International Investing

Rates steady as bonds rally:
Therefore we need at least 2 more months of solid economic data before considering the possibility of a fourth quarter rate hike. Looking at the statement, the Fed has acknowledged the signs of a potential bottom in the housing market as well as firmer economic activity overall. [...]

A must read article about the weaknesses of CAPM.
The chart below plots the average return for each decile against its average beta. The straight line shows the predictions from the CAPM. The model’s predictions are clearly violated. CAPM woefully under predicts the returns to low beta stocks, and massively overestimates the [...]

Low rates brought on by a flood of liquidity has compressed credit spreads to absurd levels. Todays WSJ article about the few billion of Indonesian bonds being marketed next week gives an example:
Anything longer than 10 years is good, and the longer the better,” said a syndication banker at a U.S. bank. “The curve is [...]

Nickel had another record breaking day today reaching $41,200 ton - an all time high.

Chinese metal consumption continues to rise but the main reason for nickel movement is the threat of a strike. With stockpiles low:
Nickel prices are very sensitive to the threat of a potential strike at the Xstrata-owned Sudbury mine in Canada where [...]

According to the Mei Moses Index, art has been a much better investment than the S&P. For the past five years it has gained over a 20% annually. With so much liquidty going everywhere else its not suprising that the art is rising.

Capping off the gain was the news that a Jackson Pollack painting sold [...]

This is the first time I’ve heard the term that The FT defines as:
In the pits, physical or electronic, that means betting against the certainty that commodity index investors’ positions are rolled in a mechanistic manner every month, in known patterns on particular days.
The index is huge (412,916 of the 1,779,250 long positions) and mechanical [...]

So far this year Vietnams market is up 30%, following a 144% gain last year. Firms following a China plus One policy continue to flood into the market. The authorities are ready to take steps to curb market growth, the WSJ reports:
…the government will keep a 49% foreign-ownership limit for listed companies. Fund managers and [...]

Although the country has 40% unemployment and at least a 50% inflation rate the Iraqi Dinar has managed to surge over 10% in five months.

Forbes is not optomisitic about the continued strength of the currency:
Inflation is going up, not down, adds Steve H. Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and a FORBES [...]

Rule 1: Give a time or give a number, never give both.
Oil will resume its march toward $100 a barrel after a “correction,” said Jim Rogers, who predicted the start of the commodities rally in 1999.
“I’m just not smart enough to know how far down it will go and how long it will stay, but [...]