International Investing

The Austrians are calling this a long term opportunity. The tiny country plans on joining the EU within a decade:
Montenegro chooses to join the EU will be crucial for its future and the future of the Balkan region. While the EU can be an attractive option, it is not clear to us that it is [...]

M3 is high and rising:
Money supply in the eurozone grew faster in January than at any time since early 1990, raising expectations of further interest rate rises by the European Central Bank in the coming months.

No change in policy, no leader died, pure panic:
The biggest drop in China’s benchmark stock index in a decade wiped out more than $100 billion of market capitalization and sent ripples through other Asian markets…the Shanghai Composite Index hit a new record high, it plunged 8.8% on Tuesday to 2771.79, on what analysts said were [...]

Besides stealing from the tax payer and encouraging inefficient technologies, they will raise the price of beer:
…rapid expansion of biofuel production may be welcome news for environmentalists but for the world’s beer drinkers it could be a different story.  Strong demand for biofuel feedstocks such as corn, soyabeans and rapeseed is encouraging [...]

Is this supposed to be a soft landing? Its not done yet.
U.S. stocks dropped for a third day, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst weekly decline since August, as concern mounted that more Americans will default on home loans.
Countrywide Financial Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. led financial shares [...]

Did you know that in 2006, the Japanese Yen had the tightest range against the US dollar in 35 years? Last year, volatility in the currency market contracted significantly, causing USD/JPY to remain restricted to a 10 big figure (each big figure is 100 pips) trading range. Over the past 35 years, the [...]

Weather patterns and ethanol usage keep pushing it higher. The trend is your friend - it is likely to go higher before it turns. This is especially true with every 2008 hopeful getting behind the ethanol fad.

Corn prices

Above resistance…spit. The Yen is still above the fib level. Every time I look I think I’m going to see it break. It was worse when the rolls were greater. I’d wake up and there would be a stop loss triggered, I hardly said a word to my broker till I said yes to a [...]