• Microsoft Corp.’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Bing search engine has gained market share from rivals Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) andYahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) just weeks after its launch. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant grabbed 12.1% of total U.S. Internet searches for the workweek of June 8-12, according to market research firm comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR). That was up from the previous week’s share of 11.5% and May’s share of 8.2%. While the start is good for Bing, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was cautiously optimistic. “We have had some very good initial response,” Ballmer said. “I don’t want to over-set expectations. We are going to have to be tenacious and keep up the pace of innovation over a long period of time.” comScore did not offer the share numbers for Google or Yahoo in the same periods, but said it would have a bigger picture for the entire month when the final tallies are in.

• Natural gas reserves in the United Stats are much bigger than once thought, according to a report released yesterday (Thursday) from the Potential Gas Committee. The country possesses a resource base of 1,836 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and a total available future supply of 2,074 Tcf. Some, such as Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, are pushing hard for natural gas as an alternative fuel for transportation. “I launched the Pickens Plan a year ago to help reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and using our abundant supply of natural gas as a transition fuel for fleet vehicles and heavy-duty trucks is a key element of that plan,” Pickens told The Associated Press. “On the same day this report is going out, diesel prices are again on the rise, squeezing the trucking industry. Now more than ever we need to take action to enact energy reform that will immediately reduce oil imports.”

• Shares of Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) closed up more than 7% yesterday (Thursday) following news that the cruise line operator beat Wall Street earnings estimates and discounting is starting to abate. Carnival’s net income fell 32% to $264 million, or 33 cents per share for the quarter ended May 31. That compares to a net income of $390 million, or 50 cents per share. Average analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News had Carnival earning 29 cents per share. Executives called the rise of fares on some itineraries since the end of March “encouraging.”

• Prices of Treasury bonds fell for a second day as the U.S. government said note sales will increase to a record $104 billion next week and other reports showed the deepest recession since the Great Depression may be coming to an end.  Yields on ten-year notes, which move in opposition to prices, touched the highest in almost a week amid concern President Barack Obama’s record borrowing will overwhelm demand, Bloombergreported.  The yield gap between two- and 10-year notes widened to 2.56%, the most in over a week. “There’s so much focus on the borrowing amounts Treasury will face over the next couple of years,” said Carl Riccadonna, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (NYSE: DB) in New York. Deutsche is one of 17 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. “There’s evidence that the economy may be turning the corner. That’s pushing yields up.“

• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) may have to consider the government’s new stance on regulatory reform when it restructures its giant GE Capital finance unit.  The possibility that the Federal Reserve might gain regulatory authority over the unit arose when President Barack Obama this week unveiled his proposal for the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial regulations since the 1930s.   He proposed the central bank oversee not just banks but “other large firms that pose a risk to the entire economy in the event of failure.”  GE investors said the label could apply to the U.S. conglomerate’s finance business, a major commercial lender. “I could definitely see that potentially becoming an issue if companies like GE and their finance arms came under more scrutiny,” said Perry Adams, vice president and senior portfolio manager at Huntington Private Financial Group in Traverse City, Michigan, told Reuters.

• Tourism in Mexico took a severe hit from the swine flu scare as Cancun, Cozumel, Los Cabos and other destinations reported fewer foreign tourists since the outbreak that began in April killed 108 people, the Mexican Health Ministry said. Cancun’s hotel occupancy plunged as low as 20% in May, when 13 inns with 5,200 rooms shut down, Bloombergreported.  It rebounded to 45% in the first week of June and is forecast to reach 60% next month, said Rodrigo de la Pena, president of the Cancun Hotel Association. That’s still down from 80% last July. “We’re recovering quicker than we thought,” de la Pena said. “The hotels have almost all their workforce back and tourists are arriving.” To fend off unemployment, the government rolled out a $91 million campaign urging Mexicans to vacation at home and encouraging hotels and restaurants to cut prices.

• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), the fourth-largest U.S. credit card network, reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as it cut costs and bad loans weren’t as bad as forecast, sending its shares up more than 4%. The company’s expenses fell 10% after it cut 500 jobs and trimmed marketing costs.  Credit card default rates also remained well below levels of its bigger rivals. The Riverwoods, Ill.-based company posted a net income of $226 million, or 43 cents per share for the quarter ended May 31. That compares to a net income of $234 million, or 48 cents per share in the same period last year.

Source: Investment News Briefs Friday, June 19, 2009

Infrastructure improvements are one of the biggest drivers of overseas real estate values. I’m talking airports, roads, bridges, and cruise ship ports. Anything that improves the accessibility of a piece of real estate makes it more desirable.

The development of a viable tourism infrastructure also drives values. Golf courses, hotels, man-made beaches, boutiques, restaurants, and marinas all bring visitors. Visitors spend money, which creates jobs. And jobs in turn heat up real estate values. Of course, it helps if the infrastructure improvements happen in a place with a great climate and a short flight from major affluent population centers.

Just north of Puerto Vallarta, along a stunning stretch of coast know as The Riviera Nayarit, the Mexican government is investing $1.5 billion to improve accessibility and develop tourism infrastructure.

The section of government responsible for this is called the “National Trust Fund for Tourism Development.” Founded in the 1970’s, its task is to create jobs and increase foreign revenue by backing tourism resorts. They think big: These are the guys who set their sights on a coconut plantation as the site for their first major project. Only known by a few local fishermen back then, you’ve probably heard of it today…

Cancun.

Resorts backed by this agency dramatically outperform other beach resorts in terms of visitor numbers, room occupancy—and appreciation in real estate values.

The Riviera Nayarit runs along the Pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta to San Blas. By 2020, the government expects 14,000 hotel beds and 1 million annual visitors.

Nayarit won’t be a carbon copy of Cancun. Although Cancun was a huge success, its development wiped out any trace of traditional Mexican charm or authenticity. In Nayarit, height restrictions, density regulations, and stricter zoning will help make the resort more sustainable than Cancun.

Many development groups make bold promises about infrastructure and amenities. But this branch of Mexico’s government get it done. They bring the tourists. Jump into their slip stream, buy early-in pre-construction, and kick back while they do the work. Before you know it the piece of Nayarit you bought will be part of a mega and high-end resort. Hopefully you’ll be sitting on a tidy profit.

Source: Mexico is About to Create a Mega Resort: Here’s How You Can Profit

Major department stores like Takashimaya Co. Ltd., Sogo Co. Ltd. and Mitsukoshi Ltd. are gearing up. In places like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, they’re seeing a new wave of power shoppers at their counters – the Chinese.

A few short years ago, this was unthinkable.

Yet, as my wife and I strolled through downtown Kyoto, we saw it too. Most major department stores have added Chinese signage to the usual Japanese and English placards.

We heard it, as well, from Chinese shoppers who were tromping through the Shijo-Kawaramachi shopping district loaded down with bags sporting the latest designer logos. It’s much the same in Tokyo’s uber-rich Ginza district as well where Mitsukoshi has recently hired store-based interpreters fluent in Mandarin.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

According to the Japanese Department of Tourism, a record high of nearly a million Chinese tourists came to Japan last year. China’s Ministry of Public Security estimates that 34.5 million Chinese headed for foreign destinations in 2006 – up from a mere 4.5 million a year earlier. By 2011 that figure is expected to top 80 million with Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan predicted to account for 85% of all Chinese tourist destinations according to Euromonitor International.

And they’re spending big bucks, too.

CNN reporter, Kyung Lah, interviewed one group of mainland Chinese tourists recently that had spent $50,000 dollars on clothing and makeup alone on a 3-day trip. Not surprisingly, most of that was on designer brands from Prada Group, Gucci Group NV (PINK: GUCG), Christian Dior SA, and Shiseido Co. Ltd. (OTC: SSDOY).

Which jibes with my personal experience as indicated by Chinese and Japanese I’ve spoke with over the years. Whereas most of them used to only dream about traveling, an increasing number are actually doing it. My good friend Jun Hao and his wife have hit most of Europe’s major cities and a good deal of the United States, too.

Getting back to Japan, however, it may surprise you to learn that most Chinese feel very comfortable there. A fact that stands in stark contrast to how relations between the Japanese and Chinese are often portrayed in the Western media.

It’s now a common sight in Tokyo to see Chinese who are shopped out make a beeline for Toyota Motor Corp.’s (ADR: TM) showrooms. Obviously, they’re not buying Toyota’s in Japan, but boy are they anxious to buy Toyota’s in China.

And a visit to the showroom is just what the doctor ordered for young, cosmopolitan Chinese yuppies… or “Chuppies” as they’re called.

Not only do they feel more international for having done so, but Chinese tourists tell me they find Japan quite welcoming. And warm, which is another one of those words than can be translated a variety of ways.

Not one citizen of China or Japan that I’ve recently spoken with believes that the political past between their respective countries would prevent an economic future.

Investors looking to capitalize on the blossoming relations between the two countries and the tourism trade specifically need to look no further than Japanese department stores, Chinese credit card companies and, ironically, Toyota to get in on the action.

Of course, there are obvious choices when it comes to computerized travel providers and airlines.

But the value there may be harder to extract given there’s not a clear value proposition and the industry remains largely fragmented… for now. And that’s part of what makes Money Morning’s growth “because” of China – and Japan – investing strategy the way to go for now.

Source: Japan Makes Way for China Tourist Money