TOP 100 TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS SITES
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| Response to Jack Lifton's 'Lithium Batteries: Nothing But Illusion' Juan Carlos Zuleta submits:Jack Lifton has just renewed the debate on lithium availability for the transition to electric propulsion in the world. In his recent thought-provoking article, he claims that: ...the production of lithium-ion battery packs for vehicle propulsion is and will always be limited by the rate of production for lithium, because even if all of the mineable lithium deposits were exhausted only enough lithium would be produced to build 450,000,000 vehicles per year at equilibrium between mining and recycling at a 100% recovery rate. Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Baltic Dry Index Rise Indicates Good Economic Tidings Prieur du Plessis submits: The Baltic Dry Index - a measure of freight rates for iron ore and bulk commodities - rose non-stop for 23 sessions until Wednesday, before declining somewhat Thursday. This surge represents a gain of 517% from its low on December 5. But one needs to put this in perspective: The Index fell by 94% from its high in May 2008, and therefore still needs to rise by a further 188% to match the previous peak. More importantly, this rise seems to be more than a snap-back rally and points to better economic tidings. This becomes apparent when considering the close relationship between China’s Purchasing Managers Index ((PMI)) for New Export Orders and the Baltic Dry Index, showing both indices turning sharply higher.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
UPS Delivers Poor Earnings There are a couple of companies in this country that possess as much real time economic intelligence as any government agency. One I Walmart (WMT) and the others are UPS UPS) and FedEx (FDX). You can save yourself a lot of time researching economic trends if you just listen to what they say and what kind of numbers they post.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
TransDigm: Issuing Debt for Dividends? Ockham Research submits: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that aircraft parts supplier TransDigm Group (TDG) is planning to float $425 million worth of debt for the primary purpose of giving a special dividend to shareholders. Management has said that $360 million of the debt offering will be used to pay a special cash dividend expected to be $7.50 to $7.70 per share. The article in The Journal makes some points as to the rationale behind such a move. The added debt increased TransDigm’s borrowings to 4.3 times its earnings before interest and taxes, compared with 3.1 times before last week’s deal. The expected dividend of $7.50 to $7.70 a share is equal to nearly all of the net income that TransDigm reported since the end of fiscal 2003, according to Moody’s Investors Service.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
GM Looks to Use U.S. and Canadian Tax Money to Bail Out Opel Edward Harrison submits:An article in the National Post suggests General Motors may look to divert some of its bailout money to Europe in the wake of a chill in German government support for subsidies. Talk of using taxpayer money to benefit workers in other countries is sure to raise ire, especially in the United States where the unemployment rate has hit double-digit levels. When General Motors was forced into receivership this past Spring, it received tens of billions in bailout money from the U.S. and Canadian governments in order to protect jobs in the auto sector.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |