Daily Dispatches

By Emily Mathieu
National Post, Toronto
Friday, November 24, 2006

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=28752457-...

Overleveraged and unchecked investments in the hedge fund industry are keeping investment guru Eric Sprott up at night.

"My biggest fear, as a hedge fund manager is 'Where is the cash?,'" Mr. Sprott, chief executive and portfolio manager of Sprott Asset Management Inc., said yesterday. "My gut reaction is that we need regulation" of the industry, he said.

Fed's Help Enlisted
for Trip to Press China

By Stephen R. Weisman
The New York Times
Thursday, November 23, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/worldbusiness/23trip.html?_r=...
ness&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. has enlisted Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, to join an unusual delegation of cabinet members to China next month that will press for changes in Chinese economic policies

Predators Abound as Mining Sector
Enjoys Record High Metal Prices;
All Is in Play In Consolidation Frenzy

By Andy Hoffman
Globe and Mail, Toronto
Thursday, November 23, 2006

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061123.RTAKEOVER23/TP...

Anything and everything is in play in the mining sector these days -- even the predators offering up billions of dollars for acquisitions have become prey. Hedge funds and other speculators are increasingly treating a bid by one miner for another as merely an invitation to further offers for one or both parties in the rush to consolidate amid record metals prices.

By Christopher Swann
Bloomberg News Service
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=latin_america&sid=...

SINGAPORE -- The International Monetary Fund, the world's third-largest owner of gold, should sell some of its hoard to cover projected operating losses, say a growing number of the fund's executive directors.

The Washington-based lender predicts it will lose $87.5 million next year and $280 million in 2009. Some directors say the fund should sell a portion of its 103 million ounces of gold, valued at $64.7 billion, and invest the proceeds in interest- bearing assets.