Knowledge is Power: The New Gold Rush Edition

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Gold1. Investor interest in gold has accelerated again, with the metal’s dip attracting bargain hunters. Is now the time to buy? Gold investing rush speeds up again

2.Once considered relatively immune to the global economic slump, Latin America is facing hard times as commodity prices crumble, trade dwindles and Venezuela�s oil-funded regional largess begins to dry up.Latin America’s commodity-fueled party is coming to an abrupt end-BRACED FOR A BUMPY RIDE  

3.Central and Eastern Europe has suffered more than most regions as a result of the credit crunch. Hard Landing

4. April 3 (Bloomberg) — The Obama administration, pressing for more fuel-efficient vehicles, won’t block General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet Volt electric car even after the president’s task force called it too expensive, a person familiar with the matter said.GM’s Volt Said to Remain in Production Plan as Government Seeks Cost Cuts

5.Barack Obama may at last be getting a grip. But he still needs to show more leadership, at home and abroad.The American presidency -Learning the hard way 

Bank ADRs: Leading and Lagging Year-To-Date

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2.Credit Suisse –CS
YTD Change:14.40%

3. Westpack banking – WBK
YTD Change:14.11%

4.Banco de Chile – BCH
YTD Change:6.4%

5.Banco Bradesco – BBD
YTD Change:5.67%

6.Deutsche Bank – DB
YTD Change:1.65%

The worst five Bank ADRs YTD are:

HSBC (HBC), Bank of Ireland(IRE), Llyods Banking Group(LYG), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Allied Irish Banks (AIB). These banks are all down over 39%.All of these banks are from the UK and Ireland.Despite the massive bailout by the British government, British banks are still exposed to heavy losses due to the sub-prime and derivate issues. Also the British economy is in worst shape than other European countries.

Video: Nouriel Roubini On Why He Is Bullish On Asia

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The Asset magazine of Hong Kong conducted an interview with Professor Nouriel Roubini of NYU Stern School of Business. In this video, Roubini shares his views on the impact of the global crisis on Asia.

Video Image (Clicking on the image will load the source article in a new window):

Nouriel Roubini

To Play the video directly in your browser go to: Roubini explains why he is bullish on Asia

For a 2-page interesting profile of Professor Nouriel Roubini in pdf format, click here
Source: Finance & Development March 2009, IMF

The Ten Most Popular Stocks In British Mutual Funds

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One of the ways that some investors use to identify potential investment opportunities is to analyze the portfolios of many mutual funds and pick the companies that exist across many funds. This strategy basically confirms the most popular stocks among the various fund managers.Retail investors try to simply follow the fund managers’ ideas by investing in these popular stocks.Based on the above idea, the following are the top 10 most popular stocks in the mutual funds(called Unit Trusts and OEIC Trusts) in the UK:

Rank Company
1 BP
2 Vodafone
3 Royal Dutch Shell
4 HSBC
5 GlaxoSmithKline
6 BG Group
7 AstraZeneca
8 British American Tobacco
9 BHP Billiton
10 Nestle

Source:Trustnet, UK

Not surprisingly just one of the companies in the above list is in the banking industry. HSBC Holdings Plc (HBC) is the only British bank that has held up well in the current credit crunch.Though the company acquired the sub-prime lender House International a few years ago in the US, the company was able to writedown most of the losses and prevent further losses in its mortgage portfolio by working with borrowers to modify the terms of the loan. Currently HBC offers a dividend yield of 6.78%.

BP (BP) is the top owned stock in most funds. BP is the third largest global energy company and the second largest component in the FTSE 100 Index.The current yield is 8.31% and the company pays dividends consistently year over year. Royal Dutch Shell, another global oil giant, trades in the US markets under two tickers RDS.A and RDS.B. Both have yields of over 7%.

Vodafone(VOD) is a global mobile telecom services provider.The current yield is 3.76% and the company had total revenues of over $55B last year.

AstraZeneca(AZA) and GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) are two of the large drug makers in the world. AZA and GSK pay a healthy dividend of about 8% and 6% currently. GlaxoSmithKline has a heavy presence in many developing countries.

BG Group is a natural gas distributor with operations in many countries. Their stock trades on the OTC exchange with ticker BRGYY.

British American Tobacco(BTI) is “an international tobacco company, with its brands sold in over 180 markets. Its four Global Drive Brands include Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall.”The current yield is 7.38%.BHP Billiton (BHP) is a diversified mining company with interests in aluminum, copper, energy (thermal) coal, iron ore, nickel, manganese, metallurgical coal, oil and gas and uranium, as well as gold, zinc, lead, silver and diamonds. This is a high beta stock.

Nestle(OTC:NSRGY) is the world’s largest food company based in Switzerland.The stock pays a dividend of 3.48%. Nestle is the owner of many top brands such as Dreyers Ice cream, Nescafe coffee,Maggi Noodles, etc.

Global Mining Stocks Are Getting Hot Again

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Commodity prices are often a correlation, but investors now increasingly chase potential acquisition targets.

A selection of 100 of the world’s best performing mining stocks shows an aggregate value of USD 33bn, and a weighted average gain of 367% over the past six months, vastly outperforming any other known grouping of equities. There are multiple themes that emerge from the names on the list, but the presence of gold and silver miners and developers is close to overwhelming.

For the complete list of those 100 stocks go to:

World’s 100 hottest mining stocks – up by an average of 367% in six months