Benzinga's Political Round Up

Rating agencies pressured Irish debt this morning, after Moody's and Fitch expressed some concerns over the country's austerity measures. This hurt shares of Allied Irish Banks, plc. (ADR) AIB. Aluminum Corp. of China ACH is investing $1.5 billion in rare earth metals, as China looks to step up its ever increasing need for commodities. Recently, China and Japan have had differences over rare earth metals, such as tungsten. The Federal Reserve is thinking about a different approach to quantitative easing, announcing smaller, continuous bond purchases, rather than one large purchase announcement. If this were to happen, this would positively impact companies which generate a majority of profits overseas, due to a declining dollar. Companies such as McDonald's MCD will continue to do well with a weaker dollar.