Base metals are trending higher today… Copper, Lead, Nickel, Zinc… all green. And each metal is showing signs of bottoming out after nine months of falling prices.

In fact, most base metals have been trading range-bound (meaning practically flat) since the start of 2009. Copper is actually starting to trend higher. Copper is considered an economic canary… When prices fall, economies are in for a slump. When prices rise, economies tend to become stronger.

Why? It all has to do with industrial growth. When economies are strong, they build things like factories, power plants, schools, and other infrastructure. That takes a lot of copper and other base metals.

Which is why, when China announced it could provide another stimulus package - like the $586 billion it issued last year to sustain industrial growth, commodity prices and commodity companies climbed in value.

But just yesterday, China announced it would not boost stimulus spending unless the economy showed it was necessary, and right now, China’s economy seems to be recovering slightly.

Exports are growing again, and China will continue to grow its GDP this year.

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On Jan. 28, I told you that mining major Rio Tinto (RTP:NYSE) was in dire need of cash… It needs to pay an $8.9 billion bill by October 2009.

Well, RTP may have found its Knight in Shining Armor, and it’s not long-time rival BHP Billiton (BHP:NYSE). Rather, it’s state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China… or Chinalco. Chinalco already owns 9% of the company, but the two are in talks to buy about $20 billion in assets. Here’s how it would work, as reported by the International Herald Tribune…

“Aluminum Corp. of China, known as Chinalco, would buy bonds convertible into Rio Tinto stock and acquire up to half of some of Rio’s mines.”

The deal is expected to be announced as early as tomorrow, as RTP releases its full-year earnings.

Remember, RTP is looking to offset the massive investment it made in Canada’s Alcan. It went $39 billion in debt to do the deal, and $8.9 billion is due to be paid in October. With metals prices in the dumps, and the currenct economic situation, RTP is scrambling for cash.

Because Chinalco is state-owned, it’s got deeper pockets than many of its competitors. But that also means that if Chinalco acquires a big enough stake, China would - in effect - have “veto” power over any big decisions, like takeover bids.

Like the one BHP put in last November…

BHP has since dropped its bid because of the global financial crisis, but if it decides to renew its bid when metals prices begin climbing again, it might face some difficult opposition.

It wasn’t that long ago that nuclear energy was a pariah, politically and environmentally.

But with climate change and and energy crisis headlining our political campaigns and agendas, nuclear energy just might be back on the table… And not only here in the U.S., either.

France’s GDF Suez (GSZ:Paris), newly-formed energy group, and Spain’s Iberdrola (IBE:Madrid) just announced that they will join forces to build nuclear plants in the United Kingdom… As have German companies RWE (RWE:Hamburg) and E.ON (EOA:Hamburg).

But friendly European countries teaming up to build nuclear power plants isn’t the only card in play. Nuclear energy is on the table in Russia, China, and Iran.

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I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to a recent article in Taipan Daily, our free daily newsletter.

One of the recent themes we’ve been talking about is if the U.S. dollar will have the strength to remain the world’s reserve currency. Our editorial director, Justice Litle, wrote specifically about this in an article called, “President Obama Can’t Save the Dollar.”

Our belief is that the U.S. dollar has been appreciating only because investors are fleeing to “safety” which creates a sudden demand for the dollar. There is no fundamental economical aspect to the greenback to suggest this appreciation will be sustatinable.

Just the opposite, in fact. With a mad-cap printing Federal Reserve chaired by spineless leader Ben Bernanke, the dollar is a phoenix… inches away from being crisped to ashes.

It doesn’t help that we’ve got a more than $680 billion debt burden to China alone, who today got a strongly-worded statement by new U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner.

But what happens if China doesn’t want to hold U.S. dollars any more, or calls up that $680 billion debt? I remember a couple years back when there was talk of China changing its dollars for gold. People brushed it off, and it hasn’t happened yet.

Yet… That’s a scary word. If you knew that the asset you were holding was going to be worthless in a year or two, would you keep holding it?

Only if somebody made it worth your while. I think this whole China situation bares watching, and closely. If we get a spike in oil prices that start to put inflationary pressure back into play, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear renewed talk of moving away from the dollar.

And it wouldn’t be just China calling for a change… Watch the Middle East, too.