C.H. Robinson Stock Moving; Report: Rough Year Ahead for Latin America; Foreign Direct Investing in China Falling; Seattle Post-Intelligencer Goes Online-Only; U.S. to Seize $100 Million From Madoffs; Foreigners Tossing Treasuries; MGM Antes Up

• Shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW) climbed as high as 4.8% in trading yesterday (Monday) before closing at $44.03 a share. For the past five days, the company’s stock jumped nearly 16%. Money Morning Contributing Editor Horacio Marquez recommended investors buy C.H. Robinson’s stock yesterday in his popular Buy/Sell/Hold series.

• A team of economists at Morgan Stanley (MS) believes Latin America’s economy may contract 4% this year, which would be the biggest decline since 1980. Leading the region’s decline is South America’s largest economy, Brazil, whose gross domestic product could fall as much as 4.5%, Morgan Stanley said.

• Foreign investing in China fell by 15.8%, or $5.83 billion, in February, from the year earlier. The decline marks the fifth straight month that companies and government tightened their spending on Chinese assets, Bloomberg reported.

• The 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer will publish its final print issue today, becoming an online-only news portal. The paper’s owner, The Hearst Corp., made the decision after failing to find a buyer for the newspaper, Reuters reported.

• The government said Sunday that it intends to seize real estate, cash, bonds, art, autos, boats and other property worth more than $100 million from Bernard Madoff and his wife, including the Madoffs’ $7 million Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan and homes in Montauk, New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and France. Prosecutors will seek $17 million in cash and $45 million in bonds in accounts in Ruth Madoff’s name, acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin told Bloomberg. Madoff, 70, pleaded guilty March 12 to defrauding investors of as much as $65 billion in the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.

• The U.S. Treasury said yesterday (Monday) that foreigners were net sellers of U.S. securities in January, a worrying development at a time when the government is rolling out a massive spending plan to mitigate the 14-month recession. Adding to the economy’s problems, the U.S. Federal Reserve said industrial production fell to its lowest level in almost seven years in February. U.S. industrial output fell 1.4% in February, following a 1.9% drop in January, according to government data, Reuters reported.

• MGM Mirage (MGM) is in talks with banks to pledge casinos as loan collateral, as it seeks to modify lending terms and avoid default on a $7 billion senior credit facility. The company agreed in December to sell the its Treasure Island casino and canceled a condominium development at CityCenter, MGM’s joint venture Strip development with Dubai World. The Las Vegas-based casino company said it is also open to selling more assets, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the discussions.

Source: Global Investment News Briefs Tuesday, March 17, 2009