Today, much of the world’s economic growth is outside of the U.S. So for now at least, many (and maybe most) of the compelling investment opportunities are outside the U.S., too. But for years, Americans had a hard time gaining access to the smaller international markets. Try to buy a stock from, say, Jakarta, and most stockbrokers would hang up the phone! Opportunities in those places were available only to a select few investors. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are solving this problem. Now you can diversify your portfolio into many hot, new markets with one simple trade on a U.S. exchange. Let’s take a look at five, recently-launched international ETFs that can help you get off the beaten path … International Opportunity #1: Market Vectors Vietnam (VNM) Vietnam was a closed ...

Per The Jakarta Post, bank lending in Indonesia grew by just 2.09% from December last year to June compared with 16.26% a year earlier. Working capital loans slid the most, a sign of firms’ reluctance to expand, and banks also cutback loans out of fear that non-performing loans (NPL)–currently at 3.94%– would increase beyond the central bank’s accepted 5% threshold. Yet central to the reasons why businesses are reluctant to borrow, argues Erwin Aksa, chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association, are their lenders’ self-imposed, high deposit rates. Large sovereign bond issuances have driven up the cost of money, as do the demands of large depositors–most of whom are state-owned companies, and which currently account for roughly one-half of banks’ third-party funds. The vicious cycle impairs liquidity, however, as banks fear above anything else a loss of depositors and a sudden run

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While Silk Invest noted on Friday that Mauritius will soon introduce futures trading on its SEM-7 index–a process that will take roughly six months and is part of the island’s bid to attract new local and foreign investors and increase capitalization–Financial Times reported that Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, will launch a commodities exchange by October in order to trade crude palm oil and other raw materials, as well as its own currency.  At the moment, trading of palm oil–whose futures have surged 35% this year on the back of strong Asian demand, rising oil prices and El Niño-related concerns–is centered around Bursa Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

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Chinese sportswear giant Li Ning has started its comprehensive distribution network in South Asia with the opening of a flagship store in Ion Orchard, Singapore, and it plans to open up to 100 badminton supplies stores in this area before the end of 2009. Yik Kay Chon, the chief financial officer of Li Ning, revealed that [...]

PT Adaro Energy, Indonesia’s no. 2 coal miner (behind PT Bumi Resources Tbk, which by contrast will send 8 million tons to China this year), stated recently that it had already contracted much of its increase sales to China of 3.5 million tons in 2009–up from roughly 2 million tons last year–while reiterating that Chinese demand for overseas thermal coal would remain “robust”.  China imported over 11.5 million tons of Indonesian coal last year–more than a quarter of its total.  Australian coal prices on the globalCOAL Newcastle index, a benchmark for Asia, ended Friday at $74.31/ton, while port coal prices at China’s top coal port Qinhuangdao remain around $92 a ton.  “As long as there is a difference between domestic and import prices, China will still be buying coal from overseas,” commented Apimuk Taifayongvichit, chief marketing and logistics planner at PT Indo Tambangraya Megah, the Indonesian unit of

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Van Eck Global’s Market Vectors unit has set itself apart by targeting underrepresented niches in the exchange traded fund market. It hit a homerun with its Indonesia Index Fund (IDX Quote), introduced Jan. 20.

Most investors didn’t realize this fund existed until a few weeks ago, when word got around that Indonesia has been one of the best-performing markets in 2009. The fund has rallied 69% since its inception, tripling the 22% gain of the Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE Index.

Some analysts don’t think the run is over. JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) upgraded the country on May 18, advising clients to expand their holdings. The Asian country’s 4.4% gross domestic product growth in the first quarter lifted expectations. The resource-endowed country has benefited from more stable commodity prices.

The country, along with other Southeast Asian nations, learned a valuable lesson from the region’s

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Wall Street is constantly hung up on finding the next giant economy. Is China going to continue to grow as a superpower? What about India?

The suits on the Street ask themselves these questions every day. They don’t realize that these superpowers aren’t the only places you can make big money.

Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest population, over 200 million people, but it ranks no. 16 in GDP purchasing power. Poverty and disease plague this sleeping giant. That’s why the median age of the country is just 28 years old.

The country has made some progress of late through the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Elected in 2004, Yudhoyono was an already important and popular figure in Indonesia after a few stints in the first couple cabinets of the fairly new democracy. He has the rank of General and is a very influential military leader worldwide.

He continues to stay popular and will,

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Yields on Indonesia’s three-year government bonds fell to its lowest in a month on Wednesday, prompting economists and analysts alike to cite a general increase in “risk appetite”. The general speculation across Asia at the moment is that improving finances in U.S. banks will increase demand for emerging-market assets. Also, as one analyst noted, fiscal stimulus spending and lower tax revenues are narrowing fiscal balances, pushing up government debt and financing needs. These rising bond issues make yields attractive. Likewise, the yield on the five-year, 5.094% Malaysian bonds dropped 13 basis points to 3.7%, which one trader indicated meant that people believe not all of the country’s recent stimulus will need to come from bond sales, but rather from foreign-exchange reserves. Such reserves helped Malaysia maintain its A3 credit rating with Moody’s, as well as its rating with Fitch. Finally, Philippine government ...

Financial Times filed a rather dour report recently on the sorry state of the Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry, which accounts for roughly 40% of global supply.  Prices in London rose by nearly 70% last year to reach 23-year highs last month, trading at £1,820 a ton (though that also reflects sterling’s fall).  Prices in New York, denominated in dollars, rose by more than 30%.
Today, the industry’s prospects appear decidedly sickly.  Political turmoil that followed the outbreak of a civil war in 2002 has hindered the investment needed to replace ageing trees. Cocoa-growing, formerly a source of pride, has lost its prestige.  The cloud hanging over Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry has fuelled a gravity defying rally in cocoa prices even as the global slowdown has caused prices for other commodities to slump.

With some care, experts say activity in Ivory …

I wanted to follow up on the farm land, and related, stocks. Allow me to disclaim the hell out of this research. I do not vouch for the accuracy of any of the ticker symbols as things get lost in the translation going from the symbols on the local markets and the US five letter identifier. Further I have not done what I would call proper research on any of the names this merely an acknowledgment that these companies exist. This post is just my sharing what I have found so far but there is more looking still to be done. Remember the big macro which I think is that the dynamics of supply and demand for food are changing. There has been a combination of more demand from incrementally richer countries, investment demand for certain products, funky weather in some places (Australia had ...