Total Legal Permanent Residents (2006) Top 20 by country

Total LPRs	1,266,264
Mexico	170,046
China	83,628
Philippines	71,134
Russia	59,760
India	58,072
Cuba	44,248
Colombia	42,024
Dominican Republic	37,997
El Salvador	31,259
Vietnam	29,705
Jamaica	24,538
Korea	24,472
Canada and Newfoundland	23,913
Guatemala	23,687
Haiti	21,628
Peru	21,300
United Kingdom	19,984
Poland	16,705
Yugoslavia	11,066
Top 20	815,166
%	64%

(http://www.dhs.gov)

US Dollar, Wall Street Stocks Plunge Wednesday After China Hints It May Diversify Foreign Reserves [EUR/USD]

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 4:03:37 PM -

The greenback turned in another dreadful performance on Wednesday, falling to all major counterparts after the Chinese government signalled it may sell-off its dollar reserves in favor of the stronger euro.

The dollar hit a new all-time low versus the euro in early dealing Wednesday, but firmed up shortly thereafter and saw little movement over the course of the afternoon as US stocks tumbled.

Wall Street stocks moved plunged Wednesday, as concerns about just how far the dollar will fall and renewed worries within the credit markets send stocks lower. Heading into the final hour of trading, the major averages pulled well of their intraday lows that saw the Dow decline 280 points, but continued to post substantial losses.

The greenback fell sharply in overnight dealing and moved even lower until just before the opening bell on Wall Street. The dollar bottomed out at 1.4729, then improved slightly to close near 1.4659.

The European Central Bank is expected to hold its key policy rate at 4.0% Thursday, but analysts also expect more inflation warnings from President Jean-Claude Trichet.

The dollar fell below 2.10 versus the sterling for the first time since 1981, extending a dramatic recent downtrend. The dollar hit a 26-year low of 2.1070 by mid-morning, and held steady near that mark for the rest of the day.

The dollar accelerated to the downside versus the yen Wednesday morning, hitting a 2-month low of 112.76. The pair saw choppy dealing for the rest of the session, ending near the 113 mark.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England are due to give their latest decision on interest rates Thursday. Most economists are predicting interest rates will be left at 5.75 percent.

In economic news from the US, the Department of Commerce released its report on wholesale trade in the month of September on Wednesday, showing that wholesale inventories rose much more than expected while wholesale sales also showed a notable increase.


Copper Continues Recent Slump []

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 4:01:19 PM - Copper headed lower again on Wednesday in U.S. trading, easily erasing its gains from the day before. December copper finished at $3.259, down 8.25 cents on the session. The red metal added 3.65 on Tuesday, snapping a six-session losing streak.

The metal has been trending lower for more than a month with ongoing economic concerns in the U.S. Since copper is heavily used in construction, it often moves with economic news, especially housing-related data.

On the economic front Wednesday morning, the Department of Labor released its preliminary report on productivity and unit labor costs in the third quarter, showing that productivity growth exceeded economist estimates while labor costs fell unexpectedly. The report showed that productivity grew by 4.9 percent in the third quarter compared to a downwardly revised 2.2 percent increase in the second quarter.

Economists had expected productivity to grow by about 3.1 percent. The Labor Department also said that unit labor costs fell 0.2 percent in the third quarter following a revised 2.2 percent increase in the previous quarter. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected labor costs to rise 1.2 percent.

Gold prices continued to soar on Wednesday in U.S. trading and posted a record close. Bullion for December delivery was at $833.50, up $10.10 on the session. The precious metal reached as high as $848.00, a fresh 27-year high. The record high for gold is $875, reached on Jan. 21, 1980. Gold closed that day at $825.50, which was the record close until Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar's continued weakness pushed the price of gold. The greenback dropped again against the euro and touched another record low of 1.4729. The buck also dropped against the British pound and some of the other majors. With the greenback in a prolonged slump, gold has been rallying for more than two months to hit its best levels in more than a quarter-century. Prices climbed earlier in the week amid the ongoing credit crisis in the U.S. Gold closed Tuesday up $14.60 on the session.

In other commodity news, crude oil dropped in afternoon trading on Wednesday as the weekly inventory report failed to produce the data many experts thought would push prices over $100 a barrel. Light sweet crude for December delivery traded at $96.37, down 33 cents on the session. Oil reached a record high of $98.62 in electronic trading.

The Department of Energy's weekly report showed that crude oil inventories fell by 800,000 barrels. While the drop in inventories marked the third consecutive decline, it was much smaller than the decrease of 1.5 million barrels expected by analysts. With the decrease, oil inventories fell to 311.9 million barrels but remain in the upper half of the average range for this time of year.

Many experts felt a greater-than-expected decline would have pushed prices past the $100 a barrel mark. Crude struggled to find direction in the first hour after the report, which came shortly after 10:30 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, wheat prices fell on Wednesday in U.S. trading, erasing the modest gains it saw the day before. December wheat fell to $7.895, down 7.5 cents on the session. Overall, the grain has struggled ti find direction throughout November. The grain dropped about $1.30 off the price in October to pull away from a record high. Corn for December delivery slipped 1.4 cents to $3.842 a bushel and soybeans for January settlement moved down 6.2 cents to $10.38 a bushel. Cotton, milk and hogs moved higher.

(http://www.rttnews.com)

Who gets what from a litre of oil in the G7?

(http://www.opec.org)

This graph illustrates the wide regional variations in prices of different energy products. However, this is not due to differences in crude prices, but to widely varying levels of taxation in the major consuming nations. The blue portion of the bar shows how much of the end price goes to oil producers, the yellow is what goes to refineries, and the red indicates the amount attributable to government taxes. Tax levels can range from relatively low in USA to very high in many European countries. In the UK, for example, the government receives substantially more from taxation than what OPEC gets from the sale of its oil.

Gisele Bundchen Doesn't Want to Be Paid in Dollars

Gisele Bundchen Doesn't Want to Be Paid in Dollars

Monday , November 05, 2007

Gisele Bundchen wants to make a lot of money — just not in dollars.

The supermodel is insisting that she be paid in almost any currency but the U.S. dollar, Bloomberg reports.

Like billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Bill Gross, the Brazilian supermodel, who Forbes magazine says earns more than anyone in her industry, is at the top of a growing list of wealthy people who have concluded that the currency can only depreciate because Americans are living beyond their means.

Even after the dollar lost 34 percent since 2001, the biggest investors and most accurate forecasters say it will weaken further as home sales fall and the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.

The dollar plummeted to its lowest ever last week against the euro, Canadian dollar, Chinese yuan and the cheapest in 26 years against the British pound.

(http://foxnews.com)

PetroChina first to reach $1,000bn cap

PetroChina first to reach $1,000bn cap

By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai

Published: November 5 2007 10:28 | Last updated: November 5 2007 10:28

PetroChina became the first company in the world to be valued at more than $1,000bn Monday after a dramatic stock market debut in Shanghai that saw its shares nearly triple in early trading.

Shares in the oil and gas company, which raised $9bn from the world’s biggest initial public offering so far this year, surged to Rmb48.60 at the start of trading from an offer price of Rmb16.70.

After slipping back during the day, the shares closed 163 per cent higher at Rmb43.96 in Shanghai, giving the company a market capitalisation more than double the value of the second-largest company, Exxon Mobil, which was worth $488bn at the close of trading on Friday in New York.

PetroChina sold 4bn shares in Shanghai, equivalent to just 2.2 per cent of its expanded share capital. Parent company China National Petroleum still owns 86 per cent of the shares. PetroChina’s Hong Kong shares, where the company listed in 2000, dropped 8.2 per cent to HK$18.

The massive demand for the PetroChina offering is the latest sign of the stock market frenzy in mainland China where share prices have increased almost six fold over the past two years. PetroChina attracted $456bn of subscriptions from retail and institutional investors in China.

However, the surge in the company’s share price was greeted by some analysts as a further sign that a dangerous bubble is developing in the mainland stock market, created by a mixture of capital controls and substantial liquidity. The company’s mainland shares are now trading at a premium of around 150 per cent to its Hong Kong shares.

Although large first-day jumps are commonplace in mainland Chinese IPOs, the scale of the increase in PetroChina shares surprised analysts who had been expecting a 100 per cent increase.

The PetroChina listing is the largest ever in the mainland market, surpassing China Shenhua Energy’s September IPO, which raised $8.9bn. A string of other Chinese companies are planning to raise money in the Shanghai market. Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group, the country’s 15th-largest steel mill, said Monday it intended to raise $1bn from a mainland listing, while SouthWest Securities, a brokerage in Chongqing, said it was considering a listing to bolster its capital.

The PetroChina debut did not prevent the Shanghai market from dropping 2.48 per cent to 5,634 points in the face of official comments warning investors to be cautious about both the mainland and Hong Kong markets. Regulators have urged mainland investment funds to moderate the amount of new money coming under management and have told funds planning overseas investments to limit the amount of money allocated to Hong Kong because of the recent surge in prices there.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
(http://ft.com)

Got $500,000? The U.S.Awaits

WSJ Friday Nov 2,2007 B1

Got $500,000? The U.S. Awaits

Government’s EB-5 Program Offers foreign Investors Green Cards for Job Creation
By Miriam Jordan

An obscure immigration program is pumping millions of dollars from foreign investors into dilapidated inner cities and employment-starved rural areas across the US. These investors aren’t focused on financial returns, however: They’re in it to get green cards.

… For a $500,000 investment in a distressed area, a foreigner and his immediate family become eligible for conditional green cards. They become permanent a few years later upon evidence that the investment has created at least 10 jobs for US. Workers.

… “The EB-5 program is one of the most complex and heavily scrutinized immigration programs” says Stephan Yale-Loehr … an expert on EB-5 visas.

… If jobs are being created in exchange for visas through a process you can verify, I don’t think we cab object to it.” Says Ira Mehlman, a spokeman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calls for clamping down on both legal and illegal immigration.

In UK, immigrants fill 50% new jobs

1 Nov 2007, 0000 hrs IST,PTI

LONDON: It's official. More than half of all new jobs created in UK during the last decade have been snapped up by immigrants. According to figures released on Tuesday, out of 2.1 million jobs created under the Labour Party government since 1997, 52% went to 1.1 million migrant workers, the media reported here on Wednesday. The data came just days after a government study had revealed that "migrant workers are both higher paid and more reliable than their British counterparts, and contributed six billion pounds to economic growth last year". (http://timesofindia.com)

Disney supplier accused of labor abuse

Wed Oct 31, 3:10 PM ET

Hundreds of people are making stuffed Walt Disney toys at a factory in southern China up to 16 hours a day with only a few days off a month, a Hong Kong-based labor activist group said Wednesday.

"During the peak season, before Christmas, workers at the factory start at 8 a.m. and don't finish until midnight," said Jenny Chan, an activist with the Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior.

Chan said the Tianyu Toys factory in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan regularly holds back workers' wages for up to 45 days, and paid overtime of 40 cents an hour, less than half the rate set by Chinese labor laws.

She said this prompted a mass strike in September, but that management had only increased overtime pay to 47 cents an hour.

Alannah Goss, spokeswoman for Walt Disney Co. (Asia Pacific) Ltd., confirmed that Tianyu Toys supplied goods to some of its licensees, but declined to give specific details or comment on the allegations.

"The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates deal with claims of unfair labor practices very seriously, and investigates all allegations thoroughly," she said in an e-mail response to The Associated Press.

Tianyu's general manager rejected the allegations of labor violations, but would not reveal details about staff wages.

"I don't want to comment in detail. Our factory strictly adheres to local labor regulations. I'm the general manager here and I haven't heard any of our workers complaining about the factory," Man Wong said.

The activist group has previously accused factories in southern China that are churning out goods for Disney and other global brands of overworking laborers and skimping on pay and benefits.

About a dozen activists demonstrated outside Hong Kong Disneyland on Tuesday night to protest alleged labor abuses at the Tianyu factory.

(http://news.yahoo.com)

Chrysler to eliminate 11,000 jobs (Not reported by FOX or CNN yet)

By John Reed in London

Published: November 1 2007 15:21 | Last updated: November 1 2007 15:21

Chrysler said it was eliminating up to 11,000 jobs – or 14 per cent of its workforce – as it cuts shifts at several North American assembly and engine plants to match a slimmed-down vehicle lineup and slower-than-expected US demand for cars.

The cuts at the carmaker come on top of 13,000 job losses announced in February under Chrysler’s three-year Recovery and Transformation Plan. They mark the first big restructuring announcement by Chrysler’s new management team since buyout group Cerberus Capital management bought the lossmaking company from Germany’s Daimler in August.

“The market situation has changed dramatically in the eight months since Chrysler established the Recovery and Transformation Plan as its blueprint,” Bob Nardelli, Chrysler’s chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement.

Chrysler this week said it was eliminating four slow-selling vehicles – the Crossfire sports car, PT Cruiser Convertible and Pacifica crossover, and Dodge Magnum station wagon from its lineup.

It has revised downward its forecast for total US vehicle sales from 17.2 m in February to 16m to 16.5m this year as demand for new cars slows.

Chrysler said it was eliminating shifts at five North American assembly plants which, combined with other “volume-related manufacturing actions,” would lead to a reduction of 8,500 to 10,000 blue-collar jobs through 2008.

The automaker also said it planned to reduce salaried workers by 1,000 and contract workers by 37 per cent, in addition to slashing overtime hours and reducing purchased services due to reduced volume.

Its current workforce totals about 77,000.

“We have to move now to adjust the way our company looks and acts to reflect a smaller market,” said Tom LaSorda, Chrysler’s vice-chairman and president. “That means a cost base that is right-sized and an appropriate level of plant utilisation.”

The shift cuts will affect Chrysler’s assembly plants in Belvidere, Illinois; Toledo, Ohio; and Brampton, Ontario, and its Sterling Heights and Jefferson North plants in Michigan, the company said.

Chrysler plans further reduction at engine, stamping and other plants which it has not yet identified, the company said.

The carmaker is currently reviewing its product and marketing plans, and in recently concluded contract talks with the United Auto Workers union it committed to spend more than $15bn on products, plants and engineering through 2011.

Following Chrysler’s and General Motors’ agreement of four-year contracts with the UAW, Ford Motor is now negotiating with the union on its own agreement, which may see further job cuts announced at the rival carmaker.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

(http://ft.com)