A Selective Investment in Scandinavia As evidence of commercial interest in developing an ETF for the Nordic region, Global X Management has recently filed for such a product, based on the FTSE Nordic 30 Index. The Global X filing specifies that, "The underlying index tracks the performance of the 30 largest and most liquid companies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. The Adviser uses a passive or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective." In contrast, the ETFI Nordic Region PerformIdex is a semi-active ETF proposal with quarterly rebalancing among all companies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland with market caps over $1 billion USD. Currently, 92 companies qualify for the index with only the top 40 rated stock ...

Top 10 Rated Nordic Companies Nordic Region: Stats for All 116 & Top 40 Companies Nordic Region: Breakdown by Country As evidence of commercial interest in developing an ETF for the Nordic region, Global X Management has recently filed for such a product, based on the FTSE Nordic 30 Index. The Global X filing specifies that, "The underlying index tracks the performance of the 30 largest and most liquid companies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. The Adviser uses a passive or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective." In contrast, my NordiCaps Top 40 Rated ETF proposal is ...

Below is an extract from a commentary originally posted at www.speculative-investor.com on 17th July, 2008. In an article posted earlier this week, Mike "Mish" Shedlock weighed in on the TMS vs. M3 discussion. Mish's article supports our view that TMS (the "True Money Supply" developed by Murray Rothbard and Joseph Salerno) is a more appropriate measure of money supply than M3, although he prefers a measure called "M Prime". The main difference between TMS and M Prime is that TMS includes savings deposits whereas M Prime does not. Our view is that savings deposits must be included in any measure of the total money supply, for the reasons spelled out on pages 2 and 3 of Joseph Salerno's article at http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen6_4_1.pdf. According to Salerno: "Savings deposits, whether at commercial banks or thrift institutions are economically indistinguishable from demand deposits ...

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor After a disappointing string of failed takeovers, CNOOC Ltd. (ADR: CEO) has reignited its foreign expansion initiative with a $2.49 billion buyout of Norway’s Awilco Offshore ASA. China Oilfield Services Ltd., a unit of China’s top offshore oil and gas producer will pay $16.66 (85 kroner) a share, an 18.7% premium to last week’s closing price. Awilco’s board unanimously approved the offer and the deal, which still requires regulatory approval, but should be closed by October. China Oilfield will borrow about $2.3 billion to finance the deal. "I think 85 kroner a share is a good price," Stian Eliassen, an analyst at Carnegie ASA in Oslo, told Bloomberg News. "They’re very interested in Awilco’s jack-up rigs, seven of which will be available to be leased by clients next year."...

Just a few days ago, OPEC President Chakib Khelil told a French television station the awful truth that U.S. consumers don't want to hear. "I foresee prices probably between $150 and $170 this summer," Khelil said. At the same time, Libya announced it may cut production because the market is "oversupplied." Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem said: "We don't see any need for more oil. There is plenty of oil in the market." Libya pumps about 1.71 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, out of total OPEC output of 32.12 million bpd. That means Libya could easily take away the 300,000 barrels in new production that the Saudis promised just a week ago. The Libyans, along with the rest of OPEC, want prices where they are now ... or higher. Why? Because they want ...

I happen to spend my summers in Norway. I was quite amazed at the amount of negative response received from European posters on the ECB post. I still believe the ECB is making a mistake. Granted, the ECB is dealing with a host of issues the FED does not have, such as, semi-rigid labor markets. I still believe the ECB’s target and potential slavish adherence with keeping to an inflation target will cause a lot of unnecessary pain to the Euro zone. Yes, I am in the “this inflation is transitory” camp. However, the last few days have seen an orchestrated move in several central bank policies. Most notably, the ECB is telegraphing the potential to raise its rates. The Bank of Canada did not cut rates. India has raised rates. China is making moves to drain liquidity from its system. ...

This post will tie together a few things I’ve touched on in the past.The chart covers ordinary shares of Statoil (STL.OL), Norway’s OBX Index (XOBX.OL), Yara International (YAR.OL) and Norwegian Property Group (NPRO.OL) for the last year.I’ve been writing about Norway for years now and have written many times about using Statoil as a proxy for the country, most recently last week I disclosed selling some of the position.The case for Norway has always been the same which is that anything good for oil will be good for Norway. Additionally it is a commodity based economy with surpluses galore and it is at a different point of the economic cycle (commodity based economies are often at a different point in the economic cycle which usually makes for good diversification). Contrast that with the US which is a service …

So we are here in Vegas and man is it different than what we are used to. I will say that anyone who comes here should definitely drive down to the Hoover Dam (I’ll pictures on the computer by tomorrow night).

The dollar has taken another step down of late. One position I have had for about ten months has been exposure to the Norwegian krone via what was two year paper when I bought it (I have disclosed this position quite a few times since I put it on).

When I first went in USDNOK was around 5.95, I see it printing now around 4.98 which is a huge move (the smaller the number the stronger the Norwegian). Norway is a strong country economically so that isn’t so strange but Hungary, for example, has a slew of problems yet the greenback is down 8% YTD against the forint.

I …