That article seems to be full of lies."As far as the rest of the...

That article seems to be full of lies.

"As far as the rest of the world is concerned, it doesn’t really matter a great deal if the U.S. economy grows by 1 or 2% or shrinks by 1 or 2%."

False. a 4% swing in the world's largest economy will have an large effect worldwide. It's also not just the US, the UK, Euro, Japan, all the world's largest economys are in terrible shape.

"Those few investors who read beyond the headlines will see that China’s pace of growth has slowed from more than 11% a year to just over 10%."

Maybe true on last year's data but it's a different world now. Most analysts forecast no more than 8% for China in 08/09. China's property markets are starting to collapse, their sharemarket has dropped by at least 50%.

"It is important to note that the emerging markets are far more intensive users of metals that the developed world. The U.S. is more of a service-oriented economy, whereas China and the other developing nations are more heavily involved in building factories, housing, infrastructure and other things that use a lot of metal."

Again it is not the US alone but most developed nations. But even though the developed nations may not directly consume metals, recession in these countries will flow on to developing nations. China sends 20% of it's exports to the US alone. The export sectors in China are collapsing. Something like 12,000 factories have already been shut down. This destruction of wealth will flow on to property prices, consumer demand etc. Developing nations do not have a magic shield to protect them from a global slowdown. They will be affected.


"Yet, metal prices are still well above long term trends. Iron ore prices are still rising sharply..."

So what if prices are above long term trends. BHP share price was valued on the high metal prices. If those prices fall, earnings fall, share price should rightly follow downwards. Iron ore prices rising? Yes this year's contract price is higher than last year's but that again doesn't take into account recent events. Spot prices have been tanking.

That is all BS from just in the small section u pasted. I didn't bother with the rest of the article.

I'm not saying this is the end of the world and that BHP is going to go under. It won't. Just saying that article is full of it and ignores the recent turn of events. It ignores the risks that are present in the commodity markets.