The three ETFs have initial portfolios totaling about (U.S.) $41 million in assets.

 

Barclays PLC launched three exchange-traded funds in Brazil on Dec. 2, the first ETFs from the world's biggest ETF manager for the Brazilian market. 

The Brazilian iShares tracks three indexes: 1) the Bovespa Index, which holds the 66 most-traded stocks on the main Brazilian stock exchange; 2) the BM&F Bovespa Mid-Large Cap Index, which holds 69 stocks representing the top 85% of the market capitalization on the Sao Paolo exchange (adjusted for liquidity); and 3) the BM&F Small Cap index, which holds 71 companies representing the bottom 15% of the exchange's market cap.

Brazil is one of Latin America's biggest fund markets, and the Bovespa's profile as a major global exchange, the largest in South America, has been raised in recent years. Barclays Global Investors has plans to significantly expand its ETF staff in its Sao Paolo

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Currencies trade in a tight range…  China…  Commodity prices to blame…  “Safe” Treasuries? And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well… I went “shopping” yesterday evening… At least I can say I did my bit to keep the economy afloat! HA! Thanks to all who sent along notes to me yesterday with kind words. I truly appreciate the kind words, you are all too kind! The automakers made their pleas to Congress yesterday, and they claim they are in deep dookie! GM says they need $4 Billion right now! And… The original $25 Billion figure has grown to $35 to $40 Billion…

The currencies were lifeless yesterday, with only

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GM is essentially already bankrupt, says Horacio Marquez. And it has been for years. This clearly makes the company one to avoid for investors. But Horacio says there are still some ways for those with a big risk appetite to make big profits with the giant automaker.

This from Money Morning:

With America’s “Big Three” automakers all due to submit turnaround plans to Congress today (Tuesday) – a requirement if General Motor Corp. (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), and Chrysler Corp., are to receive $25 billion in government loans – I couldn’t help but recall the moment eight years ago when I realized the U.S. auto industry was skidding toward a financial collapse.

I’ve been thinking about that market call of mine a lot of late, particularly after recently reading that JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) credit analysts had

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Two of the top emerging markets are grappling with food production and costs - resulting in higher prices in the months to come. The outlook for China and Brazil could portend higher grain prices, giving investors a chance to cash in on a potential rebound.

China’s higher food costs would result from a regulatory change, while Brazil’s food supply is feeling the pinch of tighter credit. In both cases, grain supplies will be affected.

In China, the government scrapped its 11-month interim price control measures on grain and some food products starting from this month after inflation began to drop.

Inflation had taken its toll on Chinese consumers, with food the biggest contributor to lower consumer spending.

For example, in January of this year food prices in China bolted a staggering 18.2% over the previous year as consumer prices rose 7.1%. By April, food prices were up 22.1% over the same period in 2007

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Almost everything we use in modern society contains large amounts of raw materials. And they can’t be mined fast enough to keep pace with demand, especially from emerging markets. Lundin Mining Corp. (NYSE:LMC) is a strong Canadian mining company, with no debt and world-class assets. And it is a steal at today’s beaten down prices.

This from Investment U:

Consider that your computer could contain up to 38 separate chemical elements and that all of those elements needed to be mined and refined. Everything from cell phones to housing supplies requires massive amounts of raw materials.

Our modern lifestyle encourages us to buy the latest products, all made with increasing amounts of technology - and more raw materials.

But industrialized nations aren’t the only players clamoring for these commodities. Developing nations around the world are pounding the table for more of everything. They want what the industrialized west has had for

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a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZckZ-8naz0/STCdOXjJmaI/AAAAAAAACNg/G2Y58RC4WYM/s1600-h/PICT0332.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZckZ-8naz0/STCdOXjJmaI/AAAAAAAACNg/G2Y58RC4WYM/s400/PICT0332.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273888033816025506" border="0" //abr /Videos will resume next week.br /br /One of my RSS feeds had a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/indie/081128/1561_id.html?.v=1"this from a site called TickerSpy/a about the ETFs (and a couple of individual stocks) owned in the Harvard Endowment. You a href="http://www.tickerspy.com/member.php?mid=-1082621amp;pid=-1amp;refer=1561Y1"can click/a here for the full list which includes position size. The ETFs are all either broad based (like IWM, EEM, VWO) or iShares single country funds (like Brazil, Taiwan, South Korea and India--that one is an ETN).br /br /Eyeballing the list these holdings total $2.3 billion out of about $36 billion so I'm not sure how much this tells us about overall positioning. The article makes it seem like this is a portfolio withing the endowment (maybe I have that wrong though). If that is correct then I am surprised ...

The election of Barack Obama as president is essentially a vote for green energy over fossil fuels, says Andy Obermueller. Even though oil prices have fallen, wind power is a renewable energy source with a big global future. And investors should move quickly to make big profits when the government pumps money into the industry.

This from Smart Profits Report:

The winds of change are coming…

Not only does that include Barack Obama taking office in a little under two months time, it could also include a natural energy resource receiving an increasing amount of attention.

Last year was a breakthrough year for the U.S. wind industry, with total wind-power capacity rising by 45%. That accounted for 30% of all new power production.

And if you think wind made impressive advances when an oilman was in the White House, just wait until President Barack Obama takes office.

During the presidential election, Obama made renewable and alternative

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Once again, I am flattering an entry with a picture taking here in Switzerland where I am currently entertaining courses at HEC Lausance. As you can see, it is a beautiful place and also, as it were, very interesting with respect to tail fume patterns from the enormous amount of airplanes moving back and forth over le Lac Léman (middle of Europe remember!). Posting is slim I know, but so unfortunately is time; I can assure that it is not out of lack of enthusiasm to write and opinion on current events.

Moving on to the topic du jour it is interesting to observe wow fast things sometimes change. We need not go back more than 5-6 months to observe how hawkish central banks across the economic edifice were busy scrambling to raise rates in order to quell inflationary pressures. Most notably, the

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Bailout fuels a rally… How long the rally last?  A slew of data today…  Thoughts from Jim Rogers… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Now that was quite the Investment Conference I just attended and gave two presentations to! Someone sent me a headline that appeared on the internet prior to the Conference that read: Three Kings of the Financial World on Tap to Speak for the Next WMI M2… And guess what? They considered me as one of those in the headline! WOW! OK, no… I’m not getting a big head, I’ve got my beautiful bride to keep me humble. She responded to hearing about this article with a heaping helping of, “OK King, take out the trash!” HAHAHAHAHAHA!

“The currencies continued their assault on the dollar today as investors felt more comfortable returning to the higher yielding currencies. Brazil was the biggest mover,

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U.S. stocks posted the biggest two-day rally since 1987, rising over 13%.  That coming after the Obama announcement of his Treasury Secretary choice on Friday and the weekend announcement of over $300 billion for the  Citi bailout, and in spite of Bloomberg’s calculation of total rescue costs over $7.4 trillion.

The two-day rise is certainly impressive, but it is not yet a trend reversal.

If you believe this is a blip and one more head feint in a larger down movement, the chart below will support that view.

If you think the last two days may be the beginning of a new bull market or a major bear market rally with legs, wait a while for a clear and sustained penetration of the general 850-900 area for the S&P 500 (roughly SPY 85-90) before risking capital.

Not only does the chart need more confirmation

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