It must now be horribly clear to everybody with an investment portfolio – indeed, to anyone who watches the financial markets – that no country or sector is safe from a bear market of the magnitude of the one we’re suffering through right now. When stocks get marked down en masse, as they have, literally everything drops. What’s more, there may be very little rationale for which stocks drop — or how much they drop by: When the wave of selling meets very few buyers, good stocks can easily fall more than bad ones. Does that mean it’s a waste of time to search for a “safe haven?” Absolutely not. Assuming you have the fortitude to avoid selling during the worst of this mess, the storm will eventually blow itself out. At that point, investors will look around at the wreckage, and start ...

Brazilian stocks have been pummeled in October’s global market rout. But Martin Hutchinson says this has created a great opportunity for profits. South America’s largest economy still has a robust growth outlook and moderate inflation. He says these six “bargain basement” stocks are now well worth a look.

More from Money Morning:

Like most other markets, Brazil has been battered by the credit crisis – the BOVESPA index is currently down 28% in October alone and no less than 52% from its peak as recently as May. It now appears to represent excellent value, with a historic Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of only7.0.

But are Brazil’s prospects good enough to justify investing there?

Brazil was included in the “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of rapidly emerging markets that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) created in 2003. At that time the country didn’t deserve the distinction. Long-term growth since

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SPOT GOLD PRICES slid from an overnight rally as the US opening drew near on Tuesday, trading 3% lower against most major currencies from this time last week while world stock markets continued to leap thanks to the promise of almost $2 trillion in tax-payers' money. The Japanese Nikkei index leapt a record 14% on the day, recovering just over half of last week's huge losses. Germany 's Dax and France 's Cac40 index both added to Monday's 11% record bounces, meantime, while one newspaper claimed that "[Chancellor] Angela Merkel saves Germany " and President Sarkozy was praised for arranging a pan-Eurozone bail-out costing €300 billion. The Frankfurt and Paris bourses remained 8% below last week's opening levels, however. "There's relief that banks probably won't go bankrupt thanks to the capital injection plans," says Koichi Ogawa at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo ...

Latin America was one of the main beneficiaries of the commodity and credit boom of the last five years. As a result, the region has been hit hard by the collapse in both this year. Emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein says some Latin markets remain high risk for investors. But Brazil and Mexico should recover strongly when global markets stabilize.

The turmoil in US stock markets is making all the headlines. But BRIC nations are facing a much deeper crisis in their stock markets.

On Monday, authorities halted trading on Brazil's Bovespa for 30 minutes after it tumbled 10%. Trading in Russia was frozen on several occasions in the last two weeks to prevent an all-out collapse of the market. And China's CSI Index has lost 58% of its value so far this year.

Despite recent setbacks, however, Andrew Gordon reckons Brazil is the most likely of the pack to weather the current financial storm

Demolition spreads past financials into broad sell-off; meanwhile, GLD soars and bonds avoids heavy damage.

 

It was a brutally down day on Wall Street by just about any measure on Monday. And exchange-traded funds were not spared any of the punishment.

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering its biggest single-day drop ever (777 points, or a loss of 6.98%), all the broad market equity ETFs received a complementary backlash, and the beating was no longer focused on financial ETFs.

The SPDR Trust (AMEX: SPY) hit a 52-week low mark of 110.97, before closing at 111.38, a 9.47% drop for the day. The S&P 500 Index was down 8.79% for the day, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 9.14%. The Dow's massive loss was not among its 10-biggest drops ever on a percentage basis, but avoiding placement in that infamous group provided little reason to celebrate.

The Diamonds Trust (AMEX: DIA) closed at a 52-week low of 104.75, down 6.40% for

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Make no mistake: we are in uncharted territory. Hank Paulson wants $700 billion of taxpayer’s money to buy up bad debt and ‘rescue’ the markets.Some lawmakers strongly opposed to the plan.

“The free market for all intents and purposes is dead in America,” said Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, on Friday.

Justice Litle says the plan is a minefield for investors. He says there are five things you need to know about the government bailout and what it means for your portfolio.

This from Taipan Publishing:

1) The bailout is one of staggeringly massive proportions.

As I write to you in the wee hours of Monday morning, prior to my transatlantic flight, the number being bandied about for the size of the bailout is $700 billion. Keep in mind, too, that this is an opening number. It doesn’t necessarily include relief for upside-down homeowners, strapped consumers, foreign banks or many other potential “extras” that …

To find out how the U.S. financial crisis is beginning to play out in foreign markets, we spoke late last week with Zacks senior analyst Ann Heffron, CFA recently about how banks around the world under her coverage are currently being affected.

To what extent do you feel the U.S. economic slowdown has affected foreign banks in Europe at this time?

The US economic slowdown has hurt European banks immensely, for a couple of reasons. First, many European banks conduct a significant portion of their business in the US. Second, the slowdown in the US is spreading to Europe and the UK, and these countries are experiencing the same types of problems as in the US.

For example, Britain, Ireland, and Spain are witnessing a substantial contraction in their housing markets, which has pushed both sales and pricing into negative territory. This is particularly problematic for Spain and Ireland, where residential investment

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Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate three-quarters of a percentage point yesterday. Three of the eight directors expressed the view thatthe raise was excessive, which seems to indicate that the monetary tightening process may be nearing its close in this cycle. Policy makers voted 5-3 to raised the so-called Selic rate a fourth time since April to 13.75 percent from 13 percent in an attempt to keep a tight grip on inflation, and to confirm the Banks growing reputation as the "Bundesbank of Latin America". The decision raised Brazil's real interest rate - which is the nominal rate adjusted for the 6.17% CPI inflation -  to 7.58, the highest among emerging and developed economies alike. The dissenters on the board voted for a half-point increase.Real DeclineDespite the interest rate rise the real fell ...

“All the things they said would happen to you Don’t you know they’re all coming true Goin’ nowhere fast

“Nothing’s strange as when it seems You’re living out all your worst possible dreams Goin’ nowhere fast”

Beck Hansen’s lyrics might have been written in the late 80s, but global stock markets were dancing to the same despondent tune during August. Gloomy sentiment about credit woes and a worsening global economic picture dampened investor sentiment, resulting in a down-month for most markets. Although the MSCI World Index (-1.6%) managed to hold its mid-July trough, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (-8.2%) was less fortunate and recorded fresh lows for 2008.

The biggest loser for the month was the Russian Trading System Index, which declined by 16.3%

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