Beijing's Treasury holdings fall as it diversifies (AP)

A decline in China's declared holdings of U.S. Treasury bills comes as it is trying to diversify its foreign assets. But analysts say Washington's debt is still the only asset big enough to absorb the trade-fueled flood of cash Beijing needs to invest, and it might be adding to its hoard with secret purchases through banks abroad.

A decline in China's declared holdings of U.S. Treasury bills comes as it is trying to diversify its foreign assets. But analysts say Washington's debt is still the only asset big enough to absorb the trade-fueled flood of cash Beijing needs to invest, and it might be adding to its hoard with secret purchases through banks abroad.

I've frequently lamented the attempts of many advocates of trade liberalization and FTAs to champion free trade policies through an exports-only, essentially mercantilist, approach.  Tonight's State of the Union Address - and protectionists' responses to it - perfectly demonstrate why my angst is well-deserved and why free trade proponents in Congress, the White House and the US business community need to ditch the mercantilism and adopt a new sales pitch.

Value Expectations submits: In several of the latest articles on Value Expectations we have been providing several different lists of stocks as potential plays against a weaker dollar, sluggish economy and a weak economic recovery for the bears out there (stocks that pay solid dividends,

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie urged people on Wednesday to put aside corruption fears and donate cash to help Pakistan's 21 million flood victims, as she ended a tour of areas devastated by deluges.Pakistan's government has been heavily criticised at home and abroad over perceived corruption, which many attribute to the slow pace of donations to the UN's flood appeal, which has raised two thirds of its 460 million dollar goal.

David Goldman submits: Just when we were told that the governments and central banks of the world had put the financial crisis behind us, the governments of Europe found it necessary to commit more than a trillion dollars to support of the financial system – a $962 billion facility to support the weak periphery of the Eurozone, plus an unspecified volume of outright purchases of government bonds by the European Central Bank as well as Germany’s Bundesbank, not to mention an emergency swap facility by which t