Australian Household Debt Remains High

The Australian economy has performed relatively well among the developed economies. In fact, Australia escaped largely unscathed during the global financial crisis of 2008-09 when Europe and the U.S. economies went into a  tailspin. According to  a report by J.P.Morgan Australia has avoided recession for 23 years even beating the performance of The Netherlands. Australia’s economy has had positive …

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Why Investing in U.S. Multinationals is Not the Same as Investing in Foreign Companies

One way to invest in foreign markets is by simply buying stocks of U.S. multinationals. With these firms investors need not worry too much about lack  of transparency, governance, accounting issues, etc. as they follow U.S. laws and adhere to the standards common to businesses operating in the U.S. Hence by investing in these multinationals investors …

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Some Observations on The Periodic Table of Emerging Markets 2004-2013

The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns shows the annual returns for 20 years for many categories.It is a valuable tool to show the importance of diversification among asset classes. Similar to the Callan Table the following periodic table shows the annual returns for many single country emerging markets from 2004 thru 2013: Click to enlarge Source: US …

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A Brief Review of Trade Between US and Russia

The U.S.and other Western countries have imposed a wave of trade sanctions against Russia in the past few months. The goal of these sanctions is to weaken the Russian economy.However since Russia is very rich in all types of natural resources it remains to be seen if these sanctions have any impact in the coming …

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