International Investing

The VIX or volitality index is sometimes called the “fear gauge” for its ability to discern market sentiment. Fortune magazine discussed how to play this indicator in any market direction:
The VIX doesn’t measure actual stock market volatility. Instead, it tracks trading in options on the S&P 500 to indicate how much investors expect the market [...]

If it was someone else’s money this might be funny…Gartman points out that as the Department of Agriculture budget rose 18% the number of farms fell by -3.5%. US tax payers are now spending over $42,000 per farm.

W&G tells the tale in this interesting piece. Here is an excerpt:

Late in 2006, Goldman still had huge exposure to the subprime mortgage market, due to its holdings of CDOs and other securities. David Viniar, Goldman’s CFO, suggested to the group that it adopt an even more bearish look on the subprime [...]

From Gartman:
We argue that there are plenty of countries around the world that prove the superiority of flax taxes, citing the huge revenue growth in eastern Europe where it is a race amongst the countries there to flatten and lower tax rates with abandon. But now we learn that the smaller, less populated, and poorer [...]

This WSJ article about ACA Capital Holding, shows financial firms adeptness in managing their balance sheet. ACA, ostensibly an insurance firm, was undercapitalized from the beginning. Based on the firm’s ‘A’ credit rating, the firm has a veneer of security which fell apart when S&P downgraded them to triple-C in December – a canary in [...]

In a move that suprised almost everyone the fed cut 75 basis points this morning. International stocks plummeted before the move, with China and India both down 10%+. DailyFX analyses the latest from the Fed:
The rumors in Europe were true. The Federal Reserve enacted an emergency rate cut this morning to slash the fed funds [...]

This article from Whiskey & Gunpowder makes a strong case for shorting Bankrate and a good primer on what to look for in short sales in general:
Bankrate exhibits several traits of what you want to look for in a short sale:
1.    An expensive stock price
2.    A contracting customer base
3.    A history of making value-destroying acquisitions
4.    [...]

Gartman crunches the numbers and finds that China’s purchases of new treasuries fell off a cliff in 2007:
Chinese Net Purchases of Treasuries in billions of dollars
2002 34.1
2003 47.9
2004 77.4
2005 84.9
2006 63.2
2007 -4.1
Chinese Purchases As A Percentage of New Treasuries Issued
2002 12.7%
2003 11.8
2004 21.3
2005 29.6
2006 35.8
2007 - 2.5 (through Sept. 30th)
In other words, last year, China [...]

US States renamed for countries with similar GDPs 

Interesting analysis of the effects of regulation on the US retail forex market:
Last October, I warned you that roughly 1/3 of all foreign exchange firms would soon lose their businesses because of coming regulatory changes. And now it’s happened - 10 out of 34 forex firms were just wiped out by new regulations.
The National Futures [...]