Some readings this week-end

- China 2009 Gold Demand, Output May Gain to Records: China overtook South Africa to become the world’s largest producer in 2007 and the World Gold Council said in July that the nation may pass India as the biggest consumer.

- Mark Pittman, Reporter Who Foresaw Subprime Crisis, Dies at 52 : The award-winning investigative reporter whose fight to open the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52. Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. The precise cause of his death wasn’t known. Pittman’s fight to make the Fed more accountable resulted in an Aug. 24 victory in Manhattan Federal Court affirming the public’s right to know about the central bank’s more than $2 trillion in loans to financial firms.

- Strauss-Kahn Says Half of Bank Losses Are Undisclosed : Banking systems “remain undercapitalized” in many advanced economies with “far from normal” financial conditions, Strauss-Kahn said in a speech to the conference. The IMF said in September that banks may have $1.5 trillion in toxic debt remaining on their books, which may hurt credit markets and stifle the global economic recovery. “Probably a little more has been disclosed in the U.S. and a little less in Europe, but it’s almost half and half,” Strauss-Kahn said. “So, we still have a long way to go.”

- Mobius Expects 40% BRIC Stocks Gain, Says Buy on Dips : Mark Mobius said stocks in Brazil, Russia, India and China are likely to rise by 30 to 40 percent within three to four years as higher economic growth and lower government debt spurs corporate earnings.
Mobius, chairman of Templeton Asset Management Ltd., said he’s increasing holdings in all emerging markets, with particular focus on the four biggest developing-nation economies collectively known as the BRICs.
Mobius said he’s buying bank stocks in Thailand and technology companies in Taiwan. Among so-called frontier markets, countries including Vietnam, Kenya and Nigeria are “very interesting now,” he said.