Food inflation eases for 3rd straight week

India’ food inflation dropped for a third consecutive week, giving some relief to consumers amid mounting concerns that spiraling prices could prompt the RBI to hike interest rates. The index for 'Food Articles' group declined by 1.1% to 282.6. Inflation in Food Articles group slipped to 16.30% in the week ended March 6 from 17.81% in the previous week and 17.87% in the week ended February 20. Inflation in Food Articles space was at 7.57% only last year. Primary Articles inflation also slipped to 14.16% in the week under review as compared to 15.08% in the previous week. It stood at 5.06% in the week ended March 7, 2009. The WPI for Primary Articles group declined by 0.9% to 282.1. Inflation in the Non-Food Articles group rose to 13.99% from 13.60% in the previous week. Inflation in the Fuel & Power group rose to 12.68% in the week ended March 6 as against 11.38% in the previous week. Inflation in this group was at -5.95% in the corresponding period of last year. Inflation in the Electricity group shot up to 4.72% in the week under review from 1.95% in the week ended February 27.

Jim Rogers :I guarantee by 2012 next recession

Last night in London, Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, was interviewed by CNBC after US Fed announced its decision of leaving the rates alone. Rogers is very critical to the Fed whose solution to the crisis has been “printing money”, a strategy that he does not see sustainable, “there will be no trees left” if the Fed keep on printing money. Rogers’s contempt to the US Fed is obvious, to a point that he stated that he isn’t paying attention to them at all. He thinks investors are better served to read and think and come up with their our opinions. “Sometimes I got it wrong, sometimes Igot it right” he said. Commenting on the US Housing market, Rogers thinks that the market will stay low for many years to come to work out the inventories. I found his answer to the recession question evasive at the best, for the CNBC anchor was looking for a “Yes” or “No” for an imminent double-dip recession. “We’re going to have another recession, I guarantee you… By 2012 say, it’s time for another recession.” – anybody could have said that, for recession comes and goes. But, “The next time it’s going to be worse because we’ve shot all of our bullets,” he warned us. Rogers has been advocating investing in commodities.

15 Facts About China That Will Blow Your Mind

1. 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities.
2. By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.
3. already consumes twice as much steel as the US, Europe and Japan combined.
4. If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as Americans, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabia’s to meet their demand.
5. There are already more Christians in China than Italy, and China is on track to become the largest center of Christianity in the world.
6. Chinese are far more likely to believe in evolution than Americans.
7. Chinese internet users are five times as likely to have blogs as Americans.
8. China has 150% more soldiers than America does, plus a high tech ‘Kill Weapon’ the U.S. can’t deal with.
9. China still hasn’t rid itself of Europe’s medieval plague.
10. 40% of Chinese small businesses went bust or almost went bust during the world financial crisis.
11. China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world COMBINED… and uses mobile execution vans for efficiency.
12. China averages 274 protests PER DAY.
13. When you buy Chinese stocks, you are basically financing the Chinese government. Eight of Shanghai’s top ten stocks are state-controlled arms of the government.
14. 50% of counterfeit goods come from China.
15. The majority of Chinese drink polluted water.

LyondellBasell Board Said to Reject Reliance Bid

March 1 (Bloomberg) — The board of bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries AF rejected a bid from Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world’s largest oil-refining complex, two people briefed on the matter said today.

Reliance, based in Mumbai, had raised its offer for a controlling stake in Lyondell to $14.5 billion, two people with knowledge of the offer said Feb. 22. Lyondell is based in Rotterdam.

Buying LyondellBasell would create a company with more than $80 billion in revenue and give Reliance chemical plants and two oil refineries in the U.S. and Europe. The chemicals maker had rejected a revised Reliance bid that valued it at $13.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 8.

Lyondell was formed in a 2007 deal financed with $22 billion in debt in which it was bought by Basell AF, a unit of Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries Holdings LLC. Creditors have said the buyout crippled one of the world’s largest polymers, petrochemicals, and fuel companies, causing it to seek bankruptcy.

Lyondell spokesman David Harpole declined to comment.