While the great lime shortage of 2014 was initially sparked by severe winter weather and drought conditions in Mexico, criminal organizations have used violence and extortion to exacerbate the situation. The price of a case of limes, a mainstay of margaritas, guacamole and summer beers, has more than quadrupled in recent months.
The lime shortage illustrates the close ties between the U.S. and Mexican economies and how violence south of the Rio Grande can have ripple effects on American consumers -- and not just the ones hitting the beaches in Cabo San Lucas and Canc煤n.
"Most people in the U.S. don't realize how highly dependent we are on Mexico for certain products. They don't understand how much our economies are intertwined. The bad things happening in Mexico do have an impact on U.S. consumers and U.S. exporters," said David Shirk, a security specialist at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Top Undervalued Stocks For 2015: BT Group plc (BT)
BT Group plc provides communications solutions and services worldwide. It engages in the provision of networked IT services; and local, national, and international telecommunications services for use at home, at work, and on the move. The company also offers broadband and Internet products in the United Kingdom (U.K.), as well as TV and converged fixed/mobile services. It operates in four segments: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale, and Openreach. The BT Global Services segment provides managed networked IT services to multinational corporations, domestic businesses, and national and local government organizations. The BT Retail segment offers broadband, telephony, and TV services, as well IT and telephony for small to medium sized businesses in the United Kingdom. It also provides video and telephone conferencing, CCTV, and alarm systems. This segment serves corporate, small and medium enterprises, consumer, and wholesale markets in the U.K., the Republic of Ire land, and Northern Ireland. The BT Wholesale segment provides voice, broadband, and data communications services, including managed services for fixed and mobile network operators, Internet service providers, and telecoms resellers in the U.K. The Openreach segment connects communications providers? customers to their local telephone exchange, giving them access to the U.K. network. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was founded in 1981 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Steve Symington]
First, BT Group (NYSE: BT ) is planning to officially launch the first teleconferencing service to utilize Dolby Voice in the third quarter, which both Dolby and BT claim makes teleconference audio sound closer than ever to having an in-person conversation. Next, Cameron Pace Group -- run by none other than Avatar creator�James Cameron and Vince Pace�-- has officially placed its backing behind Dolby's promising new glasses-free 3-D format.
5 Best International Stocks To Buy Right Now: Koninklijke Ahold NV (AHONY)
Koninklijke Ahold N.V. (Ahold), incorporated on April 29, 1920, is engaged in the operation of retail food stores in the United States and Europe through subsidiaries and joint ventures. Ahold�� retail operations are presented in four segments: Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover, Giant-Carlisle, Albert Heijn and Albert/Hypernova. During the fiscal year ended January 3, 2010 (fiscal 2009), it operated 2,909 stores. On February 8, 2010, Ahold�� Giant-Carlisle acquired 25 stores from Ukrop�� Super Markets.
Franchisees operated 783 of the Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall stores, 463 of which were either owned by the franchisees or leased independently from Ahold. Of the 2,446 stores, 20% were company-owned and 80% were leased. Ahold�� stores range in size from 20 to over 10,000 square meters. Albert Heijn is a food retailer in the Netherlands. Etos is a health and beauty retailer in the Netherlands. Gall & Gall is a wine and liquor specialist in the Netherlands. Stop & Shop is a supermarket brand, operating in six states in the northeast United States. Giant-Landover is a supermarket brand, operating in four states in the mid-Atlantic United States. Peapod is an online grocery delivery service working in partnership with Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover. It also serves the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, and the northern areas of Indiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
As mentioned, Kroger is still swallowing Harris Teeter and has said it needs time to make more acquisitions. Royal Ahold (NASDAQOTH: AHONY ) is also said to be leery about doing large acquisitions these days, while Cerberus recently finished acquiring the Albertsons and Acme chains from SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU ) �for $3.3 billion.
5 Best International Stocks To Buy Right Now: Spdr Nuveen Barclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond Etf (SHM)
SPDR Nuveen Barclays Short Term Municipal Bond ETF (the Fund), formerly SPDR Nuveen Barclays Capital Short Term Municipal Bond ETF, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Barclays Capital Managed Money Municipal Short Term Index (the Index). The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the Index. The Index tracks publicly traded municipal bonds that cover the United States dollar-denominated, short-term tax exempt bond market, including state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds and pre-refunded bonds. The Fund�� investment manager is SSgA Funds Management, Inc. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Todd Rosenbluth]
Fortunately, there are some short-term muni ETFs to choose from. The largest is SPDR Nuveen Barclays Short-Term Muni Bond (SHM). About 65% of the bonds inside have a AA rating, with most of the remaining ones having a AAA rating.
5 Best International Stocks To Buy Right Now: Network Exploration Ltd (NET)
Network Exploration Ltd. is an exploration and development-stage company. The Company�� principal business activities include the exploration of minerals in its mineral properties. It focuses on base and precious metal properties in North and South America. Its activities include the process of exploring its mineral properties, reviewing and subsequently acquiring mineral properties and conducting exploration programs to determine whether these properties contain ore reserves that are recoverable. The Picha copper-silver project is located within the Tertiary Volcanic Arc of Southern Peru. The Pistala project is located east of the NW-SE trending Incapquio fault system in the Department of Tacna, Southern Peru. The Company is in the business of mineral exploration in Canada, Chile and Peru. Network Exploration Chile Limitada is its wholly owned subsidiary. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Damian Illia]
Although the company is overly relying on Afrezza, there is to say that MannKind has inked some deals in the recent past. These were primarily aimed to furthering its pipeline development but with less risk and with less research and development expenditure directly for the firm. In November, 2012 it signed a license agreement with Colby Pharmaceutical Company granting the latter exclusive rights to its early stage cancer program. Currently, the firm is also looking for partners regarding Afrezza. Last year in July, it entered one with Deerfield that ensured financing worth $160 million for MannKind. Also, in October 2012, the company raised $86 million (net) through the issuance of shares and has almost $120 million left under its credit facility. This has removed some concerned about a financial crisis in the company, although it hasn't done so throughly.
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