro-business,'' said Nikita Nanos, a pollster with SES Research in Ottawa. ``It undermines part of the core franchise,'' he said. ``It's going to make people question, `What's going on?'''

Flaherty, 57, also told the Globe and Mail he will extend a planned two-year grace period to five years and appoint a panel that will look at international tax issues for Canadian businesses for future budgets. Details of the plan will be released Monday in a speech to the Toronto Board of Trade.

Boost Its Fortunes

The controversy overshadowed a budget designed to boost the Conservative Party's fortunes -- ahead of a possible election later this year -- through tax breaks for families and more funding for the French-speaking province of Quebec. The party's support hasn't moved much since Flaherty released his fiscal plan on March 19, with recent polls showing Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government still wouldn't win a majority of parliamentary seats.

Opposition parties' attacks on the measure got new life this week when Alcoa Inc. said it will make a $26.9 billion takeover bid for Montreal-based Alcan, Canada's 10th-largest public company and biggest metals producer. The offer came less than two weeks after Alcan Chief Executive Officer Dick Evans told the Globe and Mail newspaper that Flaherty's tax proposal would make the company easier for foreign rivals to acquire.

The main opposition Liberal Party introduced a motion on May 10 calling on the government to repeal the tax measure.

The last significant budget reversal by a Canadian finance minister came in 2004, when Ralph Goodale repealed a decision to limit investments by pension funds in investment trusts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at
.

Japan's Notes Halt Two-Week Rally on Concern Rates to Increase

Japan's five-year notes fell this week
on speculation the central bank will increase interest rates again
this year to prevent excessive investment and asset bubbles.

Notes halted a two-week rally after Bank of Japan Governor
Toshihiko Fukui yesterday said borrowing costs are ``very low''
given the economy's strength. Next week, BOJ board members will
vote on rates at a two-day policy meeting and the government will
announce figures for first-quarter economic growth.

``Fukui's comments this week made it clear that the bank
hasn't weakened its determination to increase rates,'' said
Akitsugu Bandou, a senior strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in
Tokyo, one of the 25 primary dealers that are required to bid at
government auctions. ``Selling pressure is hitting the short-dated
debt hardest and people can't get bullish about bonds.''

Yields on five-year notes, which move inversely to prices,
rose 4 basis points this week, according to Japan Bond Trading Co.,
the nation's largest interdealer debt broker.

The yield on the 1.2 percent note due in March 2012 today
declined 2 basis points to 1.225 percent. It yesterday touched
1.25 percent, the highest since April 23. Ten-year bond yields
increased 2 basis points this week to 1.645 percent. A basis point
is 0.01 percentage point.

Central Banks

``If we neglect to implement needed rate adjustments, that
may accentuate risks to the economy that may not be so prominent
otherwise,'' Fukui said at meeting of business executives in Tokyo
yesterday. The BOJ raised its target for overnight lending rates
by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent in February.

The Bank of Japan bank may lift rates again between July and
September, Okasan's Bandou said.

Five-year notes yesterday fell for a fifth day, the longest
decline since December, on speculation a Federal Reserve decision
this week to keep borrowing costs at a six-year high will make it
easier for the Bank of Japan to raise rates.

The spread between 10-year government bonds in Japan and the
U.S. was 296 basis points, near the average for the past year. The
gap in yields is likely to stay near 300 basis points next week as
Japan's bonds track U.S. Treasuries, said Akio Kato, an investor
in Tokyo at Kokusai Asset Management Co., which runs the world's
second-largest bond mutual fund.

Japanese benchmark bond yields had a correlation of 0.88 with
U.S. 10-year note yields in the past year, according to Bloomberg
data. A value of 1 means the two moved in lock step.

Spread Narrows

Five-year notes fell at a faster pace than did longer debt as
traders priced in the probability that rates will rise this year,
said Akio Kato, an investor in Tokyo at Kokusai Asset Management
Co., which runs the world's second-largest bond mutual fund.

The spread between five- and 10-year debt narrowed to 41.8
basis points earlier today, the tightest gap since Dec. 27,
flattening the so-called yield curve.

An index of Merrill Lynch & Co. showed bonds maturing in 10
years or longer returned 0.33 percent in the past month, while
shorter tenors returned 0.04 percent.

Ten-year yields near 1.7 percent may attract buyers, said Jun
Fukashiro, a bond fund manager in Tokyo at Toyota Asset Management
Co., which holds the equivalent of $10 billion in assets. The
yield hasn't risen above 1.7 percent since April 18.

A sale of 10-year debt on May 8 drew the highest demand since
February 2005 and a Ministry of Finance report yesterday showed
overseas investors purchased more Japanese bonds than they sold
for a third week.

Five-Year Auction

Traders may try to push up five-year yields before an auction
of the securities next week, according to Akihiko Inoue, a market
analyst in Tokyo at Mizuho Investors Securities Co.

The Ministry of Finance will sell 2 trillion yen ($16.6
billion) of the notes on May 15. Yields in pre-auction trading
yesterday suggested the ministry may set a 1.3 percent coupon, the
highest since January.

``Investors may demand higher yields before buying as the
economic figures in the coming weeks may show signs of a
recovery,'' said Inoue, whose company is one of the 25 primary
dealers that are required to bid at government auctions.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Issei Morita in Tokyo at .

Investors Taking the Path to Self Destruction, Happily Line up for the Great Financial Slaughter!

The International liquidity crisis will soon create a mess too big for anyone to easily recover from.

When our Strategic Oil Reserve System wants more oil we merely grind up some trees and rags to make paper to print lots of greenbacks, so we can trade a ton of them to the Arabs for a tanker full of oil! Surely someone gets burned in that deal - no wonder they hate us!

Both oil and gold are traded in the US dollar, so everyone needs to keep some on hand but gold and oil are essentially available "free" to us, so long as we have green ink to print with. The problem is that all Countries have now caught on to our "Ponsi like scheme" so everyone is burning their neighbor by printing fresh cash as more goods are needed!

Cash has become such a free commodity that investors are willing to accept stupidly low return rates for very risky paper assets, as if in a self destruct mode!

China is clearly in a bubble. Shanghai stocks are up 250% since 2005 - and 35% this year alone. Still, investors are so eager to get in at these prices that they take up Chinese bank IPOs at twice the PE ratios of banks in developed countries. And what do they actually get when they buy a share? No one knows what a bank chartered and regulated by communists is actually worth!

China is expected to accumulate more than half a trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves - twice as much as last year. How does it get that money? It prints up currency of its own to buy the foreign currency from businessmen and investors - who are selling Chinese made goods (including stock certificates) to foreigners at a breakneck pace.

Investors not only take up but scramble to buy Hugo Chavez's paper Venezuelan bonds! They do so at less than 7% yield…barely 200 basis points more than the sovereign debt of the United States of America.

Officially, the Venezuelan Bolivar is quoted at 2,150 to the dollar. On the black market it trades for 3,750 to one. And it's sinking fast - down 15% so far this year, so where is their justification?

Even long-dated dollar-denominated bonds issued by Iraq, trade at less than 10% yield.

From its recent high of 83.10 on April 9th, the US Dollar Index has fallen to 81.53, a 1.9% decline. That may not sound like much, but it works out to a 32.7% decline on an annualized basis. Given that one presently earns only about 5% per annum in interest income on their dollars, the loss in purchasing power is very obvious. You thus need to find assets that will rise at a 32% annual rate to keep up with the dollars rate of fall!

If our interest rates drop by 1/3 we would be OK but then who would finance our National Debt when Hugo pays so much more! The whole International financial mess must fall like dominos some time very soon, as all other Nations in the past financed with fiat money have failed, without exception!