Qatar is a red-hot economy. Last year it grew around 18% and this year it ought to grow another 16%. We saw the headlines in the Gulf Times in the lounge while waiting for our transfer to Dubai.

Some of Wall Street’s most prominent bears are turning bullish right now. But that doesn’t mean that your small-cap portfolio is safe. Here’s why these brilliant minds think that we’re back on the path to recovery — and why they’re wrong.

Steel production will probably fall this year by the largest margin since the Second World War. Most folks in the steel business have gray and soggy outlooks for 2010. Most, but not Lakshmi Mittal.

Market prices should reflect underlying demand and supply. As in a vegetable stand, the prices come from the buying and selling of people in the market.

U.S. banks are going bad as quickly as a bunch of over-ripe peaches in the summer heat. On the heels of the Colonial Bank failure comes another sizable bank failure.

“Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.”

– T. Boone Pickens

There is probably no group of buyers more watched and coveted than Chinese consumers. Over the weekend, the Financial Times had a piece that highlights things the Chinese like to buy.

It’s become widely accepted when talking about emerging economies to focus on the so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. But there is a very important region that gets lost in that discussion.

The price of water is starting to rise in a big way, at least in China. I’ve expected this for a few years.