Eagle Eye Opener: Asia is Not a Profit Feast; Hurricane Sandy Damages May Hit $60 Billion

Asia 2013: Certainly Not a Profit Feast at This Point (CNBC)

Investors looking to get an early indication of Far East performance in 2013 are being fed a steady diet of tepid growth chased by watered-down earnings. Reports from China, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia may show that factory activity picked up in October (over the previous year),  but experts caution that unless there is sustained improvement, a true rebound is unlikely next year.

Damage Estimates Double in Days Following Sandy (NYTimes.com)

Original damage estimates for the Hurricane that ripped through the mid-Atlantic had been predicted to run about $10-$20 billion by Eqecat — a company that specializes in hurricane damage forecasting. However, that figure has doubled to around $60 billion in the days following Sandy due in large part to the additional damage inflicted upon New York City’s underground road and subway systems. Investors looking to make a quick buck off of the storm may want to consider the infrastructure companies that will no-doubt be needed in the weeks and months ahead to repair America’s largest city.

Big Oil Runs Up Against Something Bigger (Reuters)

Commodities investors should be aware that the operations of U.S. oil conglomerate Chevron (CVX) have run up against a force in Kuito, Angola, that is even more powerful than big oil: “force maejuere.” Indeed, force maejuere is defined as an allowable stoppage in the execution of a company’s contractual obligations due to unforeseen events.  In this case, technical problems with the mooring equipment at the Kuito site have prohibited Chevron from filling its two 920,000 barrel super tankers. OPEC member Angola is Africa’s second- largest producer of oil, after Nigeria, and typically exports around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil. The temporary interruption is not expected to impact Chevron’s global sales or share price.