U.S.'s $160 Billion INFRA Status + Roundtable

According to Bloomberg, of the $162 Billion dollars of INFRASTRUCTURE aid the U.S. federal government pledged to spend in February as part of its unprecedented $787 Billion Economic STIMULUS package, only about $50 Billion, or 31%, has been paid out thus far. As a result, it can be reasonably concluded that most global infrastructure/industrial companies that stand likely to benefit from the massive U.S. stimulus program (Examples include: CAT/Caterpillar, GE/General Electric, DE/Deere, FWLT/Foster Wheeler, FLR/Fluor, UTX/United Technologies, ETN/Eaton, JEC/Jacobs Engineering, SGR/Shaw Group, MDR/McDermott, HON/Honeywell, TEX/Terex, etc.), will not see the desired effects on their respective companies' balance sheets until towards the end of 2009/beginning of 2010.

Somewhat related, the uber powerful and equally innovative CEOs of both Caterpillar (CAT) and Google (GOOG) appeared on MSNBC's Meet The Press program on Sunday, May 31st, 2009. During the engrossing CEO roundtable discussion hosted by David Gregory (the clip is included below), both rock star executives shared their insightful assessments of the current state and future direction of the U.S. economy. I found it particularly interesting to listen to Jim Owens' take since he leads the operations of a company very much at the manufacturing heart of the U.S. economy. Among Mr. Owens' more interesting comments, the CEO of Caterpillar expects the global economy to BOTTOM sometime during the 3rd quarter of 2009. He also, perhaps somewhat tellingly, doesn't expect his company to resume hiring until mid 2010.

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aUfrUQkdTg1s


Data Courtesy: Bloomberg and MSNBC
Full Disclosure: I own shares of GOOG, CAT, DE and GE.

Russia's Top Priority - Diversify From ENERGY

With Russia's stock market up approximately 80% year to date, CNBC television anchor Maria Bartiromo recently sat down with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss what lies ahead for Russia's heavily energy-dependent economy. Russia, the 'R' of the famous 'B.R.I.C.' acronym, owns the world's largest natural gas reserves and, as a result of the global slowdown that began in late 2007, witnessed its GDP shrink by a staggering 9.5% during the first quarter of 2009. Looking to the immediate future, economists are currently forecasting that the volatile pace of decline in Russian economic activity will slow during the 2nd quarter by a less break-neck rate of 6.5%.

In the below five minute interview segment, President Medvedez appears poised to utilize the government's vast resources ($600 BILLION U.S. dollars) to help deliver stabilization to Russia's volatile economy. Mr. Medvedez's current strategy appears focused on diversifying the country away from the energy and commodities sectors and into biotechnology sciences and information technology. Lastly, it's interesting to note that, according to CNBC, Russia's current unemployment rate is higher than the U.S's and stands at 10.2%...a figure that implies that about 7.7 million Russians are currently unemployed and looking for work.

Data Courtesy: CNBC