International stocks continue to gain popularity as investors look to align their portfolios with emerging market economies and creditor nations. Brazilian stocks have been at the top of the list, with the South American juggernaut being fueled by a pro-growth government, booming exports and the modernization of its infrastructure.

Pro-Growth Government

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, otherwise known as "Lula", has led the country's pro-growth strategy, appointing the market oriented economist and former CEO of Bank Boston Henrique Meirelles as head of the Brazilian Central Bank. Lula and his administration quickly strengthened the country's relationship with the IMF by renewing agreements and paying off its debt early.

Next up was the Growth Acceleration Program, an initiative designed to free the country's economy from growth constraints. By 2008 Brazil had became a creditor nation, with its debt recently getting the nod from Standard & Poors

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Home sales improve…  Are we there yet…  Intervention talks…  Buying on dips… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day…and a Fabulous Friday to you. As I was sitting here this morning collecting my thoughts, it just hit me like a ton of bricks that we’re already towards the end of July and next weekend brings us into August…where’s the pause button when you need it. Anyway, yesterday started out like any other quiet morning so far this week but we did see a nice little run in the currencies only to see profit taking as we moved into the late afternoon. As I turned the computer screens on this morning, I see where the overnight markets brought us right back up to the levels we began with this time yesterday. The big story that moved the markets was the better than expected housing numbers that, again, gave investors that warm and fuzzy feeling that I

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Currencies rally…  More on the BRIC’s…  New Zealand’s GDP contracts..  Bernanke gets grilled! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! The end of what seemed to be a very long week… The last weekend in June, can you believe that? Next week, we’ll be getting ready for the 4th of July celebrations! WOW!

Well… What a volatile week it has been in the currencies! Up, down, all around, and settling back to levels that we saw before the Fed’s FOMC meeting earlier this week. Suddenly, investors are looking for yield again… Looks like they are “Desperately Seeking (not Susan) Yield! And why not? The Fed, and the Bank of Canada (BOC) have come out and said that there will be no interest rate hikes until we’ve turned quite a few pages on the 2010 calendar.

So, with investors clamoring for yield, the dollar gets taken to the woodshed… As I

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We have been saying since the end of 2008 that emerging markets in general -- and Latin American in particular -- would outperform more developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed it has been our mantra in the past few months. Now this view has become the consensus and Brazil seems to be one of the more interesting places for equity investments.

The so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have been outperforming the market. Through June 10, 2009, according to The Economist, Brazil is up 70.5%, Russia is up 77.5%, China is up 65.9% and India is up 65.3% (all in U.S. dollar terms). In the same period, the Emerging Markets MSCI was up 39.2%, World MSCI was up just 10.3% and the S&P 500 just 4%.

It seems that the decoupling theory that was so criticized recently is back and stronger than ever! After such great

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We have been saying since the end of 2008 that emerging markets in general -- and Latin American in particular -- would outperform more developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed it has been our mantra in the past few months. Now this view has become the consensus and Brazil seems to be one of the more interesting places for equity investments.

The so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have been outperforming the market. Through June 10, 2009, according to The Economist, Brazil is up 70.5%, Russia is up 77.5%, China is up 65.9% and India is up 65.3% (all in U.S. dollar terms). In the same period, the Emerging Markets MSCI was up 39.2%, World MSCI was up just 10.3% and the S&P 500 just 4%.

It seems that the decoupling theory that was so criticized recently is back and stronger than ever! After such great

...

We have been saying since the end of 2008 that emerging markets in general -- and Latin American in particular -- would outperform more developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed it has been our mantra in the past few months. Now this view has become the consensus, and Brazil seems to be one of the more interesting places for equity investments.The so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have been outperforming the market. Through June 10, 2009, according to The Economist, Brazil is up 70.5%, Russia is up 77.5%, China is up 65.9% and India is up 65.3% (all in U.S. dollar terms). In the same period, the Emerging Markets MSCI was up 39.2%, World MSCI was up just 10.3% and the S&P 500 just 4%.It seems that the decoupling theory that was so criticized recently is back and stronger ...

We have been saying since the end of 2008 that emerging markets in general -- and Latin American in particular -- would outperform more developed markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed it has been our mantra in the past few months. Now this view has become the consensus, and Brazil seems to be one of the more interesting places for equity investments.The so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have been outperforming the market. Through June 10, 2009, according to The Economist, Brazil is up 70.5%, Russia is up 77.5%, China is up 65.9% and India is up 65.3% (all in U.S. dollar terms). In the same period, the Emerging Markets MSCI was up 39.2%, World MSCI was up just 10.3% and the S&P 500 just 4%.It seems that the decoupling theory that was so criticized recently is back and stronger ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 12, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: AIG (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), TAM (TAM) and Vivo (VIV).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Treasury Releases New TARP Rules

Specifically, the rules limit compensation for senior executives and other highly paid employees at companies receiving TARP funds, including limits on bonus payments (to one-third of total compensation) and curtailment of Golden Parachutes. Further, the bonuses paid to senior executive officers and the next

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Last night, the Brazilian Central Bank announced an amazing decision when it decided to cut domestic rates by 100 basis points to 9.25% per year.Until just several days ago the market was expecting a cut of 75 basis points. However, after the release of the better-than-expected GDP numbers a few days ago the market changed its expectation to just 50 basis points.Considering the orthodox bias of the Brazilian Central Bank, we were expecting a 50 basis points cut, too. The decision was not unanimous -- among the eight directors with powers to vote in the meeting, six directors voted for 100 basis points cut and two voted for 75 basis points.Despite the bold decision, the statement after the meeting said that any additional cuts in the near future will be implemented in a more "parsimonious way," thus new cuts should be much less ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 10, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Vivo (VIV), Grupo Ultra (UGP), Cemig (CIG), Copel (ELP) and Petrobras (PBR).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Brazil GDP Better than Expected

Brazilian GDP for the first quarter 2009 was down -0.8% from the previous quarter and -1.8% from the same quarter 2008. The average expectation of the market was -2.1% from the previous quarter and -3.2% from the first quarter 2008.

We believe these numbers

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